The Telegraph
June 30 , 2009
Govt soft-pedals on gay law change
Our Special Correspondent
Participants at a gay parade in Delhi
New Delhi, June 29: Vocal opposition from religious minority groups and consequent fears of a political backlash have forced the government into cautious — and hasty — retreat on removing the “illegal” tag from homosexuality.
Within 48 hours of indicating a bold move to amend section 377 and give gay people the right to profess their brand of sexuality, the Centre sent out clear signals it was backtracking.
While Union law minister Veerappa Moily claimed he had been “misquoted” as saying the government was planning to legalise homosexuality, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke of the need for “debate and consensus” on the issue before any move. This is a sure way of putting amendments to section 377 in the cold storage as consensus appears unlikely.
On the heels of objections from the Catholic Church yesterday, an influential Islamic seminary spoke out strongly against lifting the ban on homosexuality, saying “unnatural sex” was against the tenets of Islam.
“Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat law and haram (prohibited) in Islam,” Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi, deputy vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom of Deoband said. Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal IPC Section 377 which criminalises homosexuality.
Terming gay activities as crime, Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, said homosexuality was punishable under Islamic law and Section 377 should not be tampered with. Other prominent spokespersons for Islamic organisations too have strongly opposed any changes.
The law, home and health ministries are expected to meet soon to discuss the issue.
“We need more debate on the positives and the negatives... and there can’t be a better forum than Parliament,” Azad said. “We need a broad consensus within the government and [other] political parties. I don’t think my personal or anyone else’s personal thinking on this should prevail.”
Asked about his personal views on the issue, Azad said: “I don’t come in that category.”
The debate on Section 377 has simmered in India since the early-1990s but has intensified in recent years with health experts arguing it obstructs action to prevent the spread of HIV infection among men who have sex with men. Non-government agencies have also been calling for a change in the law saying it is used by police to harass individuals for their sexual orientation.
Azad said the debate on the proposal to repeal the law would be multifaceted. Some might link the issue with culture, while others may point out its implications for infections or the potential of the existing law to induce harassment. “We need a debate... and then a broad consensus.”
But lawyers who have campaigned for the repeal of Section 377 said history suggests that a majority view or consensus may not be easy to obtain on progressive laws.
“When Raja Rammohun Roy opposed sati and advocated widow remarriage in the early 19th century, there was massive opposition to it — specially from upper-caste Hindus,” said Leena Menghaney, a civil rights lawyer in New Delhi. “In every era, there are unpopular reforms to be made.”
o o o
Gay sex against tenets of Islam: Deoband
29 Jun 2009, 1353 hrs IST, PTI
MUZAFFARNAGAR, UP: A leading Islamic seminary on Monday opposed Centre's move to repeal a controversial section of the penal law which
criminalises homosexuality saying unnatural sex is against the tenets of Islam.
"Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat Law and haram (prohibited) in Islam," deputy vice chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi said.
Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal section 377 of IPC which criminalises homosexuality.
His objection came a day after law minister Veerappa Moily said a decision on repealing the section would be taken only after considering concerns of all sections of the society, including religious groups like the church.
Terming gay activities as crime, Maulana Salim Kasmi, vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), said homosexuality is punishable under Islamic law and section 377 of IPC should not be tampered.
Maulana Mohd Sufiyan Kasmi, an AIMPLB member, and Mufti Zulfikar, president of Uttar Pradesh Imam Organisation have also expressed similar views on the issue.
Kasmi said it would be harmful for the society to legalise gay sex.
Buoyed by the news that the Centre is considering repealing the controversial section of the IPC, members of the gay community on Sunday held parades in several cities.
http://tinyurl.com/kqulab
o o o
The Telegraph
June 29 , 2009
Religious disquiet on gay law
Our Bureau
A participant at the Delhi parade.
(Prem Singh)
New Delhi, July 28: An attempt to decriminalise homosexuality has set up for the UPA government a sensitive test reminiscent of the Shah Bano case.
Some religion-driven organisations have opposed the government’s effort to build a consensus on repealing Section 377 of the Indian Penal code, which makes punishable “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”.
The government initiative for a meeting of its three relevant ministries to scrap or modify the section has rekindled hope among gay activists and liberal opinion-makers.
But two Muslim outfits — the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind and the Jamaat Islami — and the VHP have categorically opposed any change in the law.
A Christian organisation — the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) — restated the Church’s objections but suggested that it was not against the repeal as such. The CBCI does not want homosexuality to be treated as a criminal offence but it will oppose measures, such as gay marriages, intended at “legalising” same-sex relationships.
Law minister M. Veerappa Moily and home minister P. Chidambaram are said to be in favour of repealing the 1860 law. Moily today said the concerns of all sections, including religious groups, would be taken into account before the final decision.
He said the department of law, home and health would soon meet on the issue but did not commit a date. Sources said health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who hails from Kashmir, had not yet articulated his position. “He may want to gauge the mood in the Valley,” a Congress source said.
“Section 377 makes no sense,” said Ponni Arasu, a law student and organiser of the Gay Pride March in Delhi today. “You cannot deny people their basic civil rights.”
The younger section in the Congress appears to favour what one leader called “a liberal step in the right direction”.
But a veteran associated with minority affairs in the Congress said: “This cannot be a black-and-white decision. The party will have to discuss the issue in detail.”
Government sources stressed no decision had been taken to repeal the section that is also invoked to fight child abuse. The government could suggest modifications that will prevent harassment of homosexuals and squeeze in some clauses aimed at addressing the concerns of religious groups.
For the Congress, the controversy has brought back memories of the Shah Bano case. In 1986, the Rajiv Gandhi government, under pressure from Muslim organisations, had nullified a Supreme Court order awarding maintenance to the divorced woman.
The homosexuality debate comes at a time the Congress feels it has won back the support of minorities. The UPA government also takes care to project a minority-sensitive face.
o o o
Hindustan Times
June 29, 2009
Long march to real rights
Don’t be fooled by Sunday’s gay parades in India’s major metros. There is still a social stigma against sexual minorities in our country and the law is there to firm up this taboo. Add to this Law Minister Veerappa Moily’s remarks that the Cabinet would be ‘re-looking’ at Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which penalises “voluntary carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”, and the picture emerging in 21st century India is not exactly encouraging. The law states that even consensual anal or oral sex between two people — regardless of gender — is punishable by a fine and up to ten years imprisonment. That the government intends to take into account the concerns of all sections of society, including religious groups, suggests that it will be a good long time before this retrograde law is repealed.
A common argument against doing away with this law is that this would enable paedophiles to prey on young children, especially boys. This makes little sense. The protection of all children from sexual abuse cannot come within the ambit of an omnibus law that also governs adults. There has to a comprehensive law dealing with child abuse that includes issues like incest and domestic sexual violence. The existence of this law has driven the majority of the gay community underground. This means that, by and large, they do not have access to either information or healthcare when it comes to safe sex. As it stands, the law has been used to harass gays, transgender people and eunuchs. They are often targeted by the police who take advantage of the law being weighted against them.
Powerful religious organisations have already made it clear that they would oppose any move to dilute or repeal this law. Resistance to changing this law is evident from the fact that not much has moved from the time it was first challenged in the courts in 1994. Issues of sexuality are still very much taboo in India though we pride ourselves on having traditionally been an open society. Arguments that any discrimination on grounds of sexuality amounts to a violation of a person’s fundamental rights have not cut much ice with those opposing it. All governments have been wary of grasping this nettle and the current one seems to be no exception. Many other countries have moved ahead to the extent of openly gay people holding high office. In India, a beginning would be made if, for starters, legal discrimination was done away with.
|
June 30, 2009
Update on The Communal Situation In Rohini, Delhi
From: Subhas Gatade
(The below update follows the article at: http://www.sacw.net/article980.html)
This is to give you an update on the communal situation in Rohini (the area in NorthWest Delhi) Sector 16 which saw sudden flaring up of tension last week. As can be expected the Hindutva forces are playing a very mischievous and criminal role to aggravate the situation. The building of a new mosque in this area, on a piece of land alloted by the Delhi Development Authority, has given them a pretext to polarise the population.
Last friday (26 th June 2009) these communal elements had mobilised hundreds of people to stop people from offering Namaz at the mosque. If police would not have been there, things could have taken a turn for the worst.
Some of us who happen to live in this area had organised a meeting of citizens groups, social-political organisations to decide our strategy (27 th June). It was decided to organise a signature campaign and also submit a memorandum to the higher authorities. Today a eight member delegation of these organisations met concerned officials and conveyed to them our concern.
The memorandum submitted to them emphasised three things :
- A significant section of the local population does not support such attempts to create new divisions in the society
- It is expected that the administration would play a proactive role to ensure constitutionally guaranteed right to faith and would also take steps to remove the feeling of terror in the minority community.
- The administration would make extra efforts to nab the real 'ringleaders' of this agitation.
A few friends have talked to the media but as of now the matter is severly underreported.
Coming Friday is crucial. It would reveal the level of preparations of these fanatic elements.We will have to monitor the situation closely.
(The below update follows the article at: http://www.sacw.net/article980.html)
This is to give you an update on the communal situation in Rohini (the area in NorthWest Delhi) Sector 16 which saw sudden flaring up of tension last week. As can be expected the Hindutva forces are playing a very mischievous and criminal role to aggravate the situation. The building of a new mosque in this area, on a piece of land alloted by the Delhi Development Authority, has given them a pretext to polarise the population.
Last friday (26 th June 2009) these communal elements had mobilised hundreds of people to stop people from offering Namaz at the mosque. If police would not have been there, things could have taken a turn for the worst.
Some of us who happen to live in this area had organised a meeting of citizens groups, social-political organisations to decide our strategy (27 th June). It was decided to organise a signature campaign and also submit a memorandum to the higher authorities. Today a eight member delegation of these organisations met concerned officials and conveyed to them our concern.
The memorandum submitted to them emphasised three things :
- A significant section of the local population does not support such attempts to create new divisions in the society
- It is expected that the administration would play a proactive role to ensure constitutionally guaranteed right to faith and would also take steps to remove the feeling of terror in the minority community.
- The administration would make extra efforts to nab the real 'ringleaders' of this agitation.
A few friends have talked to the media but as of now the matter is severly underreported.
Coming Friday is crucial. It would reveal the level of preparations of these fanatic elements.We will have to monitor the situation closely.
Support and Resistance to the Hindu Far Right Among the Middle Classes in Delhi
Protest by Hindutva organisations against construction of a mosque in Rohini Sector 16, Delhi…Prayer by the MUSLIMS not allowed by hindutva forces on 26.6.2009 and those who were coming for the NAMAZ were beaten up and chased back. .. Hooligans marched in street to look out for muslims…Women also participated in large numbers..Timely intervention by the police..19 arrested……Appeal to maintain communal harmony by citizens groups.
Full text at: http://www.sacw.net/article980.html
Full text at: http://www.sacw.net/article980.html
Liberhan Commission submits Babri report
The Times of India
17 years later, Liberhan Commission submits Babri report to PM
30 Jun 2009, 1114 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
NEW DELHI: Seventeen years after it was set up, the Liberhan Commission probing the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Tuesday submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. ( Watch )
The commission, which had got 48 extensions, submitted the report to the Prime Minister by Retd Justice M S Liberhan in presence of home minister P Chidambaram.
The contents of the report were not immediately known, PTI said.
According to Times Now, the report could reveal role of BJP's L K Advani and Bajrang Dal in Babri incidents. Report could also shed light on number of other top BJP leaders.
Justice M S Liberhan told Times Now that certain witnesses weren't non-cooperative during the probe. "The report got delayed due to uncooperative attitude of witnesses," he added.
Liberhan refused to reveal who is responsible for Babri demolition. "I won't name the people, it is mentioned in the report," he said.
"I feel liberated after submitting report," he added.
Meanwhile, political parties have begun to score points over each other over the report.
The Congress said that mere apologies by BJP leaders are not enough. The BJP claimed that Advani has been framed in the Babri case.
Set up within ten days of the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992, which triggered widespread communal violence leading to heavy loss of lives, the panel has become the country's longest serving Commission of Enquiry.
The commission, mandated to inquire into the circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque was to submit its report by March 16, 1993 but sought repeated extensions to complete its probe.
The last three-month extension was given in March this year.
The probe panel was one of the costliest commissions having spent nearly Rs eight crore. The bulk of the amount was spent on the salaries and perks of the supporting staff.
During the extended proceedings spread over 400 sittings, the commission recorded the statements of senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh.
The panel had completed hearing the last witness in 2005.
17 years later, Liberhan Commission submits Babri report to PM
30 Jun 2009, 1114 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
NEW DELHI: Seventeen years after it was set up, the Liberhan Commission probing the 1992 demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Tuesday submitted its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. ( Watch )
The commission, which had got 48 extensions, submitted the report to the Prime Minister by Retd Justice M S Liberhan in presence of home minister P Chidambaram.
The contents of the report were not immediately known, PTI said.
According to Times Now, the report could reveal role of BJP's L K Advani and Bajrang Dal in Babri incidents. Report could also shed light on number of other top BJP leaders.
Justice M S Liberhan told Times Now that certain witnesses weren't non-cooperative during the probe. "The report got delayed due to uncooperative attitude of witnesses," he added.
Liberhan refused to reveal who is responsible for Babri demolition. "I won't name the people, it is mentioned in the report," he said.
"I feel liberated after submitting report," he added.
Meanwhile, political parties have begun to score points over each other over the report.
The Congress said that mere apologies by BJP leaders are not enough. The BJP claimed that Advani has been framed in the Babri case.
Set up within ten days of the demolition of the mosque on December 6, 1992, which triggered widespread communal violence leading to heavy loss of lives, the panel has become the country's longest serving Commission of Enquiry.
The commission, mandated to inquire into the circumstances leading to the demolition of the Babri mosque was to submit its report by March 16, 1993 but sought repeated extensions to complete its probe.
The last three-month extension was given in March this year.
The probe panel was one of the costliest commissions having spent nearly Rs eight crore. The bulk of the amount was spent on the salaries and perks of the supporting staff.
During the extended proceedings spread over 400 sittings, the commission recorded the statements of senior BJP leaders L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh.
The panel had completed hearing the last witness in 2005.
Hindutva project that targets and moves children from North Eastern States to RSS schools in Karnataka
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 26, Dated July 04, 2009
investigation
A Strange And Bitter Crop
An ambitious RSS social engineering project is transporting children from Meghalaya to Karnataka to bring them up ‘the Hindu way,’ discovers SANJANA.
Photographs by S RADHAKRISHNA
image
Culture by rote Sixyear- old Meghalaya children chant shlokas in Thinkabettu School
IN AN investigation spanning 35 schools across Karnataka and four districts in Meghalaya, TEHELKA has found that since 2001, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has embarked on an ambitious social engineering project to transfer at least 1,600 children from Meghalaya to RSS-friendly schools across Karnataka. The latest batch comprising 160 children arrived in Bengaluru on June 7, 2009. Thirty RSS volunteers accompanied the children on the 50-hour train journey down to the city.
Tukaram Shetty, the RSS organiser responsible for the programme, in conversations spanning three months, candidly admitted to TEHELKA that the children were part of a larger mission launched by the RSS and its affiliate organisations to ‘protect’ people from Christian missionaries active in Meghalaya. “We are committed to nurturing the Hindu way of life. There is a long-term plan envisioned by the RSS to defeat the Christian missionary forces active in Meghalaya while expanding our base in the region. These children form a part of that long-term vision. In the years to come, they will propagate our values amongst their own family members,” A childhood recruit into the RSS fold, Shetty hails from Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka and has spent close to eight years in Meghalaya – familiarising himself with the terrain and culture.
The RSS programme brings to the fore several concerns operating as it does within the demographic context of Meghalaya. The state is one of the few Christian majority states in India, with 70.25 percent of the population being classified as Christians in the 2001 census. In comparison, Hindus are pegged at 13.27 percent while a category of religious compositions pegged as ‘others’ – a possible reference to the indigenous tribal religions – is at 11.52 percent. The first Christian missionaries arrived in the mid nineteenth century to work amongst the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribes living in the region that now comprises Meghalaya. Despite the long entrenched history of Christian conversions in the state, there exists a significant minority population of tribals who have steadfastly continued to practice their indigenous religions – their beliefs often spliced with a thin wedge of resentment against those who have chosen to convert. The RSS plans of ‘expanding the base in the region’ capitalises on this wedge of resentment with children and their education being — as Shetty admits — the starting points of engagement.
The Thinkabettu Higher Primary and Secondary School in remote Uppur — nearly 500 km from Bengaluru — is one of the 35 schools in Karnataka where the children are studying. In 2008, 17 students between six and seven years were brought to this school from Meghalaya. Following instructions from the head of the school, the children of Thinkabettu School stand up, announce their names politely in Kannada, the local language, and sit down again on the bare floor. Ask the head of the school to introduce himself and he refuses, saying, “You have come to see the children, here they are. If I give you my name, you will use it against me.” The only details forthcoming are that he is a retired bank employee and that the school, which is a century old, was started by his father. A woman in the corner is revealed to be his wife, Nirmala.
Introductions done, the children are asked to recite the latest prayer that they have memorised. Hands folded and eyes closed, the children, with shorn heads and in ragged clothes, begin a Brahminical chant that is a tribute to the teacher — Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara. The children are sitting in the same hall that serves as their school and hostel. They live and breathe, eat and sleep and study on that same barren floor. A 30-watt bulb, a blackboard and a few books and slates neatly lined up complete the picture. An ancient fridge and a ramshackle sofa separate the children’s space from the kitchen area of the hall.
HARD FACTS
1,600 children brought to Karnataka from Meghalaya since 2001
The latest batch of 160 children arrived in Bengaluru on June 7, accompanied by 30 RSS volunteers
Siblings are always separated to ensure better discipline
Most schools where children are studying are in the communally disturbed coastal districts of Karnataka
While most children are from poorer backgrounds, richer families who are RSS sympathisers pay up to Rs 16,000 a year
Children often forget their native languages
Drawn from remote and often inaccessible villages across four districts in Meghalaya — Ri Bhoi, West Khasi Hills, East Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills — the children taken by the RSS to study in Karnataka belong to the Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities. Traditionally, the Khasi tribes follow the Seng Khasi religion, while the Jaintias follow Niamtre religion. Ask Manje Gowda, Headmaster at the Sri Adichunchanagiri Higher Primary School in BG Nagar, Mandya district where 38 children from Meghalaya currently study, why students are taken out of Meghalaya and he echoes Shetty’s logic, “If the children had stayed on in Meghalaya they would have been converted to Christianity by now. The RSS is trying to protect them. The education that the children receive here includes strong cultural values. When they go back home, after their education, they will help propagate these values to their families.”
The cultural values that Gowda talks of imparting to children include familiarity with Brahiminical chants, Hindu religious festivals, and a weaning away from an overwhelmingly non-vegetarian Meghalayan diet to vegetarianism. How could this possibly help the RSS in expanding their base? Shetty told TEHELKA that indoctrination of cultural values and discipline was the first step. “It is important that children imbibe these values early on. It will bring them closer to us and away from the Christian way of life.
We teach them shlokas so they will not recite hymns. We take them away from meat so they will abhor the animal sacrifice that is inherent in their own religion,” he says. “Ultimately, when the RSS tells them that the cow is a sacred animal and that all those who kill and eat it have no place in our society, these children will listen,” he recounts calmly. Are these children being groomed to be the future foot soldiers of RSS? Shetty’s only answer is that they will part of ‘the family’ in one way or another and that time will decide.
As TEHELKA found, across schools in different districts of Karnataka, the cultural values imparted did not vary. The degrees of immersion into the RSS credo, however, depended on the schools the children were placed in. Children who came from financially stable homes were placed in schools with proper educational and hostel facilities since parents were able to pay for them. In these schools, the disciplinary regime imposed on the children was more relaxed compared to the schools where children from poorer families were placed. TEHELKA found that 60 percent of the children it met came from economically weaker families. Subsequently, the schools that these children were placed in resembled the Thinkabettu school in Uppur where both education and lodging facilities were free and dismal.
Most of the schools where the children have been placed are located in the coastal belt of Karnataka, the region that has emerged as the centre of communal violence in the state. The places include Puttur, Kalladka, Kaup, Kollur, Uppur, Deralakatte, Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmaglur districts. Besides these, the children have been placed in schools run by influential ashrams such as the JSS Mutt in Suttur, the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt in Mandya district and the Murugrajendra Mutt in Chitradurga district.
How do children from Meghalaya end up thousands of kilometres away in Karnataka? What is the modus operandi? Almost every child and parent that TEHELKA spoke with identified Tukaram Shetty as the man who proposed the idea of educating children in Karnataka, offered to take the children there and then ultimately accompanied the children to Karnataka.
A former Seva Bharati (an RSS-affiliated community service organization) worker, Shetty is the official face of the Lei Synshar Cultural Society, a shell organisation established to maintain the required official distance from the RSS. In fact, the Lei Synshar Cultural Society is utterly unknown even outside its own head office in Jowai in the Jaintia Hills district. Ask for Tukaram or Bah Ram as he is called in Meghalaya and there are instant flashes of recognition. Outside the capital city, Shillong, right down to the village level, people easily recognise the RSS as the organisation that takes children to Karnataka. The organisation runs three offices in the Jaintia Hills district – in Jowai, Nartiang and Shongpong. Besides, there are several spaces occupied by the Seva Bharati and Kalyan Ashram organizations which help in the identification and transport of children.
RSS organiser Tukaram Shetty candidly admitted that the children were part of a larger RSS mission to ‘protect’ them from Christian missionaries
YOLIN KHARUMINI, a teacher at a local Seng Khasi school and resident at Shillong’s Kalyan Ashram described the process. “We are asked to identify families that have not converted to Christianity and are firm in their belief in indigenous religions — Seng Khasi and Niamtre. Usually, these are families that nurse some form of resentment against Christians. Offers are made to these families to have their children educated in Karnataka. We always tell them that they will be educated according to Seng Khasi or Niamtre traditions.” Kharumini’s own niece, Kerdamon Kharumini, studies in Mangala Nursing School in Karnataka. Lists are drawn up based on the parents’ capacity to afford the child’s education and hostel facilities.
Continuing the narrative, Khatbiang Rymbai, a Class 10 student at Vidya - niketan School in Kaup, Udupi district described in detail how 200 children travelled to Bengaluru from various villages. “There were many young children. So when they divided us into groups of 13-14, the older children were put in charge. In Shillong, we were all given identification tags which had mobile numbers and the Jowai address of the Lei Synshar Cultural Society. From there, we traveled in Tata Sumos to Guwahati to take the train to Bengaluru,” she says. In Bengaluru, they were taken to the RSS office before being split into groups to go to their respective schools.
The children are taught to avoid meat so they will start to abhor the religious sacrifices that are part and parcel of their native religions
In a chilling admission, an RSS worker in Shillong, Prafulla Chandra Koch and the head of the Thinkabettu school told TEHELKA that care is always taken to ensure that any siblings are separated from each other. “It is easier to discipline them if they are not together. We have to control them if we have to mould them. The lesser the contact they have with home, the better it is, really,” he stated.
TEHELKA met with several siblings placed in different schools – Khatbiang’s brother Supplybiang Rymbai was placed in Prashanti Vidya Kendra in Kasargod, Kerala while she studies in Vidyaniketan school near Udupi in Karnataka. Yet another student at Vidyaniketan, Reenborn Tariang admitted to having a sister, Wanboklin Tariang, at the JSS Mutt school in Mysore. Bedd Sympli at the Abhinav Bharati Boys Hostel in Mandya district has a sister studying in Vidyaniketan, Udupi district; Iwanroi Langbang a student at the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt school in Mandya district had a sister, Daiamonlangki, at the Vanishree school in Shimoga district. There is not one instance of siblings studying together. Ask the children why they were separated and there are no answers.
WHEN TEHELKA asked parents why they had chosen to place their children in different schools, they admitted they were only informed of it several months after the children had started school. Says Klis Rymbai, Khatbiang and Supplybiang’s older sister, “When they left home, all we knew was that they would go to Bengaluru. We had no details of the school they would go to – not even a name or address. Much later, we realised that Khatbiang and Supplybiang were separated and that they were not in Bengaluru. Khatbiang also told us she was repeating Class VIII after she got admitted into school. The RSS promised to take care of our children and we trusted them.” Klis admits that her family is attempting to bring Supplybiang back to Meghalaya. “He has not adjusted well and is still young so we want him to come back. Khatbiang has already lost a year so it is best she finishes school there,” says Klis. The Rymbais are extremely well off, having made their money through mining in the Jaintia Hills district. The father, Koren Chyrmang, is an RSS sympathiser, who, besides sending his own children, has helped convince other families to send their children across. “He used to be very active but has fallen sick of late This has prevented him from traveling to other villages in this area with the RSS,” says Klis.
The physical and mental impact of studying in school environments diametrically opposed to their culture, language, religion, and food habits has been devastating. In the schools that TEHELKA visited, hostel wardens, heads of schools and the children themselves admitted to having had serious physical problems given the differences in climatic conditions between their villages in Meghalaya and schools in Karnataka. In the Deenabandhu Children’s Home, Chamarajnagar, Karnataka, according to the Secretary, GS Jayadev, the six-year-olds from Meghalaya — Shining Lamo, Sibin Ryngkhlem and Spid Khongshei — had skin rashes for over a month as their bodies tried to acclimatise to the heat of Karnataka. Besides rashes, Spid’s eyes turned bloodshot. Doctors at the hospital where Spid was taken by school authorities told them that it was a natural reaction to the altitudinal differences.
In Thinkabettu school, too, children had severe sunburns on their faces, hands and legs though they had already spent three months in Karnataka when TEHELKA visited them. The situation was no different with the children studying in the Kalabyraveshwara Sanskrit College run by the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Nagamangala. Of the 11 children from Meghalaya who were placed in this school, the oldest, Iohidahun Rabon (see box) told TEHELKA that the three of the younger ones — Sowatki Chulet, Tailang Nongdam and Perskimlang Nongkrot — were chronically ill since they had not taken to the food being given to them.
The physical and mental impact of living in environments diametrically opposed to their culture, language, religion and food is devastating
The psychological impact of the move was also obvious on several children. In all the schools that TEHELKA visited seeking information about children from Meghalaya, the school authorities summoned the children from their classes and instructed them to introduce themselves in Kannada. For the authorities, it was a matter of great pride that children who had no association with Kannada had been taught the language well. That students who did not know a word of Sanskrit earlier now recited Sanskrit prayers with great clarity. In the Sri Adichunchanagiri Higher Primary School in BG Nagar, Mandya district, the headmaster, Manje Gowda, flung a Kannada newspaper at a student from Meghalaya, ordering him to read it. Obediently, in a low voice, devoid of any expression, the boy proceeded to read a few sentences, before quietly folding and placing the newspaper back on the headmaster’s desk. Till he was sent away, the boy never looked up. In school after school, the same scene unfolded with variations in the demonstrations of skill and familiarity with Kannada and Sanskrit.
While the authorities claimed that the students from Meghalaya had integrated well with the rest, there was overwhelming evidence to suggest otherwise. A few minutes of conversation with the children brought out stories of how they were laughed at because their names were unfamiliar and because they looked different. Invariably, and especially amongst the older students, relationships were forged with others from Meghalaya. In classrooms, six or seven students from Meghalaya squeezed into a bench meant to seat four children. Speaking Kannada had integrated the children only so far. Faced with animosity, they have withdrawn into the familiar. In schools where this was not a possibility given the limited number of students from Meghalaya, they withdrew into themselves.
The locations of the schools did not help alleviate their isolation at all. Iwanroi Langbang, a Class IX student currently staying in Nagamangala (about 150 kms from Bengaluru), talked of her disappointment at not studying in Bengaluru. “We were only told that I would be studying in Bengaluru. It was only after I came here that I heard the name of the school and realised that it was very far from Bengaluru. Here, we are not allowed outside the compound wall. And even if we get away, there is nothing outside,” said Langbang. Her school is located off an isolated stretch of the state highway.
A consequence of completely immersing young children from Meghalaya in a Kannada-speaking environment was visible at the Deenabandhu Children’s Home in Chamarajnagar district. A caretaker at the Home described one child’s growing familiarity with Kannada, “Sibin [one of the children at the Home] has picked up a lot of Kannada in the two months he has been here. During a phone call from a relative back home, he kept answering questions in Kannada which obviously they did not understand at all.” In a shocking display of insensitivity, the caretaker burst into laughter at what she thought was a hilarious incident and added, “For 45 minutes, a woman, I assume his mother, kept trying. Sibin, of course, had no answers since he had forgotten his own language.” She giggled. The caretaker then proceeded to teach Sibin the Kannada word for dinner.
ACCORDING TO Sibin’s birth certificate, he is six. Yet another certificate issued by the village headman of Sibin’s village, Mihmyntdu, certifies that he comes from a poor family and needs help for his education. TEHELKA was unable to contact his parents.
The physical and mental consequences suffered by children from Meghalaya differ from the everyday story of children placed in several thousand boarding schools across the country. That there is a larger plan behind the transportation of these children is something that RSS workers like Koch, have no qualms admitting.
Why are parents willing to send young children aged only six and seven to a distant place? In the face of these overwhelming disadvantages to the children, during visits with parents across eight villages in Meghalaya, TEHELKA found that parents — mostly poor — handed over their children to the RSS in the belief that their kids would be well cared for, as promised. Often, the transportation of children followed kinship routes, with younger siblings following older ones. While this may seem to defy logic, examined closely, it speaks of the intricate web of lies that the RSS has managed to weave, webs that ensnare parents, school authorities and often the children themselves. There are multiple untruths that are the foundation of this entire process.
PARENTS HAVE GIVEN THEIR CONSENT IN WRITING
Why are parents willing to send their children far from home? The mostly poor parents believe the RSS’ promises that the kids will be taken care of
When TEHELKA approached schools in Karnataka seeking papers that legalise the transfers of children across states, letters signed by the village headman or the Rangbah Shnong attesting to the family’s poor economic condition were handed out along with birth and caste certificates. Across different schools that TEHELKA visited, not a single letter was produced with the parents’ signature that stated explicitly that the care of their children was handed over to that particular school. No parent that TEHELKA met in Meghalaya had copies of any signed consent letter signed. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 – such consent letters are mandatory for legal transfers of children.
The transportation of children, then, with no official papers sanctioning the move, is in clear violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000. Under this law, the RSS can be held guilty of child trafficking.
THE CHILDREN ARE IN SCHOOLS RUN ACCORDING TO THEIR SENG KHASI OR NIAMTRE RELIGIONS
Amongst the Khasi and Jaintia tribes, there is a tenuous relationship between those who have converted to Christianity and those who have not. The RSS carefully selects children from poor families who have not converted to Christianity. “I was told that the only way to protect my daughter from conversion was to send her outside. If I didn’t, the Church would take them away and make them priests and nuns,” said Biye Nongrum in Swer village. “I was afraid for my daughter and so I agreed to hand her over,” she says. Six years after her daughter left home, Biye has no details of the school that she is studying in. All she has is a class photograph. “I don’t have the money to visit my daughter and bring her back, even if I find out where she is. But I will never send another child away,” she says. Biye ekes out a living by selling sweet pancakes to richer families in the village. The ramshackle house that she shares with her mother and at least three other children further signal her poverty stricken condition. The socioeconomic status of the families are an indication of why it is difficult for the parents to ever bring their children back — they simply cannot afford it.
Several parents told TEHELKA that the RSS schools where their children were studying were schools that upheld their indigenous religions – a rationale that has many takers. In Jel Chyrmang’s home in Mookhep village, TEHELKA found a framed photograph of Jel’s daughter, Rani Chyrmang, being felicitated by the patron saint of her school, Sri Balagangadharnath. Ask Jel who the saffron-robed saint is and she blithely repeats what she has been told, a story that would be hilarious if the circumstances were not so sad. According to Jel, Sri Balagangadharnath is a Seng Khasi saint who runs her daughter’s school. There is no doubt in her voice at all. Jel’s ignorance, however, does not extend to others in the family. Her husband, Denis Siangshai, who contested the recent Lok Sabha elections, turns out to be an RSS worker. Using his daughter as an example, he admitted to having convinced others in the area as well. “People have a wrong notion of RSS. I always tell them that the RSS will give them good education and culture,” says Denis.
The transportation of children without clear consent letters from parents and guardians is a clear violation of the Juvenile Justice Act
Most parents have no idea that the schools chosen by the RSS espouse a different ideology. Besides the forced culturisation, even the libraries and books handed out to the students are RSS publications from recognized right-wing publishing houses in Bengaluru. In the JSS Ashram school, the library was stocked with publications of RSS ideologues published from Bharata Samskruti Prakashana (Indian Culture Publications). No trace of Seng Khasi teachings or Niamtre practices.
THE CHILDREN ARE ABANDONED AND DESTITUTE
For a non-tribal society like Karnataka, the notion of a father abandoning the family is seen as a social and economic disaster. Meghalaya, though, is a matrilineal society, where men move to live with women in their villages. Mothers continue to remain the primary caretakers. Even if the mother dies, the child is brought up by relatives and is never entirely abandoned.
THE CHILDREN HAVE ADJUSTED WELL
When children first leave Meghalaya, parents and children are not aware where the children will ultimately be taken. As direct communication between the children and parents is limited owing to the socio-economic conditions of the parents and the lack of facilities at the schools, the RSS is the main intermediary between the two. The RSS tells parents that the children are happy and well adjusted in their new environments. The reality is something else.
Raplangki Dkhar, a standard VI student at Vidyaniketan, was clearly waiting for his uncle to come take him home. “Only if people from home come and take us, we can go back. Every year when school ends, we hear that we will be taken back. But it has been two years already,” said a forlorn Raplangki. Only two of the children TEHELKA met had ever returned home to visit. Back in Raplangki’s hometown in Raliang, Meghalaya, when TEHELKA asked his uncle why he had not visited Raplangki, he is surprised, “I had no reason to doubt the fact that my nephew has adjusted well. At every RSS meeting in Jowai we are assured by them that the kids are healthy and happy.”
Direct phone calls between children and parents are dependent entirely on the parents’ finances. If the parents have not been able to pay for the child’s education, the schools that they are placed in are often the free orphanages run by the Mutts, where access to phones is non-existent, as is the case with the free hostel run by the Sri Adichunchanagiri Mutt.
For the RSS, these falsifications are part of a process. A process that is bound to add an additional layer of complexity amongst the people of Meghalaya, quite apart from the mental and social costs inflicted on young children.
WRITER’S EMAIL
sanjana(at)tehelka.com
_____
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 26, Dated July 04, 2009
‘The Children Will Champion Hinduism’
At the Kalyan Ashram in Shillong, Prafulla Chandra Koch and Sukanto Borman, two RSS workers, talked with TEHELKA about what the RSS hopes to gain through the programme. Both refused to be photographed.
For how many years have the children been taken to Karnataka? How many have gone?
SB: I am not sure about the years, but I know there are more than 1,500 to 1,600 children in schools in Karnataka. Every year, Tukaram Shetty takes more children with him.
But why don’t you start schools here? Why send them to Karnataka?
PCK: In some villages, we help village councils run schools. We pay their teachers’ salaries. This isn’t possible in many villages since the Christians are everywhere here. This programme is also about culture. The children are sent to schools in Karnataka to imbibe good cultural values.
What values are you talking about?
SB: That we are all Hindus and that Hindus have to stick together...
PCK: (interrupts) When they stay in Karnataka, they are exposed to many other children. They learn to live in harmony with them. They carry the love and acceptance they get there back to Meghalaya and spread it to their parents. Right now, outsiders or dakkar are viewed with a lot of suspicion but this will change after some years, making our work easier.
‘WE CAN’T CALL IT A SHAKHA YET, BUT GIVE US ANOTHER YEAR’
What specific gains does the RSS hope for?
PCK: Since these children are educated in RSS schools, they will adopt the Hindu religion. Already, we have seen children refusing to eat meat when they return. They will also teach their parents to follow in their footsteps. Over time, the children who return will champion the Hindu way of life in Meghalaya.
That is a really long-term agenda.
PCK: We benefit immediately too. Four to five times a year, we hold compulsory meetings with the parents of children sent to Karnataka, usually in Jowai. RSS pracharaks attend these meetings. We share information with the parents and ask them if their children have been in touch with them and what they have been saying. Besides this, discussions also revolve around conversions and the problems that are created by Christians in Meghalaya. We can’t call it a shakha yet, but give us another year.
investigation
A Strange And Bitter Crop
An ambitious RSS social engineering project is transporting children from Meghalaya to Karnataka to bring them up ‘the Hindu way,’ discovers SANJANA.
Photographs by S RADHAKRISHNA
image
Culture by rote Sixyear- old Meghalaya children chant shlokas in Thinkabettu School
IN AN investigation spanning 35 schools across Karnataka and four districts in Meghalaya, TEHELKA has found that since 2001, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has embarked on an ambitious social engineering project to transfer at least 1,600 children from Meghalaya to RSS-friendly schools across Karnataka. The latest batch comprising 160 children arrived in Bengaluru on June 7, 2009. Thirty RSS volunteers accompanied the children on the 50-hour train journey down to the city.
Tukaram Shetty, the RSS organiser responsible for the programme, in conversations spanning three months, candidly admitted to TEHELKA that the children were part of a larger mission launched by the RSS and its affiliate organisations to ‘protect’ people from Christian missionaries active in Meghalaya. “We are committed to nurturing the Hindu way of life. There is a long-term plan envisioned by the RSS to defeat the Christian missionary forces active in Meghalaya while expanding our base in the region. These children form a part of that long-term vision. In the years to come, they will propagate our values amongst their own family members,” A childhood recruit into the RSS fold, Shetty hails from Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka and has spent close to eight years in Meghalaya – familiarising himself with the terrain and culture.
The RSS programme brings to the fore several concerns operating as it does within the demographic context of Meghalaya. The state is one of the few Christian majority states in India, with 70.25 percent of the population being classified as Christians in the 2001 census. In comparison, Hindus are pegged at 13.27 percent while a category of religious compositions pegged as ‘others’ – a possible reference to the indigenous tribal religions – is at 11.52 percent. The first Christian missionaries arrived in the mid nineteenth century to work amongst the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia tribes living in the region that now comprises Meghalaya. Despite the long entrenched history of Christian conversions in the state, there exists a significant minority population of tribals who have steadfastly continued to practice their indigenous religions – their beliefs often spliced with a thin wedge of resentment against those who have chosen to convert. The RSS plans of ‘expanding the base in the region’ capitalises on this wedge of resentment with children and their education being — as Shetty admits — the starting points of engagement.
The Thinkabettu Higher Primary and Secondary School in remote Uppur — nearly 500 km from Bengaluru — is one of the 35 schools in Karnataka where the children are studying. In 2008, 17 students between six and seven years were brought to this school from Meghalaya. Following instructions from the head of the school, the children of Thinkabettu School stand up, announce their names politely in Kannada, the local language, and sit down again on the bare floor. Ask the head of the school to introduce himself and he refuses, saying, “You have come to see the children, here they are. If I give you my name, you will use it against me.” The only details forthcoming are that he is a retired bank employee and that the school, which is a century old, was started by his father. A woman in the corner is revealed to be his wife, Nirmala.
Introductions done, the children are asked to recite the latest prayer that they have memorised. Hands folded and eyes closed, the children, with shorn heads and in ragged clothes, begin a Brahminical chant that is a tribute to the teacher — Guru Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Guru Devo Maheshwara. The children are sitting in the same hall that serves as their school and hostel. They live and breathe, eat and sleep and study on that same barren floor. A 30-watt bulb, a blackboard and a few books and slates neatly lined up complete the picture. An ancient fridge and a ramshackle sofa separate the children’s space from the kitchen area of the hall.
HARD FACTS
1,600 children brought to Karnataka from Meghalaya since 2001
The latest batch of 160 children arrived in Bengaluru on June 7, accompanied by 30 RSS volunteers
Siblings are always separated to ensure better discipline
Most schools where children are studying are in the communally disturbed coastal districts of Karnataka
While most children are from poorer backgrounds, richer families who are RSS sympathisers pay up to Rs 16,000 a year
Children often forget their native languages
Drawn from remote and often inaccessible villages across four districts in Meghalaya — Ri Bhoi, West Khasi Hills, East Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills — the children taken by the RSS to study in Karnataka belong to the Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities. Traditionally, the Khasi tribes follow the Seng Khasi religion, while the Jaintias follow Niamtre religion. Ask Manje Gowda, Headmaster at the Sri Adichunchanagiri Higher Primary School in BG Nagar, Mandya district where 38 children from Meghalaya currently study, why students are taken out of Meghalaya and he echoes Shetty’s logic, “If the children had stayed on in Meghalaya they would have been converted to Christianity by now. The RSS is trying to protect them. The education that the children receive here includes strong cultural values. When they go back home, after their education, they will help propagate these values to their families.”
The cultural values that Gowda talks of imparting to children include familiarity with Brahiminical chants, Hindu religious festivals, and a weaning away from an overwhelmingly non-vegetarian Meghalayan diet to vegetarianism. How could this possibly help the RSS in expanding their base? Shetty told TEHELKA that indoctrination of cultural values and discipline was the first step. “It is important that children imbibe these values early on. It will bring them closer to us and away from the Christian way of life.
We teach them shlokas so they will not recite hymns. We take them away from meat so they will abhor the animal sacrifice that is inherent in their own religion,” he says. “Ultimately, when the RSS tells them that the cow is a sacred animal and that all those who kill and eat it have no place in our society, these children will listen,” he recounts calmly. Are these children being groomed to be the future foot soldiers of RSS? Shetty’s only answer is that they will part of ‘the family’ in one way or another and that time will decide.
As TEHELKA found, across schools in different districts of Karnataka, the cultural values imparted did not vary. The degrees of immersion into the RSS credo, however, depended on the schools the children were placed in. Children who came from financially stable homes were placed in schools with proper educational and hostel facilities since parents were able to pay for them. In these schools, the disciplinary regime imposed on the children was more relaxed compared to the schools where children from poorer families were placed. TEHELKA found that 60 percent of the children it met came from economically weaker families. Subsequently, the schools that these children were placed in resembled the Thinkabettu school in Uppur where both education and lodging facilities were free and dismal.
Most of the schools where the children have been placed are located in the coastal belt of Karnataka, the region that has emerged as the centre of communal violence in the state. The places include Puttur, Kalladka, Kaup, Kollur, Uppur, Deralakatte, Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmaglur districts. Besides these, the children have been placed in schools run by influential ashrams such as the JSS Mutt in Suttur, the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt in Mandya district and the Murugrajendra Mutt in Chitradurga district.
How do children from Meghalaya end up thousands of kilometres away in Karnataka? What is the modus operandi? Almost every child and parent that TEHELKA spoke with identified Tukaram Shetty as the man who proposed the idea of educating children in Karnataka, offered to take the children there and then ultimately accompanied the children to Karnataka.
A former Seva Bharati (an RSS-affiliated community service organization) worker, Shetty is the official face of the Lei Synshar Cultural Society, a shell organisation established to maintain the required official distance from the RSS. In fact, the Lei Synshar Cultural Society is utterly unknown even outside its own head office in Jowai in the Jaintia Hills district. Ask for Tukaram or Bah Ram as he is called in Meghalaya and there are instant flashes of recognition. Outside the capital city, Shillong, right down to the village level, people easily recognise the RSS as the organisation that takes children to Karnataka. The organisation runs three offices in the Jaintia Hills district – in Jowai, Nartiang and Shongpong. Besides, there are several spaces occupied by the Seva Bharati and Kalyan Ashram organizations which help in the identification and transport of children.
RSS organiser Tukaram Shetty candidly admitted that the children were part of a larger RSS mission to ‘protect’ them from Christian missionaries
YOLIN KHARUMINI, a teacher at a local Seng Khasi school and resident at Shillong’s Kalyan Ashram described the process. “We are asked to identify families that have not converted to Christianity and are firm in their belief in indigenous religions — Seng Khasi and Niamtre. Usually, these are families that nurse some form of resentment against Christians. Offers are made to these families to have their children educated in Karnataka. We always tell them that they will be educated according to Seng Khasi or Niamtre traditions.” Kharumini’s own niece, Kerdamon Kharumini, studies in Mangala Nursing School in Karnataka. Lists are drawn up based on the parents’ capacity to afford the child’s education and hostel facilities.
Continuing the narrative, Khatbiang Rymbai, a Class 10 student at Vidya - niketan School in Kaup, Udupi district described in detail how 200 children travelled to Bengaluru from various villages. “There were many young children. So when they divided us into groups of 13-14, the older children were put in charge. In Shillong, we were all given identification tags which had mobile numbers and the Jowai address of the Lei Synshar Cultural Society. From there, we traveled in Tata Sumos to Guwahati to take the train to Bengaluru,” she says. In Bengaluru, they were taken to the RSS office before being split into groups to go to their respective schools.
The children are taught to avoid meat so they will start to abhor the religious sacrifices that are part and parcel of their native religions
In a chilling admission, an RSS worker in Shillong, Prafulla Chandra Koch and the head of the Thinkabettu school told TEHELKA that care is always taken to ensure that any siblings are separated from each other. “It is easier to discipline them if they are not together. We have to control them if we have to mould them. The lesser the contact they have with home, the better it is, really,” he stated.
TEHELKA met with several siblings placed in different schools – Khatbiang’s brother Supplybiang Rymbai was placed in Prashanti Vidya Kendra in Kasargod, Kerala while she studies in Vidyaniketan school near Udupi in Karnataka. Yet another student at Vidyaniketan, Reenborn Tariang admitted to having a sister, Wanboklin Tariang, at the JSS Mutt school in Mysore. Bedd Sympli at the Abhinav Bharati Boys Hostel in Mandya district has a sister studying in Vidyaniketan, Udupi district; Iwanroi Langbang a student at the Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt school in Mandya district had a sister, Daiamonlangki, at the Vanishree school in Shimoga district. There is not one instance of siblings studying together. Ask the children why they were separated and there are no answers.
WHEN TEHELKA asked parents why they had chosen to place their children in different schools, they admitted they were only informed of it several months after the children had started school. Says Klis Rymbai, Khatbiang and Supplybiang’s older sister, “When they left home, all we knew was that they would go to Bengaluru. We had no details of the school they would go to – not even a name or address. Much later, we realised that Khatbiang and Supplybiang were separated and that they were not in Bengaluru. Khatbiang also told us she was repeating Class VIII after she got admitted into school. The RSS promised to take care of our children and we trusted them.” Klis admits that her family is attempting to bring Supplybiang back to Meghalaya. “He has not adjusted well and is still young so we want him to come back. Khatbiang has already lost a year so it is best she finishes school there,” says Klis. The Rymbais are extremely well off, having made their money through mining in the Jaintia Hills district. The father, Koren Chyrmang, is an RSS sympathiser, who, besides sending his own children, has helped convince other families to send their children across. “He used to be very active but has fallen sick of late This has prevented him from traveling to other villages in this area with the RSS,” says Klis.
The physical and mental impact of studying in school environments diametrically opposed to their culture, language, religion, and food habits has been devastating. In the schools that TEHELKA visited, hostel wardens, heads of schools and the children themselves admitted to having had serious physical problems given the differences in climatic conditions between their villages in Meghalaya and schools in Karnataka. In the Deenabandhu Children’s Home, Chamarajnagar, Karnataka, according to the Secretary, GS Jayadev, the six-year-olds from Meghalaya — Shining Lamo, Sibin Ryngkhlem and Spid Khongshei — had skin rashes for over a month as their bodies tried to acclimatise to the heat of Karnataka. Besides rashes, Spid’s eyes turned bloodshot. Doctors at the hospital where Spid was taken by school authorities told them that it was a natural reaction to the altitudinal differences.
In Thinkabettu school, too, children had severe sunburns on their faces, hands and legs though they had already spent three months in Karnataka when TEHELKA visited them. The situation was no different with the children studying in the Kalabyraveshwara Sanskrit College run by the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in Nagamangala. Of the 11 children from Meghalaya who were placed in this school, the oldest, Iohidahun Rabon (see box) told TEHELKA that the three of the younger ones — Sowatki Chulet, Tailang Nongdam and Perskimlang Nongkrot — were chronically ill since they had not taken to the food being given to them.
The physical and mental impact of living in environments diametrically opposed to their culture, language, religion and food is devastating
The psychological impact of the move was also obvious on several children. In all the schools that TEHELKA visited seeking information about children from Meghalaya, the school authorities summoned the children from their classes and instructed them to introduce themselves in Kannada. For the authorities, it was a matter of great pride that children who had no association with Kannada had been taught the language well. That students who did not know a word of Sanskrit earlier now recited Sanskrit prayers with great clarity. In the Sri Adichunchanagiri Higher Primary School in BG Nagar, Mandya district, the headmaster, Manje Gowda, flung a Kannada newspaper at a student from Meghalaya, ordering him to read it. Obediently, in a low voice, devoid of any expression, the boy proceeded to read a few sentences, before quietly folding and placing the newspaper back on the headmaster’s desk. Till he was sent away, the boy never looked up. In school after school, the same scene unfolded with variations in the demonstrations of skill and familiarity with Kannada and Sanskrit.
While the authorities claimed that the students from Meghalaya had integrated well with the rest, there was overwhelming evidence to suggest otherwise. A few minutes of conversation with the children brought out stories of how they were laughed at because their names were unfamiliar and because they looked different. Invariably, and especially amongst the older students, relationships were forged with others from Meghalaya. In classrooms, six or seven students from Meghalaya squeezed into a bench meant to seat four children. Speaking Kannada had integrated the children only so far. Faced with animosity, they have withdrawn into the familiar. In schools where this was not a possibility given the limited number of students from Meghalaya, they withdrew into themselves.
The locations of the schools did not help alleviate their isolation at all. Iwanroi Langbang, a Class IX student currently staying in Nagamangala (about 150 kms from Bengaluru), talked of her disappointment at not studying in Bengaluru. “We were only told that I would be studying in Bengaluru. It was only after I came here that I heard the name of the school and realised that it was very far from Bengaluru. Here, we are not allowed outside the compound wall. And even if we get away, there is nothing outside,” said Langbang. Her school is located off an isolated stretch of the state highway.
A consequence of completely immersing young children from Meghalaya in a Kannada-speaking environment was visible at the Deenabandhu Children’s Home in Chamarajnagar district. A caretaker at the Home described one child’s growing familiarity with Kannada, “Sibin [one of the children at the Home] has picked up a lot of Kannada in the two months he has been here. During a phone call from a relative back home, he kept answering questions in Kannada which obviously they did not understand at all.” In a shocking display of insensitivity, the caretaker burst into laughter at what she thought was a hilarious incident and added, “For 45 minutes, a woman, I assume his mother, kept trying. Sibin, of course, had no answers since he had forgotten his own language.” She giggled. The caretaker then proceeded to teach Sibin the Kannada word for dinner.
ACCORDING TO Sibin’s birth certificate, he is six. Yet another certificate issued by the village headman of Sibin’s village, Mihmyntdu, certifies that he comes from a poor family and needs help for his education. TEHELKA was unable to contact his parents.
The physical and mental consequences suffered by children from Meghalaya differ from the everyday story of children placed in several thousand boarding schools across the country. That there is a larger plan behind the transportation of these children is something that RSS workers like Koch, have no qualms admitting.
Why are parents willing to send young children aged only six and seven to a distant place? In the face of these overwhelming disadvantages to the children, during visits with parents across eight villages in Meghalaya, TEHELKA found that parents — mostly poor — handed over their children to the RSS in the belief that their kids would be well cared for, as promised. Often, the transportation of children followed kinship routes, with younger siblings following older ones. While this may seem to defy logic, examined closely, it speaks of the intricate web of lies that the RSS has managed to weave, webs that ensnare parents, school authorities and often the children themselves. There are multiple untruths that are the foundation of this entire process.
PARENTS HAVE GIVEN THEIR CONSENT IN WRITING
Why are parents willing to send their children far from home? The mostly poor parents believe the RSS’ promises that the kids will be taken care of
When TEHELKA approached schools in Karnataka seeking papers that legalise the transfers of children across states, letters signed by the village headman or the Rangbah Shnong attesting to the family’s poor economic condition were handed out along with birth and caste certificates. Across different schools that TEHELKA visited, not a single letter was produced with the parents’ signature that stated explicitly that the care of their children was handed over to that particular school. No parent that TEHELKA met in Meghalaya had copies of any signed consent letter signed. Under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 – such consent letters are mandatory for legal transfers of children.
The transportation of children, then, with no official papers sanctioning the move, is in clear violation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act of 2000. Under this law, the RSS can be held guilty of child trafficking.
THE CHILDREN ARE IN SCHOOLS RUN ACCORDING TO THEIR SENG KHASI OR NIAMTRE RELIGIONS
Amongst the Khasi and Jaintia tribes, there is a tenuous relationship between those who have converted to Christianity and those who have not. The RSS carefully selects children from poor families who have not converted to Christianity. “I was told that the only way to protect my daughter from conversion was to send her outside. If I didn’t, the Church would take them away and make them priests and nuns,” said Biye Nongrum in Swer village. “I was afraid for my daughter and so I agreed to hand her over,” she says. Six years after her daughter left home, Biye has no details of the school that she is studying in. All she has is a class photograph. “I don’t have the money to visit my daughter and bring her back, even if I find out where she is. But I will never send another child away,” she says. Biye ekes out a living by selling sweet pancakes to richer families in the village. The ramshackle house that she shares with her mother and at least three other children further signal her poverty stricken condition. The socioeconomic status of the families are an indication of why it is difficult for the parents to ever bring their children back — they simply cannot afford it.
Several parents told TEHELKA that the RSS schools where their children were studying were schools that upheld their indigenous religions – a rationale that has many takers. In Jel Chyrmang’s home in Mookhep village, TEHELKA found a framed photograph of Jel’s daughter, Rani Chyrmang, being felicitated by the patron saint of her school, Sri Balagangadharnath. Ask Jel who the saffron-robed saint is and she blithely repeats what she has been told, a story that would be hilarious if the circumstances were not so sad. According to Jel, Sri Balagangadharnath is a Seng Khasi saint who runs her daughter’s school. There is no doubt in her voice at all. Jel’s ignorance, however, does not extend to others in the family. Her husband, Denis Siangshai, who contested the recent Lok Sabha elections, turns out to be an RSS worker. Using his daughter as an example, he admitted to having convinced others in the area as well. “People have a wrong notion of RSS. I always tell them that the RSS will give them good education and culture,” says Denis.
The transportation of children without clear consent letters from parents and guardians is a clear violation of the Juvenile Justice Act
Most parents have no idea that the schools chosen by the RSS espouse a different ideology. Besides the forced culturisation, even the libraries and books handed out to the students are RSS publications from recognized right-wing publishing houses in Bengaluru. In the JSS Ashram school, the library was stocked with publications of RSS ideologues published from Bharata Samskruti Prakashana (Indian Culture Publications). No trace of Seng Khasi teachings or Niamtre practices.
THE CHILDREN ARE ABANDONED AND DESTITUTE
For a non-tribal society like Karnataka, the notion of a father abandoning the family is seen as a social and economic disaster. Meghalaya, though, is a matrilineal society, where men move to live with women in their villages. Mothers continue to remain the primary caretakers. Even if the mother dies, the child is brought up by relatives and is never entirely abandoned.
THE CHILDREN HAVE ADJUSTED WELL
When children first leave Meghalaya, parents and children are not aware where the children will ultimately be taken. As direct communication between the children and parents is limited owing to the socio-economic conditions of the parents and the lack of facilities at the schools, the RSS is the main intermediary between the two. The RSS tells parents that the children are happy and well adjusted in their new environments. The reality is something else.
Raplangki Dkhar, a standard VI student at Vidyaniketan, was clearly waiting for his uncle to come take him home. “Only if people from home come and take us, we can go back. Every year when school ends, we hear that we will be taken back. But it has been two years already,” said a forlorn Raplangki. Only two of the children TEHELKA met had ever returned home to visit. Back in Raplangki’s hometown in Raliang, Meghalaya, when TEHELKA asked his uncle why he had not visited Raplangki, he is surprised, “I had no reason to doubt the fact that my nephew has adjusted well. At every RSS meeting in Jowai we are assured by them that the kids are healthy and happy.”
Direct phone calls between children and parents are dependent entirely on the parents’ finances. If the parents have not been able to pay for the child’s education, the schools that they are placed in are often the free orphanages run by the Mutts, where access to phones is non-existent, as is the case with the free hostel run by the Sri Adichunchanagiri Mutt.
For the RSS, these falsifications are part of a process. A process that is bound to add an additional layer of complexity amongst the people of Meghalaya, quite apart from the mental and social costs inflicted on young children.
WRITER’S EMAIL
sanjana(at)tehelka.com
_____
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 26, Dated July 04, 2009
‘The Children Will Champion Hinduism’
At the Kalyan Ashram in Shillong, Prafulla Chandra Koch and Sukanto Borman, two RSS workers, talked with TEHELKA about what the RSS hopes to gain through the programme. Both refused to be photographed.
For how many years have the children been taken to Karnataka? How many have gone?
SB: I am not sure about the years, but I know there are more than 1,500 to 1,600 children in schools in Karnataka. Every year, Tukaram Shetty takes more children with him.
But why don’t you start schools here? Why send them to Karnataka?
PCK: In some villages, we help village councils run schools. We pay their teachers’ salaries. This isn’t possible in many villages since the Christians are everywhere here. This programme is also about culture. The children are sent to schools in Karnataka to imbibe good cultural values.
What values are you talking about?
SB: That we are all Hindus and that Hindus have to stick together...
PCK: (interrupts) When they stay in Karnataka, they are exposed to many other children. They learn to live in harmony with them. They carry the love and acceptance they get there back to Meghalaya and spread it to their parents. Right now, outsiders or dakkar are viewed with a lot of suspicion but this will change after some years, making our work easier.
‘WE CAN’T CALL IT A SHAKHA YET, BUT GIVE US ANOTHER YEAR’
What specific gains does the RSS hope for?
PCK: Since these children are educated in RSS schools, they will adopt the Hindu religion. Already, we have seen children refusing to eat meat when they return. They will also teach their parents to follow in their footsteps. Over time, the children who return will champion the Hindu way of life in Meghalaya.
That is a really long-term agenda.
PCK: We benefit immediately too. Four to five times a year, we hold compulsory meetings with the parents of children sent to Karnataka, usually in Jowai. RSS pracharaks attend these meetings. We share information with the parents and ask them if their children have been in touch with them and what they have been saying. Besides this, discussions also revolve around conversions and the problems that are created by Christians in Meghalaya. We can’t call it a shakha yet, but give us another year.
June 27, 2009
Restoring green in valley
Restoring Green in the Valley
Ram Puniyani
On 29th May night (2009) in Shopian in Kashmir, two girls Nilofer and Asiya were raped and murdered. The administration tried to prove that it was a case of death due to drowning. The valley erupted into severe protests. The favorite slogan of the protesters from last several years has been, Hamen Kya Chahiye-Azadi (what do we want-Freedom). Every act of trampling on the interests of the people of valley leads to the same. Last time it took place when the Amarnath agitation sparked by the faulty move of Pro BJP governor of Kashmir, to acquire vast stretch of land for the shrine.
The present incident is very disturbing. It shows the role of the army and para-military forces, the attitude of administration in toeing lines which are very much insulting to the people of Kashmir, which cover up the crimes of the forces. Also one should note the tragic plight of the Kashmiri’s and more so the Kashmiri women at the hands of the people with the gun, the militants and the army both. The rising militancy in Kashmir has led to the deployment of more and more forces in Kashmir. Last two decades in particular have seen the life drying out there, and the suffering of people caught in the cross fire between the militant-terrorist outfits and the Indian armed personnel.
The popular perception has been that the Kashmir issue is due to the separatism of Muslims, and that Islam and Jihad is the major culprit. Kashmir has been mired right from the beginning by the ultra nationalism of Hindu right pressuring the Indian government to abolish article 370 and fully merge Kashmir with India. After the tragic partition of India, Kashmir’s Raja Harisingh decided to remain independent. The Hindutva forces in valley said that a Hindu Kingdom Kashmir (since the king was a Hindu) should not merge with secular India. When Pakistan’s army, disguised as tribals, attacked Kashmir, the People of Kashmir as represented by the National Conference with its leader Sheikh Abdullah, did not want to merge with Pakistan.
In the face of aggression Maharaja Harising appealed to Indian government to send its army to protect Kashmir from the attack by Pakistan army. On the insistence of Sheikh Abdullah in particular, the army was sent after the treaty of accession was signed. With Indian army intervention, Kashmir’s 2/3 became part of India with all the clauses of autonomy, article 370. With general elections Sheikh Abdullah swept the polls and became the Prime Minister of Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah must be credited as being one of the most progressive leaders of the time as he was determined to undertake land reforms, which he did once he came to power.
Immediately after the treaty was signed Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the leader of Hindu Mahasabha, started campaigning for abolishing the clauses of autonomy and to forcibly merge it with India. This pressure had its effect and the attitude of Indian Government, over a period of time, hardened towards the autonomy clauses. With such attitude developing, Sheikh felt regret for his decision for accession, started loud rethinking and started talking to other countries, including the US and China. With this the Indian Govt. declared him as anti National and he was imprisoned for long years. This in turn led to the alienation of Kashmir people. As such on one hand Kashmir has been the victim of global imperialist policy on one hand and the attempts to go back from the promise of autonomy, on the other. US was clear that in the geographically crucial area, Kashmir, which has its border with many countries, cannot be left alone and so its stooge Pakistan did all possible to help the disgruntled elements in Kashmir. The later events showed the attitude of India and Pakistan as powers trying to take hold of the real Estate called Kashmir. Kashmir was seen not as constituted by people with their own aspirations but as a piece of property.
In all fairness it must be said till Nehru was alive he cautioned restraint and believed in winning over the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir. Even at his time the pressure of Ultra Nationalists inside and outside the Government kept going up and gradually army was projected as the answer to the ‘problem of Kashmir.’ Ironically Pakistan which so far has been in the chains of the rule of Army, Mullahs and America, named the part of Kashmir, under its control as Azad Kashmir (Independent Kashmir)! And freedom for Kashmir has been the favorite theme of most of the dictators ruling the roost, of course with due support from Uncle Sam. What an irony; Dictators talking of Freedom! The trajectory of events is long, how after Sheikh Abdullah’s concern of autonomy changed over to Independence in the decades of 1970s, and in 1980-1990 to armed struggle for Azad Kashmir.
Interestingly after the defeat of Al Qaeda elements in Afghanistan, many of them turned their attention to Kashmir and partly communalized the issue. Mostly the theme of the Kashmir struggle has been Kashmiriyat, a concept which incorporates the values of Vedanta, Buddha and Sufis.
India kept sending more and more armed personnel to ‘solve’ the problem. There has been one Indian soldier for every 6-7 Kashmiris. What can be the life under such circumstances? Army is meant to fight the enemies, and not for any prolonged stay in any area. The army stay, domination in an area creates different type of vested interests. Army is no holy cow! From times immemorial army has been plundering and raping apart form other things. While it will be wrong to tar all the armed personnel with single brush, it is also true that section of army’s attitude to women has not been any thing good to write about. Be it the case of Manorama in the North East or the present case of Nilofer and Asiya, the tale is tragic.
The good news from Kashmir has been that last tow lections have been conducted fairly democratically, and even the separatists like Sajjad Lone are now opting for the democratic system with changed equation in Pakistan, with democracy struggling to come in there, the portents are healthy. It is time that army is withdrawn at a rapid pace, democratic process is deepened, guilty of violence against women and their protectors are punished and army rests in barracks rather than dictating terms in Kashmir. Hope Mr. Chidambaram promise in this direction does not remain merely on paper.
Ram Puniyani
On 29th May night (2009) in Shopian in Kashmir, two girls Nilofer and Asiya were raped and murdered. The administration tried to prove that it was a case of death due to drowning. The valley erupted into severe protests. The favorite slogan of the protesters from last several years has been, Hamen Kya Chahiye-Azadi (what do we want-Freedom). Every act of trampling on the interests of the people of valley leads to the same. Last time it took place when the Amarnath agitation sparked by the faulty move of Pro BJP governor of Kashmir, to acquire vast stretch of land for the shrine.
The present incident is very disturbing. It shows the role of the army and para-military forces, the attitude of administration in toeing lines which are very much insulting to the people of Kashmir, which cover up the crimes of the forces. Also one should note the tragic plight of the Kashmiri’s and more so the Kashmiri women at the hands of the people with the gun, the militants and the army both. The rising militancy in Kashmir has led to the deployment of more and more forces in Kashmir. Last two decades in particular have seen the life drying out there, and the suffering of people caught in the cross fire between the militant-terrorist outfits and the Indian armed personnel.
The popular perception has been that the Kashmir issue is due to the separatism of Muslims, and that Islam and Jihad is the major culprit. Kashmir has been mired right from the beginning by the ultra nationalism of Hindu right pressuring the Indian government to abolish article 370 and fully merge Kashmir with India. After the tragic partition of India, Kashmir’s Raja Harisingh decided to remain independent. The Hindutva forces in valley said that a Hindu Kingdom Kashmir (since the king was a Hindu) should not merge with secular India. When Pakistan’s army, disguised as tribals, attacked Kashmir, the People of Kashmir as represented by the National Conference with its leader Sheikh Abdullah, did not want to merge with Pakistan.
In the face of aggression Maharaja Harising appealed to Indian government to send its army to protect Kashmir from the attack by Pakistan army. On the insistence of Sheikh Abdullah in particular, the army was sent after the treaty of accession was signed. With Indian army intervention, Kashmir’s 2/3 became part of India with all the clauses of autonomy, article 370. With general elections Sheikh Abdullah swept the polls and became the Prime Minister of Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah must be credited as being one of the most progressive leaders of the time as he was determined to undertake land reforms, which he did once he came to power.
Immediately after the treaty was signed Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the leader of Hindu Mahasabha, started campaigning for abolishing the clauses of autonomy and to forcibly merge it with India. This pressure had its effect and the attitude of Indian Government, over a period of time, hardened towards the autonomy clauses. With such attitude developing, Sheikh felt regret for his decision for accession, started loud rethinking and started talking to other countries, including the US and China. With this the Indian Govt. declared him as anti National and he was imprisoned for long years. This in turn led to the alienation of Kashmir people. As such on one hand Kashmir has been the victim of global imperialist policy on one hand and the attempts to go back from the promise of autonomy, on the other. US was clear that in the geographically crucial area, Kashmir, which has its border with many countries, cannot be left alone and so its stooge Pakistan did all possible to help the disgruntled elements in Kashmir. The later events showed the attitude of India and Pakistan as powers trying to take hold of the real Estate called Kashmir. Kashmir was seen not as constituted by people with their own aspirations but as a piece of property.
In all fairness it must be said till Nehru was alive he cautioned restraint and believed in winning over the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir. Even at his time the pressure of Ultra Nationalists inside and outside the Government kept going up and gradually army was projected as the answer to the ‘problem of Kashmir.’ Ironically Pakistan which so far has been in the chains of the rule of Army, Mullahs and America, named the part of Kashmir, under its control as Azad Kashmir (Independent Kashmir)! And freedom for Kashmir has been the favorite theme of most of the dictators ruling the roost, of course with due support from Uncle Sam. What an irony; Dictators talking of Freedom! The trajectory of events is long, how after Sheikh Abdullah’s concern of autonomy changed over to Independence in the decades of 1970s, and in 1980-1990 to armed struggle for Azad Kashmir.
Interestingly after the defeat of Al Qaeda elements in Afghanistan, many of them turned their attention to Kashmir and partly communalized the issue. Mostly the theme of the Kashmir struggle has been Kashmiriyat, a concept which incorporates the values of Vedanta, Buddha and Sufis.
India kept sending more and more armed personnel to ‘solve’ the problem. There has been one Indian soldier for every 6-7 Kashmiris. What can be the life under such circumstances? Army is meant to fight the enemies, and not for any prolonged stay in any area. The army stay, domination in an area creates different type of vested interests. Army is no holy cow! From times immemorial army has been plundering and raping apart form other things. While it will be wrong to tar all the armed personnel with single brush, it is also true that section of army’s attitude to women has not been any thing good to write about. Be it the case of Manorama in the North East or the present case of Nilofer and Asiya, the tale is tragic.
The good news from Kashmir has been that last tow lections have been conducted fairly democratically, and even the separatists like Sajjad Lone are now opting for the democratic system with changed equation in Pakistan, with democracy struggling to come in there, the portents are healthy. It is time that army is withdrawn at a rapid pace, democratic process is deepened, guilty of violence against women and their protectors are punished and army rests in barracks rather than dictating terms in Kashmir. Hope Mr. Chidambaram promise in this direction does not remain merely on paper.
Faith; Instilling Unity
Faith: Instilling Unity
One has heard that faith can move mountains, but currently one looks forward to see that it restores peace and justice in society. We have been hearing about various Inter Faith Dialogues from quite some time. One such high level dialogue took place in Mumbai in second week of June 2009. This was attended by top clergy from Hindu and Christian religions. It came to the understanding that there should be no violence against minorities, there should be no conversions and that religious organizations will pool together their resources for charity.
The need for interfaith dialogue has been felt very acutely in the light of violence in the name of religion, which has intensified during last couple of decades. Faith has been misused during this time to launch violence by vested interests. The aim of this use, nay abuse, of faith for political goals was a very well calculated move by vested interests to come to power. Surely interfaith dialogue is the best contribution the clergy can make for the peace of society. It is also true that it is not the clergy which is instrumental in misuse of faith.
In last three decades faith has been misused for political goals by US when it resorted to cultivating terror groups and then launched War on Terror, unleashed ‘crusade’ and attacked Afghanistan. Then the Al Qaeda, Taliban types liberally misused the word Jihad, Kafir in an insane manner to launch their ‘revenge’ offensive, apparently for the glory of their faith. In India the adverse effect of Al Qaeda violence added on to the misuse of faith here. At another level with Ram Rath Yatra, as it was riding on the chariot of faith and leaving behind the trail of blood, the misuse of faith for divisive politics tormented the society. Those blinded by lust for power saw the resurgence of faith around the chariot and ignored the spilling of blood in the back. It did achieve the purpose of sectarian forces occupying the seats of power for six long years.
The other misuse of faith was around defense of Hindu faith by organizations in Adivasi areas. A group of swamis descended in these Adivasi areas and dubbed the charity work done by section of missionaries as being a danger to Hindu faith and so burnt a Pastor from Australia working amongst Leprosy patients and backed it up by further misuse of faith in unleashing violence in the Adivasi belt from Dangs to Orissa.
The clergy’s effort in the direction of restoring peace is laudable. Though the problem is not of their making they do realize a large section of society looks up to them for guidance. The organizations of religion have a very different role to play in today’s World. True, in feudal times, clergy was associated with the kings and legitimized the system of economic exploitation, social subjugation of landed labor and women. Today when democracy is struggling to be the norm, clergy has to play a different role. It should not associate with powers that be to perpetuate the unjust social, economic system. They have to act as the soothing balm to the suffering humanity. It is in this direction that the meeting of Archbishops and Shankarachayas is a welcome move. With such dialogues the perpetuators of violence in the name of religion will loose their legitimacy after such pronouncements by the men of religion, and that will be a big step in curbing the violence, emasculating the politics deriving its legitimacy in the name of religion.
One point which strikes in the discourse of these holy people is their emphasis on spirituality. While Cardinal Gracias said ours is a spiritual country, Sri Sarswati went in to call that India should be declared as a spiritual state. There is some problem here. Being spiritual is a personal Endeavour, effort to discover oneself, to connect one self with the divine powers etc., is a personal matter, not the matter for state apparatus to deal with. The state cannot be and should not be declared spiritual. In modern times even religion which has visible aspects in the form of identity markers cannot be a state matter. Spirituality is an abstract concept, persons’ own path to be at peace in the universe. Many a mystics, saints adopted the path of spirituality as a way of life for themselves. Spirituality can be expressed, but not transferred. In democratic society as religion is a personal matter, spirituality is much more so. Individual path of spirituality of people cannot make the state as spiritual. State has to have its own norms of laws, schemes for welfare of material betterment of its citizens.
As such the formulation that India is a spiritual nation is not a new one. It began with British coming to India. They propounded that India is essentially a religious country and spiritualism is its core. This myth was started by British rulers who were consolidating their hegemony over India. The sole aim of such a fabrication was to dominate the political, social machinery, the 'material realm' of socie¬ty, while leaving the 'spiritual arena' for the Indians. The idea was to flatter the Indians away from the matters of civil and political society, where they wanted to establish unhindered hegemony.
The fact is, India was the cradle for multiple rich materi¬al pursuits: trade and commerce, which was well developed, Indian traders going far and wide for their business pursuits, crafts¬manship had reached its glorious heights in different professions. Art and architecture had a rich spectrum to offer from the paintings of Kangada Kalam, to temples of Khajuraho, to the majestic palaces of Kings to Taj Mahal. It was a comprehensive develop¬ment of all the faculties of society, spiritual and material. This civilization and culture had rich inputs from different cultures, which came and interacted with the local cultures. Starting from Aryans down to British, all those who came contributed to the culture of this land. Indian cul¬ture is a rich outcome of interaction of multiple cultures and syncretic traditions which not only left their deep mark on the ‘way of life' of the people but also a pleasant imprint on the social and cultural lie of society.
So while welcoming the move to understand each other, to shun from looking at the ‘other’ in a humiliating way, to having a pro-active affinity for each others’ positive values, one also hopes clergy tunes itself to the values of democratic society and democratic ethos rather than stick to formulations which are either borrowed from the practitioners of divisive politics or from the past, which have no relevance today.
--
One has heard that faith can move mountains, but currently one looks forward to see that it restores peace and justice in society. We have been hearing about various Inter Faith Dialogues from quite some time. One such high level dialogue took place in Mumbai in second week of June 2009. This was attended by top clergy from Hindu and Christian religions. It came to the understanding that there should be no violence against minorities, there should be no conversions and that religious organizations will pool together their resources for charity.
The need for interfaith dialogue has been felt very acutely in the light of violence in the name of religion, which has intensified during last couple of decades. Faith has been misused during this time to launch violence by vested interests. The aim of this use, nay abuse, of faith for political goals was a very well calculated move by vested interests to come to power. Surely interfaith dialogue is the best contribution the clergy can make for the peace of society. It is also true that it is not the clergy which is instrumental in misuse of faith.
In last three decades faith has been misused for political goals by US when it resorted to cultivating terror groups and then launched War on Terror, unleashed ‘crusade’ and attacked Afghanistan. Then the Al Qaeda, Taliban types liberally misused the word Jihad, Kafir in an insane manner to launch their ‘revenge’ offensive, apparently for the glory of their faith. In India the adverse effect of Al Qaeda violence added on to the misuse of faith here. At another level with Ram Rath Yatra, as it was riding on the chariot of faith and leaving behind the trail of blood, the misuse of faith for divisive politics tormented the society. Those blinded by lust for power saw the resurgence of faith around the chariot and ignored the spilling of blood in the back. It did achieve the purpose of sectarian forces occupying the seats of power for six long years.
The other misuse of faith was around defense of Hindu faith by organizations in Adivasi areas. A group of swamis descended in these Adivasi areas and dubbed the charity work done by section of missionaries as being a danger to Hindu faith and so burnt a Pastor from Australia working amongst Leprosy patients and backed it up by further misuse of faith in unleashing violence in the Adivasi belt from Dangs to Orissa.
The clergy’s effort in the direction of restoring peace is laudable. Though the problem is not of their making they do realize a large section of society looks up to them for guidance. The organizations of religion have a very different role to play in today’s World. True, in feudal times, clergy was associated with the kings and legitimized the system of economic exploitation, social subjugation of landed labor and women. Today when democracy is struggling to be the norm, clergy has to play a different role. It should not associate with powers that be to perpetuate the unjust social, economic system. They have to act as the soothing balm to the suffering humanity. It is in this direction that the meeting of Archbishops and Shankarachayas is a welcome move. With such dialogues the perpetuators of violence in the name of religion will loose their legitimacy after such pronouncements by the men of religion, and that will be a big step in curbing the violence, emasculating the politics deriving its legitimacy in the name of religion.
One point which strikes in the discourse of these holy people is their emphasis on spirituality. While Cardinal Gracias said ours is a spiritual country, Sri Sarswati went in to call that India should be declared as a spiritual state. There is some problem here. Being spiritual is a personal Endeavour, effort to discover oneself, to connect one self with the divine powers etc., is a personal matter, not the matter for state apparatus to deal with. The state cannot be and should not be declared spiritual. In modern times even religion which has visible aspects in the form of identity markers cannot be a state matter. Spirituality is an abstract concept, persons’ own path to be at peace in the universe. Many a mystics, saints adopted the path of spirituality as a way of life for themselves. Spirituality can be expressed, but not transferred. In democratic society as religion is a personal matter, spirituality is much more so. Individual path of spirituality of people cannot make the state as spiritual. State has to have its own norms of laws, schemes for welfare of material betterment of its citizens.
As such the formulation that India is a spiritual nation is not a new one. It began with British coming to India. They propounded that India is essentially a religious country and spiritualism is its core. This myth was started by British rulers who were consolidating their hegemony over India. The sole aim of such a fabrication was to dominate the political, social machinery, the 'material realm' of socie¬ty, while leaving the 'spiritual arena' for the Indians. The idea was to flatter the Indians away from the matters of civil and political society, where they wanted to establish unhindered hegemony.
The fact is, India was the cradle for multiple rich materi¬al pursuits: trade and commerce, which was well developed, Indian traders going far and wide for their business pursuits, crafts¬manship had reached its glorious heights in different professions. Art and architecture had a rich spectrum to offer from the paintings of Kangada Kalam, to temples of Khajuraho, to the majestic palaces of Kings to Taj Mahal. It was a comprehensive develop¬ment of all the faculties of society, spiritual and material. This civilization and culture had rich inputs from different cultures, which came and interacted with the local cultures. Starting from Aryans down to British, all those who came contributed to the culture of this land. Indian cul¬ture is a rich outcome of interaction of multiple cultures and syncretic traditions which not only left their deep mark on the ‘way of life' of the people but also a pleasant imprint on the social and cultural lie of society.
So while welcoming the move to understand each other, to shun from looking at the ‘other’ in a humiliating way, to having a pro-active affinity for each others’ positive values, one also hopes clergy tunes itself to the values of democratic society and democratic ethos rather than stick to formulations which are either borrowed from the practitioners of divisive politics or from the past, which have no relevance today.
--
June 22, 2009
Reports nail Varun for hate speech
by Tapas Chakraborty
(The Telegraph, 22 June 2009)
Lucknow, June 21: Uttar Pradesh police are preparing to file a chargesheet against Varun Gandhi after two forensic reports confirmed independently that the voice in a hate-speech CD is his, sources said.
The Mayavati government had detained Varun, now a BJP member of Parliament, under the National Security Act for the anti-Muslim speech during his campaign in Pilibhit. But the Supreme Court gave him bail and then squashed the use of the NSA against him. Varun, 29, claims the CD was doctored.
Varun, however, was also booked in criminal cases under Election Commission orders for allegedly promoting enmity between religious groups, punishable by up to three years in jail. The charge-sheets will be filed in connection with these six cases, lodged in various Pilibhit police stations.
Pilibhit district magistrate Ajay Chauhan confirmed that two preliminary reports had arrived from the forensic science laboratories in Chandigarh and Hyderabad. “I have not seen the reports but I have been told by the police that they confirm that the voice in the CD was Varun’s,” he said.
A police source said the investigating officer, Mani Ram Rao, would travel to Chandigarh to get a detailed report. “After the detailed report is received, a charge-sheet along with the statements of forensic experts will be placed before the local court,” the source said.
In Lucknow, Varun’s lawyer Prashant Singh Atal said: “The charge-sheet is not expected to alter the status of Varun who is on bail.”
Varun’s mother and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said in New Delhi that the forensic reports gave a “one-sided version” and claimed the “entire tape is doctored”.
(The Telegraph, 22 June 2009)
Lucknow, June 21: Uttar Pradesh police are preparing to file a chargesheet against Varun Gandhi after two forensic reports confirmed independently that the voice in a hate-speech CD is his, sources said.
The Mayavati government had detained Varun, now a BJP member of Parliament, under the National Security Act for the anti-Muslim speech during his campaign in Pilibhit. But the Supreme Court gave him bail and then squashed the use of the NSA against him. Varun, 29, claims the CD was doctored.
Varun, however, was also booked in criminal cases under Election Commission orders for allegedly promoting enmity between religious groups, punishable by up to three years in jail. The charge-sheets will be filed in connection with these six cases, lodged in various Pilibhit police stations.
Pilibhit district magistrate Ajay Chauhan confirmed that two preliminary reports had arrived from the forensic science laboratories in Chandigarh and Hyderabad. “I have not seen the reports but I have been told by the police that they confirm that the voice in the CD was Varun’s,” he said.
A police source said the investigating officer, Mani Ram Rao, would travel to Chandigarh to get a detailed report. “After the detailed report is received, a charge-sheet along with the statements of forensic experts will be placed before the local court,” the source said.
In Lucknow, Varun’s lawyer Prashant Singh Atal said: “The charge-sheet is not expected to alter the status of Varun who is on bail.”
Varun’s mother and BJP MP Maneka Gandhi said in New Delhi that the forensic reports gave a “one-sided version” and claimed the “entire tape is doctored”.
The BJP’s substance is more important not leaders
by Mahesh Rangarajan
(Mail Today, 22 June 2009)
MUCH of the country’s politically acute media and public are glued to the new round of debate in the premier Opposition party. Senior leaders who had held onerous posts in the Vajpayee government are locked in bitter battles with those anointed to lead in the legislature.
It is tempting, all too much so, to see this as a clash of cultures. At a time many observers are obsessed with age, it is also natural to see this as a generational conflict.
Such a view ignores how crucial “ older men” have been at turning points in India’s recent history. It was a septuagenarian, PV Narasimha Rao, who took the leap for economic reform. It was another, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who crossed the nuclear Rubicon in the summer of 1998. Yet another, in July last year took India into the international nuclear community.
One might differ with these decisions but no one can deny their import. What matters is not the age of a leader, but what he or she stands for. One measure of this is by looking at the quality and timbre of the second line leaders that are mentored by them.
Few now recall it but Vajpayee in one of his last party conclaves as prime minister had referred to two men as the Rama and Lakshmana of the party. One was Advani, who had a five decade long equation with the PM; and the other was Pramod Mahajan.
As it turns out, Mahajan was snatched away by fate and an assassin’s bullet. Advani took on the mantle but fell short of it on most if not all counts.
Icons
He did more than read the mood of the voters wrong in the run up to the polls. His stance was far too aggressive for a society that had had enough of strife, conflict and division.
It was in the handling of defeat that he had tripped up. In 2004, the shock of defeat took a while to set in, with the chief leader insisting that it was a mere aggregate of state level results that had done them in. Perhaps he took as an axiom the comment he was fond of repeating in the early years of the decade when he claimed his was “ the natural party of governance.” The facts indicate otherwise.
India’s polity entered a phase where Congress was no longer hegemonic in 1989. In the ensuing period of some twenty two years, the BJP has governed as head of alliance governments for only six.
It is the premier non- Congress formation and no such alliance can but reflect its predominance. But it is now sinking in that the party is playing for the second spot.
There is — despite my hesitation on ascribing views as per a protagonist’s age — a leap in terms of generations.
Arun Jaitley was the elected president of the Delhi University Students’ Union who emerged to a hero’s welcome from jail in 1977. At the time Sushma Swaraj was to contest and win an MLA seat in Haryana as a socialist in the Janata Party.
This was the year when Vajpayee, Advani and Brijlal Verma served as cabinet ministers in India’s first ever non- Congress government. If 2004 marked the end of the Vajpayee era, then this year surely will be the curtain call for the Advani period.
At the time it was in power, the party saw itself as a harbinger of modernity. It would be an assertive India, with nuclear weapons, and first rate highways. It even dusted off the old plans of Colonel Dastur and KL Rao and proposed linking India’s rivers.
Looking back, it seems it was obsessed with what were icons and emblems of power in the mid- twentieth century. It was the world where the young Vajpayee and Advani cut their political teeth taking on no less than the Congress of Jawaharlal Nehru.
So enamoured were they with their opponents’ imagery that Atal was modelled by admirers on Nehru.
Advani settled for Sardar Patel as his role model. These were almost caricatures, but still they did matter.
It did not occur to them that the Congress itself has moved on as any mature political formation must. In doing so, Congress retrieved a great positive virtue of the Nehru period, the ability to access ideas and projects from the intelligentsia. For large sections of the modern and traditional literati, the aftermath of Gujarat and the Sangh Parivar’s association with its own icons ( from Ram Mandir to Ram Sethu), made Congress under Sonia appear like a breath of fresh air.
Lacking any taint of past associations with the Emergency or with the Babri Masjid demolition, she and then Rahul Gandhi scored over the BJP. It was not simply an issue of age. It was also one of having an ideology that sought to blend the competing claims of enterprise and equity, development and ecology, state building and local identity.
Hindutva
Jaswant Singh, who served as Finance, External Affairs and Defence Minister was right when he said he was not sure what Hindutva meant any more. And so was Shivraj Singh Chauhan who said simply that Hindutva meant vikas or development.
But if this were so, what is to be special about the party of cultural nationalism? In any case, the poor did not turn to the BJP as their party.
The Opposition party promised more grain per poor family per month and at lower price. It still did not fare better than Congress. Obviously, the memory of the Vajpayee period rankles among the poor. It was not seen as a sarkar that was with the aam aadmi.
Modernity
Conversely, there is the line of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, closer to the heart and soul of the Sangh than the other two members of the old trinity.
But it was under his tenure as HRD Minister that 23 universities got to list karmakand ( Hindu rites of sacrifice) as a humanities subject. To add to it astrology was to be listed as a science subject.
There can be no objection to the study of sacrifice or astrology, but funding these from the exchequer cannot be a modern project. In either case, it hardly seems a vision in keeping with a 21st century India.
Nor can denying the massacre in Gujarat work any more. Where it really needed to learn from a Nehru or a Patel in cracking down on violence, it failed to do so. If the older leadership was too imbued with the ideas of state building of the Fifties, today’s top echelon is unable to even come close to that.
The party and indeed the entire project of cultural nationalism is at a cross roads. It cannot for reasons of history and its very structure walk away from its parent, the RSS. The latter is not too pleased about the party being so remote from power.
Even the Gandhi family, its bête noire since Motilal Nehru’s days, has resurrected itself.
Without a serious rethink about what it stands for and who it represents, it cannot move forward. It is here that it is in a crisis. Who heads it matters less than what ideas it comes up with.
The writer teaches history in Delhi University
(Mail Today, 22 June 2009)
MUCH of the country’s politically acute media and public are glued to the new round of debate in the premier Opposition party. Senior leaders who had held onerous posts in the Vajpayee government are locked in bitter battles with those anointed to lead in the legislature.
It is tempting, all too much so, to see this as a clash of cultures. At a time many observers are obsessed with age, it is also natural to see this as a generational conflict.
Such a view ignores how crucial “ older men” have been at turning points in India’s recent history. It was a septuagenarian, PV Narasimha Rao, who took the leap for economic reform. It was another, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who crossed the nuclear Rubicon in the summer of 1998. Yet another, in July last year took India into the international nuclear community.
One might differ with these decisions but no one can deny their import. What matters is not the age of a leader, but what he or she stands for. One measure of this is by looking at the quality and timbre of the second line leaders that are mentored by them.
Few now recall it but Vajpayee in one of his last party conclaves as prime minister had referred to two men as the Rama and Lakshmana of the party. One was Advani, who had a five decade long equation with the PM; and the other was Pramod Mahajan.
As it turns out, Mahajan was snatched away by fate and an assassin’s bullet. Advani took on the mantle but fell short of it on most if not all counts.
Icons
He did more than read the mood of the voters wrong in the run up to the polls. His stance was far too aggressive for a society that had had enough of strife, conflict and division.
It was in the handling of defeat that he had tripped up. In 2004, the shock of defeat took a while to set in, with the chief leader insisting that it was a mere aggregate of state level results that had done them in. Perhaps he took as an axiom the comment he was fond of repeating in the early years of the decade when he claimed his was “ the natural party of governance.” The facts indicate otherwise.
India’s polity entered a phase where Congress was no longer hegemonic in 1989. In the ensuing period of some twenty two years, the BJP has governed as head of alliance governments for only six.
It is the premier non- Congress formation and no such alliance can but reflect its predominance. But it is now sinking in that the party is playing for the second spot.
There is — despite my hesitation on ascribing views as per a protagonist’s age — a leap in terms of generations.
Arun Jaitley was the elected president of the Delhi University Students’ Union who emerged to a hero’s welcome from jail in 1977. At the time Sushma Swaraj was to contest and win an MLA seat in Haryana as a socialist in the Janata Party.
This was the year when Vajpayee, Advani and Brijlal Verma served as cabinet ministers in India’s first ever non- Congress government. If 2004 marked the end of the Vajpayee era, then this year surely will be the curtain call for the Advani period.
At the time it was in power, the party saw itself as a harbinger of modernity. It would be an assertive India, with nuclear weapons, and first rate highways. It even dusted off the old plans of Colonel Dastur and KL Rao and proposed linking India’s rivers.
Looking back, it seems it was obsessed with what were icons and emblems of power in the mid- twentieth century. It was the world where the young Vajpayee and Advani cut their political teeth taking on no less than the Congress of Jawaharlal Nehru.
So enamoured were they with their opponents’ imagery that Atal was modelled by admirers on Nehru.
Advani settled for Sardar Patel as his role model. These were almost caricatures, but still they did matter.
It did not occur to them that the Congress itself has moved on as any mature political formation must. In doing so, Congress retrieved a great positive virtue of the Nehru period, the ability to access ideas and projects from the intelligentsia. For large sections of the modern and traditional literati, the aftermath of Gujarat and the Sangh Parivar’s association with its own icons ( from Ram Mandir to Ram Sethu), made Congress under Sonia appear like a breath of fresh air.
Lacking any taint of past associations with the Emergency or with the Babri Masjid demolition, she and then Rahul Gandhi scored over the BJP. It was not simply an issue of age. It was also one of having an ideology that sought to blend the competing claims of enterprise and equity, development and ecology, state building and local identity.
Hindutva
Jaswant Singh, who served as Finance, External Affairs and Defence Minister was right when he said he was not sure what Hindutva meant any more. And so was Shivraj Singh Chauhan who said simply that Hindutva meant vikas or development.
But if this were so, what is to be special about the party of cultural nationalism? In any case, the poor did not turn to the BJP as their party.
The Opposition party promised more grain per poor family per month and at lower price. It still did not fare better than Congress. Obviously, the memory of the Vajpayee period rankles among the poor. It was not seen as a sarkar that was with the aam aadmi.
Modernity
Conversely, there is the line of Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, closer to the heart and soul of the Sangh than the other two members of the old trinity.
But it was under his tenure as HRD Minister that 23 universities got to list karmakand ( Hindu rites of sacrifice) as a humanities subject. To add to it astrology was to be listed as a science subject.
There can be no objection to the study of sacrifice or astrology, but funding these from the exchequer cannot be a modern project. In either case, it hardly seems a vision in keeping with a 21st century India.
Nor can denying the massacre in Gujarat work any more. Where it really needed to learn from a Nehru or a Patel in cracking down on violence, it failed to do so. If the older leadership was too imbued with the ideas of state building of the Fifties, today’s top echelon is unable to even come close to that.
The party and indeed the entire project of cultural nationalism is at a cross roads. It cannot for reasons of history and its very structure walk away from its parent, the RSS. The latter is not too pleased about the party being so remote from power.
Even the Gandhi family, its bête noire since Motilal Nehru’s days, has resurrected itself.
Without a serious rethink about what it stands for and who it represents, it cannot move forward. It is here that it is in a crisis. Who heads it matters less than what ideas it comes up with.
The writer teaches history in Delhi University
June 21, 2009
Factional war grows as BJP sinks
by Praful Bidwai
(The Daily Star, June 22, 2009)
THE Bharatiya Janata Party's second consecutive defeat in the national elections has led to vicious infighting. The BJP's pettiest and meanest traits are on full display in this sordid power-play. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has joined former foreign minister Jaswant Singh in raising the banner of revolt by attacking the L.K. Advani camp for its election strategy failure and for "rewarding" those who devised it.
Some other leaders blame the BJP's recourse to Hindutva for its defeat. The RSS has joined the fray for the first time with its ideologue M.G. Vaidya dismissing the suggestion.
Shaken, party president Rajnath Singh has banned leaders from commenting on the defeat until the issue is internally discussed. But Mr. Singh lacks the authority to enforce the ban. He played partisan in belatedly announcing Mr. Arun Jaitley's resignation as general secretary. And party leaders' bitterness is too great for a lid to be put on the issue.
The BJP's campaign heavily projected Mr. Advani as prime minister, believing his "resolute" image would appeal to the electorate. The campaign fell flat. But the Advani camp pretends it didn't.
Yet, Mr. Advani's critics are driven by ambition and ego. Mr. Jaswant Singh is loath to forgo his privileges as the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha. He attacked Advani groupie Jaitley's elevation to that post as a reward for poor performance.
Similarly, Mr. Sinha accuses the party of putting "a premium on failure." In his leaked letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh, he mocks Mr. Jaitley and Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni: "Those who were responsible for the … campaign have already … apportioned blame and given themselves a clean chit."
Mr. Sinha also says the leadership disregarded the party constitution in appointing Ms. Sushma Swaraj as the deputy LoP in the Lok Sabha, a post he himself wanted. Mr. Sinha is senior to Ms. Swaraj and rooted in one constituency (Hazaribagh). She has flitted from Haryana to Delhi to Madhya Pradesh.
But Mr. Sinha is no exemplar of consistency. When he lost from Hazaribagh in 2004, he had no compunction in getting a Rajya Sabha nomination. His trajectory runs from the Socialists to the BJP, which he had long called communal.
Mr. Sinha belongs to the BJP's "left-out" or "lost" generation, consisting of leaders in the 60-to-80 age group. This lot resents its exclusion from all major party posts and most of the BJP's privileged constitutional-parliamentary positions, which have been monopolised by Advani loyalists.
This generation, including Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr. Arun Shourie, resents younger leaders' anointment as Mr. Vajpayee-Advani's successors.
This is the beginning of the BJP's "debate" over its debacle. There will be raucous exchanges between the two camps which divide the BJP's national leadership: one led by Mr. Advani, including loyalists Jaitley, Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Anantha Kumar and Vasundhara Raje, and the other led by Mr. Rajnath Singh, supported by Messrs Jaswant Singh, Sinha, Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Vijay Goel.
Most men from the second camp, barring Maharashtra BJP president Munde, have no base. Mr. Jaswant Singh, for instance, couldn't have got elected from Rajasthan given Ms. Raje's opposition. But then, neither could many in Mr. Advani's camp.
Ms. Swaraj won by fluke: her opponent didn't file his nomination papers in time. Mr. Naidu can't get elected from his native Andhra. And Mr. Jaitley has never contested an election.
Mr. Narendra Modi, other BJP chief ministers and the super-ambitious Mr. M.M. Joshi are waiting and watching. They'll try to recruit support from different sangh parivar elements, including the RSS.
The RSS is keen to wrest control of the BJP from Mr. Advani, after his strident loyalist Jaitley attributed the BJP's defeat to its "shrill" opposition to the United Progressive Alliance, and called for "moderation."
Kulkarni and journalist-ideologue Swapan Dasgupta have riled the RSS the most. Neither has a party base, but both are considered Mr. Advani's agents. He probably used them to float a trial balloon.
Kulkarni blames the BJP's anti-Muslim bigotry for its defeat and demands it sever its links with the RSS. Dasgupta too wants the BJP to adopt a Right-wing economic, social and political agenda, without the tag of religious fundamentalism, much like Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives -- although his opposition to Hindutva is purely tactical.
Mr. Advani's critics are as communal as him. Mr. Sinha stridently defended Mr. Narendra Modi. Mr. Jaswant Singh is no less hawkish than Mr. Advani -- although he doesn't like the RSS, and vice versa.
The BJP's infighting isn't over ideology or Hindutva, but over the top organisational positions.
The BJP is in historic decline and unlikely to rebound quickly. The unique circumstances of its ascent from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s have passed, including the Ayodhya mobilisation, the anti-Mandal platform against affirmative action, the Congress's decline, and the rise of militant, illiberal, ethno-religious nationalism within the middle class.
These catapulted the BJP into power and created an illusion of success for its "social engineering" approach of combining elite support with OBC votes. The party was buoyed by forces and conditions it didn't even comprehend, and which may never return. The BJP's ideological confusion, political mobilisation crisis, and organisational crisis will now worsen.
It cannot cut the umbilical chord with the RSS. It couldn't sever it during the Janata period (1977-79), when it chose to split over the "dual membership" issue. It didn't break with the sangh after the Babri demolition or the Gujarat pogrom. It's unlikely to do that now. Those who want the BJP to break from the RSS are asking for the moon.
When under pressure, the BJP is likely to return to Hindutva. That means marginalisation, going back into the ghetto, losing yet more elections and being reduced to a niche party with a limited base, like the former Jana Sangh with 20 to 35 Lok Sabha seats.
Whatever happens, the BJP's internal bloodletting will continue relentlessly.
Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.
(The Daily Star, June 22, 2009)
THE Bharatiya Janata Party's second consecutive defeat in the national elections has led to vicious infighting. The BJP's pettiest and meanest traits are on full display in this sordid power-play. Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has joined former foreign minister Jaswant Singh in raising the banner of revolt by attacking the L.K. Advani camp for its election strategy failure and for "rewarding" those who devised it.
Some other leaders blame the BJP's recourse to Hindutva for its defeat. The RSS has joined the fray for the first time with its ideologue M.G. Vaidya dismissing the suggestion.
Shaken, party president Rajnath Singh has banned leaders from commenting on the defeat until the issue is internally discussed. But Mr. Singh lacks the authority to enforce the ban. He played partisan in belatedly announcing Mr. Arun Jaitley's resignation as general secretary. And party leaders' bitterness is too great for a lid to be put on the issue.
The BJP's campaign heavily projected Mr. Advani as prime minister, believing his "resolute" image would appeal to the electorate. The campaign fell flat. But the Advani camp pretends it didn't.
Yet, Mr. Advani's critics are driven by ambition and ego. Mr. Jaswant Singh is loath to forgo his privileges as the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Rajya Sabha. He attacked Advani groupie Jaitley's elevation to that post as a reward for poor performance.
Similarly, Mr. Sinha accuses the party of putting "a premium on failure." In his leaked letter to Mr. Rajnath Singh, he mocks Mr. Jaitley and Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni: "Those who were responsible for the … campaign have already … apportioned blame and given themselves a clean chit."
Mr. Sinha also says the leadership disregarded the party constitution in appointing Ms. Sushma Swaraj as the deputy LoP in the Lok Sabha, a post he himself wanted. Mr. Sinha is senior to Ms. Swaraj and rooted in one constituency (Hazaribagh). She has flitted from Haryana to Delhi to Madhya Pradesh.
But Mr. Sinha is no exemplar of consistency. When he lost from Hazaribagh in 2004, he had no compunction in getting a Rajya Sabha nomination. His trajectory runs from the Socialists to the BJP, which he had long called communal.
Mr. Sinha belongs to the BJP's "left-out" or "lost" generation, consisting of leaders in the 60-to-80 age group. This lot resents its exclusion from all major party posts and most of the BJP's privileged constitutional-parliamentary positions, which have been monopolised by Advani loyalists.
This generation, including Mr. Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr. Arun Shourie, resents younger leaders' anointment as Mr. Vajpayee-Advani's successors.
This is the beginning of the BJP's "debate" over its debacle. There will be raucous exchanges between the two camps which divide the BJP's national leadership: one led by Mr. Advani, including loyalists Jaitley, Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Anantha Kumar and Vasundhara Raje, and the other led by Mr. Rajnath Singh, supported by Messrs Jaswant Singh, Sinha, Gopinath Munde, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Vijay Goel.
Most men from the second camp, barring Maharashtra BJP president Munde, have no base. Mr. Jaswant Singh, for instance, couldn't have got elected from Rajasthan given Ms. Raje's opposition. But then, neither could many in Mr. Advani's camp.
Ms. Swaraj won by fluke: her opponent didn't file his nomination papers in time. Mr. Naidu can't get elected from his native Andhra. And Mr. Jaitley has never contested an election.
Mr. Narendra Modi, other BJP chief ministers and the super-ambitious Mr. M.M. Joshi are waiting and watching. They'll try to recruit support from different sangh parivar elements, including the RSS.
The RSS is keen to wrest control of the BJP from Mr. Advani, after his strident loyalist Jaitley attributed the BJP's defeat to its "shrill" opposition to the United Progressive Alliance, and called for "moderation."
Kulkarni and journalist-ideologue Swapan Dasgupta have riled the RSS the most. Neither has a party base, but both are considered Mr. Advani's agents. He probably used them to float a trial balloon.
Kulkarni blames the BJP's anti-Muslim bigotry for its defeat and demands it sever its links with the RSS. Dasgupta too wants the BJP to adopt a Right-wing economic, social and political agenda, without the tag of religious fundamentalism, much like Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives -- although his opposition to Hindutva is purely tactical.
Mr. Advani's critics are as communal as him. Mr. Sinha stridently defended Mr. Narendra Modi. Mr. Jaswant Singh is no less hawkish than Mr. Advani -- although he doesn't like the RSS, and vice versa.
The BJP's infighting isn't over ideology or Hindutva, but over the top organisational positions.
The BJP is in historic decline and unlikely to rebound quickly. The unique circumstances of its ascent from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s have passed, including the Ayodhya mobilisation, the anti-Mandal platform against affirmative action, the Congress's decline, and the rise of militant, illiberal, ethno-religious nationalism within the middle class.
These catapulted the BJP into power and created an illusion of success for its "social engineering" approach of combining elite support with OBC votes. The party was buoyed by forces and conditions it didn't even comprehend, and which may never return. The BJP's ideological confusion, political mobilisation crisis, and organisational crisis will now worsen.
It cannot cut the umbilical chord with the RSS. It couldn't sever it during the Janata period (1977-79), when it chose to split over the "dual membership" issue. It didn't break with the sangh after the Babri demolition or the Gujarat pogrom. It's unlikely to do that now. Those who want the BJP to break from the RSS are asking for the moon.
When under pressure, the BJP is likely to return to Hindutva. That means marginalisation, going back into the ghetto, losing yet more elections and being reduced to a niche party with a limited base, like the former Jana Sangh with 20 to 35 Lok Sabha seats.
Whatever happens, the BJP's internal bloodletting will continue relentlessly.
Praful Bidwai is an eminent Indian columnist.
Religious Politics in India - (1857-2008): Compiled and Edited by Pramod Shah
Thoughts on Religious Politics in India (1857-2008): Compiled and Edited by Pramod Shah; Pub. by Society for National Awareness, Tobacco House, 1 Old Court House Corner, Kolkata-700001. Rs. 500 each.
This three-volume publication, with a rather provocative title, is a chronological presentation of important writings, speeches, and documents throwing light essentially on how, over the past century and a half, the Hindu-Muslim relationship has shaped or influenced the course of India’s political history. The first volume covers the period 1857-1947, from the first freedom struggle to the attainment of Independence. The second deals with the ‘single party government’ phase (up to December 1, 1989) and the third covers the ‘coalition’ phase, till August 15, 2008. More than 250 pieces — reproductions of speeches, parliamentary debates, diaries, media interviews, personal diaries, news items and so on — attributed to eminent public figures (the whole range of them including statesmen, political thinkers, scientists, philosophers, saints, poets, social workers, and columnists) have found a place in this stupendous work. The compilation, described as a “labour of love” for the author, provides a wealth of material for researchers to explore further.
This three-volume publication, with a rather provocative title, is a chronological presentation of important writings, speeches, and documents throwing light essentially on how, over the past century and a half, the Hindu-Muslim relationship has shaped or influenced the course of India’s political history. The first volume covers the period 1857-1947, from the first freedom struggle to the attainment of Independence. The second deals with the ‘single party government’ phase (up to December 1, 1989) and the third covers the ‘coalition’ phase, till August 15, 2008. More than 250 pieces — reproductions of speeches, parliamentary debates, diaries, media interviews, personal diaries, news items and so on — attributed to eminent public figures (the whole range of them including statesmen, political thinkers, scientists, philosophers, saints, poets, social workers, and columnists) have found a place in this stupendous work. The compilation, described as a “labour of love” for the author, provides a wealth of material for researchers to explore further.
Now that there is proof will the courts pursue the case against Varun Gandhi?
The Times of India
Varun hate speech CD not doctored: Experts
21 Jun 2009, 1010 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
NEW DELHI: In another setback to the BJP as the party meets for its crucial introspection on Lok Sabha poll debacle, forensic experts have said the hate speech CD of the BJP leader and MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, is not doctored.
Sources said the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad has submitted its report to the District Magistrate of Pilibhit.
Varun had alleged that the CDs were doctored, a line that was also the official BJP stand on the row. He had also refused to give his voice samples for examination.
Varun, who is currently out on bail, has six FIRs against him.
Varun hate speech CD not doctored: Experts
21 Jun 2009, 1010 hrs IST, TIMESOFINDIA.COM
NEW DELHI: In another setback to the BJP as the party meets for its crucial introspection on Lok Sabha poll debacle, forensic experts have said the hate speech CD of the BJP leader and MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi, is not doctored.
Sources said the Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad has submitted its report to the District Magistrate of Pilibhit.
Varun had alleged that the CDs were doctored, a line that was also the official BJP stand on the row. He had also refused to give his voice samples for examination.
Varun, who is currently out on bail, has six FIRs against him.
June 20, 2009
Bajrang Dal camp in Delhi (@Saraswati Bal Mandir school)
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 25, Dated Jun 27, 2009
bjp in crisis
National Defence Academy
Generation Next is born at a Bajrang Dal camp in Delhi. TUSHA MITTAL looks in at how the young are being inspired into violence. Photographs by SHAILENDRA PANDEY
A LOUD WHISTLE pierces the early morning silence at the Saraswati Bal Mandir school in West Delhi. A steady stream of young boys in white shirts and khaki half-pants filters down to the grounds. Yoga will begin sharp at 4:30am. Karate, judo, nose punches will follow. At first glance, one could mistake this for a boys’ summer camp. But a closer look, and something else emerges. There are lathi pyramids, hoops of fire, gunshots and lessons about the different stages of war. The boys must learn to jump through flames if their houses are set on fire by “terrorists, Muslims, illegal immigrants,” must know a gun intimately to use it for maximum impact. On their arms and foreheads are bright orange bands with red imprints. For Sandeep Yadav, 15, the son of a garment shop owner in Sarojni Nagar, the orange brings motivation and a sense of belonging. “It charges me up to fight,” he says.
For what? “To protect Bharat Mata.” From what? “Akraman” (Attack). By whom? He stammers. The English. The Australians. The Christians. The Muslims. Probe his newly acquired worldview further and this surfaces: “Hindu girls should not wear sleeveless clothes. That is what Bharatya sanskriti (Indian culture) teaches us. And if a Hindu girl marries a Muslim, her head should be chopped off and the Muslim man’s too.”
Welcome to the training camp of the Bajrang Dal, the youth sect of the rightwing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a weeklong camp held annually to “instill courage within the Hindu youth and awaken them to their patriotic duties,” says Ashok Kapoor, Bajrang Dal Delhi convenor. “We prepare people to fight on the ground when the need arises,” adds Shailendra Jaiswal, state co-convenor. “We choose them selectively. They must be Hindus and in touch with our local party workers,” he says. The official age is 15 to 35. The 2009 camp concluded in June saw 100 participants. Most come from some right-wing background (their parents are Bajrang Dal workers, neighbours of workers, or perhaps they attend the morning yoga classes held by the VHP in their colony). Yet, this is their first introduction to the Bajrang Dal. Conversations with these children reveal not only how the Dal views itself, but how it systemically indoctrinates its future foot-soldiers. This camp is only the launchpad for a much longer journey. Through the year, other camps with the larger mentor organisation RSS will give the young tribe a chance to hone “intellectual concepts” — the focus will shift from physical training to a more lucid sculpting of the mind. Already, the first dents have been made.
Ask Vineet Kumar, 14, barely four feet tall, the son of a sports garments factory worker, what is the Bajrang Dal? With a voice not yet cracked, he answers in phrases – “Ram Setu, Ram Janambhoomi, Amarnath yatra, hartal, and chakka jam.” According to him, “Pakistani terrorists” were trying to shut down the Amarnath Yatra but the Bajrang Dal rallied every child in Jammu and Kashmir on the streets to protest. At the camp, Vineet learnt a new word he likes to thrust at every opportunity: Virodh (resist) — that is what he wants to do when he grows up. Ask what he will virodh against and his eyes wander, trying to distill the stew of textbook answers fed to him.
THERE WERE speeches: “Be weary of six M’s,” the boys were told from a booming microphone. “Muslims, Missionaries, Marxists, Lord Macaulay, foreign Media and Maino [UPA President Sonia Gandhi’s middle name].”
The warning of an apocalypse: Kalyug is upon us. The Muslims are taking over the country by converting Hindus, by pretending to be Hindu and marrying our women. Hindus will soon be extinct. Already the Muslims exceed Hindus in India. We must remove the mullahs from our country. They kill our Gau Mata; each cow has 2,300 devis inside her. (“We can’t trust Muslims, they don’t even spare our cows, why will they spare us?” says Anil, 14, the son of a vegetable vendor in Delhi.)
‘If a Hindu girl marries a Muslim boy, her head should be chopped off,’ says Sandeep, 15
There were revolutionary songs: Hindu ke hit par janamu, hindu ke hit par mar jaau (Live and die for the well being of Hindus). Ho jayo tayar sathiyo, arpit kar do hazar balidan (Get ready comrades for a thousand sacrifices). Slogans: Shastro mao jayathe! (Long live the arms!) CDs with proof: how the police beat up Dal workers trying to save the Amarnath land.
And when the young brigade was inspired enough, there were chants: Ram Ram chilayange, mullhe kate jaayenge. (Screaming Ram’s name, we will cut the Muslims). And lawyers to explain to the boys how they can avoid criminal charges. No surprise that when the Guru asked, “How we will remove Muslims?” the boys said in unison: “We will cut them up!”
And finally, there was advice for life: What should you do if your house is attacked and you have no weapons? Use motorcycle chains. Bring out the gas cylinder. Encircle the house with oil and light it on fire so the terrorists can’t enter.
What should you do when Muslims move into your area? Find out their background. Start up a friendship but don’t invite them home. Ask the women if they have been forcibly married. Report to the police if they have. “The Muslims in my lane are nice,” says Vineet. “They don’t force their wives to wear the burqa and they allow their children to play. But other Muslims cut up their wives and children if they step out of the house.” In their modest Badarpur home in South Delhi, Vineet’s mother listens in shock. “I didn’t know this is what they teach,” says Kumari Devi, wavering on whether she’ll send him again next year. But it may not matter. Her son has already found his mission in life — Hindu Samaj Seva (social work) — the way the Bajrang Dal defines it.
WRITER’S EMAIL
tusha(at)tehelka.com
____
SEE Slide Show at:
http://tinyurl.com/ngrxae
bjp in crisis
National Defence Academy
Generation Next is born at a Bajrang Dal camp in Delhi. TUSHA MITTAL looks in at how the young are being inspired into violence. Photographs by SHAILENDRA PANDEY
A LOUD WHISTLE pierces the early morning silence at the Saraswati Bal Mandir school in West Delhi. A steady stream of young boys in white shirts and khaki half-pants filters down to the grounds. Yoga will begin sharp at 4:30am. Karate, judo, nose punches will follow. At first glance, one could mistake this for a boys’ summer camp. But a closer look, and something else emerges. There are lathi pyramids, hoops of fire, gunshots and lessons about the different stages of war. The boys must learn to jump through flames if their houses are set on fire by “terrorists, Muslims, illegal immigrants,” must know a gun intimately to use it for maximum impact. On their arms and foreheads are bright orange bands with red imprints. For Sandeep Yadav, 15, the son of a garment shop owner in Sarojni Nagar, the orange brings motivation and a sense of belonging. “It charges me up to fight,” he says.
For what? “To protect Bharat Mata.” From what? “Akraman” (Attack). By whom? He stammers. The English. The Australians. The Christians. The Muslims. Probe his newly acquired worldview further and this surfaces: “Hindu girls should not wear sleeveless clothes. That is what Bharatya sanskriti (Indian culture) teaches us. And if a Hindu girl marries a Muslim, her head should be chopped off and the Muslim man’s too.”
Welcome to the training camp of the Bajrang Dal, the youth sect of the rightwing Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a weeklong camp held annually to “instill courage within the Hindu youth and awaken them to their patriotic duties,” says Ashok Kapoor, Bajrang Dal Delhi convenor. “We prepare people to fight on the ground when the need arises,” adds Shailendra Jaiswal, state co-convenor. “We choose them selectively. They must be Hindus and in touch with our local party workers,” he says. The official age is 15 to 35. The 2009 camp concluded in June saw 100 participants. Most come from some right-wing background (their parents are Bajrang Dal workers, neighbours of workers, or perhaps they attend the morning yoga classes held by the VHP in their colony). Yet, this is their first introduction to the Bajrang Dal. Conversations with these children reveal not only how the Dal views itself, but how it systemically indoctrinates its future foot-soldiers. This camp is only the launchpad for a much longer journey. Through the year, other camps with the larger mentor organisation RSS will give the young tribe a chance to hone “intellectual concepts” — the focus will shift from physical training to a more lucid sculpting of the mind. Already, the first dents have been made.
Ask Vineet Kumar, 14, barely four feet tall, the son of a sports garments factory worker, what is the Bajrang Dal? With a voice not yet cracked, he answers in phrases – “Ram Setu, Ram Janambhoomi, Amarnath yatra, hartal, and chakka jam.” According to him, “Pakistani terrorists” were trying to shut down the Amarnath Yatra but the Bajrang Dal rallied every child in Jammu and Kashmir on the streets to protest. At the camp, Vineet learnt a new word he likes to thrust at every opportunity: Virodh (resist) — that is what he wants to do when he grows up. Ask what he will virodh against and his eyes wander, trying to distill the stew of textbook answers fed to him.
THERE WERE speeches: “Be weary of six M’s,” the boys were told from a booming microphone. “Muslims, Missionaries, Marxists, Lord Macaulay, foreign Media and Maino [UPA President Sonia Gandhi’s middle name].”
The warning of an apocalypse: Kalyug is upon us. The Muslims are taking over the country by converting Hindus, by pretending to be Hindu and marrying our women. Hindus will soon be extinct. Already the Muslims exceed Hindus in India. We must remove the mullahs from our country. They kill our Gau Mata; each cow has 2,300 devis inside her. (“We can’t trust Muslims, they don’t even spare our cows, why will they spare us?” says Anil, 14, the son of a vegetable vendor in Delhi.)
‘If a Hindu girl marries a Muslim boy, her head should be chopped off,’ says Sandeep, 15
There were revolutionary songs: Hindu ke hit par janamu, hindu ke hit par mar jaau (Live and die for the well being of Hindus). Ho jayo tayar sathiyo, arpit kar do hazar balidan (Get ready comrades for a thousand sacrifices). Slogans: Shastro mao jayathe! (Long live the arms!) CDs with proof: how the police beat up Dal workers trying to save the Amarnath land.
And when the young brigade was inspired enough, there were chants: Ram Ram chilayange, mullhe kate jaayenge. (Screaming Ram’s name, we will cut the Muslims). And lawyers to explain to the boys how they can avoid criminal charges. No surprise that when the Guru asked, “How we will remove Muslims?” the boys said in unison: “We will cut them up!”
And finally, there was advice for life: What should you do if your house is attacked and you have no weapons? Use motorcycle chains. Bring out the gas cylinder. Encircle the house with oil and light it on fire so the terrorists can’t enter.
What should you do when Muslims move into your area? Find out their background. Start up a friendship but don’t invite them home. Ask the women if they have been forcibly married. Report to the police if they have. “The Muslims in my lane are nice,” says Vineet. “They don’t force their wives to wear the burqa and they allow their children to play. But other Muslims cut up their wives and children if they step out of the house.” In their modest Badarpur home in South Delhi, Vineet’s mother listens in shock. “I didn’t know this is what they teach,” says Kumari Devi, wavering on whether she’ll send him again next year. But it may not matter. Her son has already found his mission in life — Hindu Samaj Seva (social work) — the way the Bajrang Dal defines it.
WRITER’S EMAIL
tusha(at)tehelka.com
____
SEE Slide Show at:
http://tinyurl.com/ngrxae
June 18, 2009
Puri Temple Should be Prosecuted for Seeking Musk (an endangered species); Poachers to probably replace Nepal's King as supplier
The Times of India
Fall of king makes Puri temple struggle for musk
16 Jun 2009, 0326 hrs IST, Sandeep Mishra, TNN
BHUBANESWAR: The fall of the monarchy in Nepal has hit the Jagannath temple hard. Traditionally, the Nepal royal family, which enjoys special
rights in the Puri temple, has been the sole supplier of musk to the world famous shrine for its rituals. With the end of the kingdom, the temple authorities are not sure how they will ensure the unhindered supply of musk (obtained from musk deer, an endangered animal).
The musk deer is hunted down by poachers for business though there are normal ways to extract it. The poaching has led to the decline in the number of musk deer, an inhabitant of the high altitude Himalayan region of Nepal.
The decline in importance of the royal family in Nepal has led to the government ignoring the frequent pleas of the temple authorities to continue the supply. Musk, temple insiders say, is used for rituals like `mukha singar' (facial) of the temple's presiding deities during the annual rath yatra.
Temple sources said about 5 grams of musk is mixed with herbs to make a paste before it is applied on the face and body of the deities. With the rath yatra, slated for June 24, approaching fast, a shortage of musk has created an uncertainty.
``We have written several letters to the consul general of Nepal in Kolkata to supply musk, but we have not got any response,'' said a temple official. ``The stock is depleted and we are worried because it is not available in India.''
Fall of king makes Puri temple struggle for musk
16 Jun 2009, 0326 hrs IST, Sandeep Mishra, TNN
BHUBANESWAR: The fall of the monarchy in Nepal has hit the Jagannath temple hard. Traditionally, the Nepal royal family, which enjoys special
rights in the Puri temple, has been the sole supplier of musk to the world famous shrine for its rituals. With the end of the kingdom, the temple authorities are not sure how they will ensure the unhindered supply of musk (obtained from musk deer, an endangered animal).
The musk deer is hunted down by poachers for business though there are normal ways to extract it. The poaching has led to the decline in the number of musk deer, an inhabitant of the high altitude Himalayan region of Nepal.
The decline in importance of the royal family in Nepal has led to the government ignoring the frequent pleas of the temple authorities to continue the supply. Musk, temple insiders say, is used for rituals like `mukha singar' (facial) of the temple's presiding deities during the annual rath yatra.
Temple sources said about 5 grams of musk is mixed with herbs to make a paste before it is applied on the face and body of the deities. With the rath yatra, slated for June 24, approaching fast, a shortage of musk has created an uncertainty.
``We have written several letters to the consul general of Nepal in Kolkata to supply musk, but we have not got any response,'' said a temple official. ``The stock is depleted and we are worried because it is not available in India.''
More state subsidy for pilgrimages or none at all? No debate in India
livemint.com, June 18 2009
Populism takes pilgrimage path
by Venkatesha Babu, Priyanka P. Narain and C.R. Sukumar
Bangalore/Mumbai/Hyderabad: Competitive populism is entering the realm of religion, a trend that critics say is a potentially dangerous political game being played with an eye on electoral gains.
Click here to watch video
http://tinyurl.com/lohbhg
State governments in a country that swears by secularism are starting to offer subsidized pilgrimages to citizens, who at election time in the past have been wooed by politicians with promises ranging from offers of rice at Rs2 per kg to free colour television sets.
Religious bandwagon
Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is the latest to join the religious bandwagon, proposing to subsidize the travel and stay of pilgrims who visit the temples of Udupi, Dharmasthala and Saudatti in the southern Indian state.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party-led government is subsidizing the cost of travel for Christians visiting Jerusalem, the holy land.
Karnataka minister for housing S.N. Krishnaiah Setty, who also heads a department that oversees Hindu temples and endowments under government control, said last week that the administration intends to set apart Rs10 crore to subsidize pilgrimages for Hindus.
He didn’t say how the money would be spent or the beneficiaries identified. “Modalities are being worked out and will be announced shortly,” Setty said.
To be sure, the concept of subsidized pilgrimages is not new. The Union government spent an estimated Rs700 crore last year on the Haj subsidy for Muslims to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Centre also underwrites a part of the cost of the annual pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet that Hindus believe is the abode of the Hindu god Shiva.
President Pratibha Patil, in her inaugural speech to the new Parliament outlining the policies of the Congress party-led coalition, said the government would strive to strengthen and “reform the management of Haj operations”.
At the heart of the debate is what it means to be a secular state—should the government be involved in all religions equally or in none at all in a country where Hindus comprise about 80% of the population, Muslims around 13% and Christians 3%?
A matter of faith: A file photo of Haj pilgrims. State governments are offering subsidies for religious pilgrimages, sparking a debate on whether the state should be be involved in all religions equally or in none at all. Amit Dave / Reuters
Rama Jois, former chief justice of the Karnataka high court and author of a special report on government presence in temples and temple trusts, says the idea of a secular government subsidizing religious travel is a dangerous one.
“Ideally, the governments should not be opening this door at all,” Jois said. “Although it is not unconstitutional for a secular state to subsidize religious travel for citizens, it must be done equally for all. But then the question is about what is equal.”
Dangerous game
Populism takes pilgrimage path
by Venkatesha Babu, Priyanka P. Narain and C.R. Sukumar
Bangalore/Mumbai/Hyderabad: Competitive populism is entering the realm of religion, a trend that critics say is a potentially dangerous political game being played with an eye on electoral gains.
Click here to watch video
http://tinyurl.com/lohbhg
State governments in a country that swears by secularism are starting to offer subsidized pilgrimages to citizens, who at election time in the past have been wooed by politicians with promises ranging from offers of rice at Rs2 per kg to free colour television sets.
Religious bandwagon
Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is the latest to join the religious bandwagon, proposing to subsidize the travel and stay of pilgrims who visit the temples of Udupi, Dharmasthala and Saudatti in the southern Indian state.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party-led government is subsidizing the cost of travel for Christians visiting Jerusalem, the holy land.
Karnataka minister for housing S.N. Krishnaiah Setty, who also heads a department that oversees Hindu temples and endowments under government control, said last week that the administration intends to set apart Rs10 crore to subsidize pilgrimages for Hindus.
He didn’t say how the money would be spent or the beneficiaries identified. “Modalities are being worked out and will be announced shortly,” Setty said.
To be sure, the concept of subsidized pilgrimages is not new. The Union government spent an estimated Rs700 crore last year on the Haj subsidy for Muslims to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Centre also underwrites a part of the cost of the annual pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet that Hindus believe is the abode of the Hindu god Shiva.
President Pratibha Patil, in her inaugural speech to the new Parliament outlining the policies of the Congress party-led coalition, said the government would strive to strengthen and “reform the management of Haj operations”.
At the heart of the debate is what it means to be a secular state—should the government be involved in all religions equally or in none at all in a country where Hindus comprise about 80% of the population, Muslims around 13% and Christians 3%?
A matter of faith: A file photo of Haj pilgrims. State governments are offering subsidies for religious pilgrimages, sparking a debate on whether the state should be be involved in all religions equally or in none at all. Amit Dave / Reuters
Rama Jois, former chief justice of the Karnataka high court and author of a special report on government presence in temples and temple trusts, says the idea of a secular government subsidizing religious travel is a dangerous one.
“Ideally, the governments should not be opening this door at all,” Jois said. “Although it is not unconstitutional for a secular state to subsidize religious travel for citizens, it must be done equally for all. But then the question is about what is equal.”
Dangerous game
India: USCIRF Regrets Absence of Visas for Visit to India (Press Release)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2009
India: USCIRF Regrets Absence of Visas for Visit to India
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) regrets that visas have not been issued by the Indian government for a USCIRF visit to discuss religious freedom conditions with officials, religious leaders, civil society activists and others in the world’s largest democracy.
As a U.S. government body, visits by the Commission must have official status. USCIRF obtained U.S. State Department support, made travel arrangements, and requested meetings with a variety of officials. Despite this, the Indian government did not issue the USCIRF delegation visas. The Commissioners were to have left the United States on June 12.
The aim of the long-requested trip was to discuss religious freedom conditions in India, home to a multitude of religious communities that have historically co-existed. India has experienced an increase in communal violence against religious communities in recent years and the USCIRF Commissioners sought to discuss the Indian government’s responses to this, and its development of preventive strategies at the local and national levels. According to information before USCIRF, the Indian justice system has prosecuted only a handful of persons responsible for communal violence and related abuses since the mid 1980s.
In 2002, USCIRF recommended India be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) following events in Gujarat that resulted in an estimated 2,000 deaths. Although India was removed from the CPC list in 2005, USCIRF has continued to monitor, report, and comment publicly on events in the country, including last year’s violence in Orissa, attacks in Mumbai, and other events.
The Indian government did not offer alternative dates for a visit. USCIRF first tried to obtain visas for India in 2001. This would have been the Commission’s first visit to India. India joins Cuba as the only other nation to have refused all USCIRF requests to visit.
“We are particularly disappointed by the new Indian government’s refusal to facilitate an official U.S. delegation to discuss religious freedom issues and government measures to counter communal violence, which has a religious component,” said Commission chair Felice D. Gaer. “Our Commission has visited China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and over 20 other countries. India, a close ally of the United States, has been unique among democracies in delaying and denying USCIRF’s ability to visit. USCIRF has been requesting visits since 2001.”
USCIRF issues its annual report on religious freedom each May and this year’s India section was delayed because of the planned USCIRF trip. “We wanted to hear from all sectors of Indian society, and allow these diverse perspectives to shape our report,” said Gaer. In the absence of in-country travel, USCIRF will release a report on India later this summer.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. USCIRF’s principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Tom Carter, Communications Director at tcarter@uscirf.gov or (202) 523-3257.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress.
Visit our Web site at www.uscirf.gov
Felice D. Gaer, Chair • Michael Cromartie, Vice Chair • Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair
Don Argue • Imam Talal Y. Eid • Richard D. Land
Leonard A. Leo • Nina Shea • James D. Standish, Executive Director
800 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, NW SUITE 790 | WASHINGTON, DC 20002 | 202-523-3240 | 202-523-5020 (FAX)
June 17, 2009
India: USCIRF Regrets Absence of Visas for Visit to India
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) regrets that visas have not been issued by the Indian government for a USCIRF visit to discuss religious freedom conditions with officials, religious leaders, civil society activists and others in the world’s largest democracy.
As a U.S. government body, visits by the Commission must have official status. USCIRF obtained U.S. State Department support, made travel arrangements, and requested meetings with a variety of officials. Despite this, the Indian government did not issue the USCIRF delegation visas. The Commissioners were to have left the United States on June 12.
The aim of the long-requested trip was to discuss religious freedom conditions in India, home to a multitude of religious communities that have historically co-existed. India has experienced an increase in communal violence against religious communities in recent years and the USCIRF Commissioners sought to discuss the Indian government’s responses to this, and its development of preventive strategies at the local and national levels. According to information before USCIRF, the Indian justice system has prosecuted only a handful of persons responsible for communal violence and related abuses since the mid 1980s.
In 2002, USCIRF recommended India be designated a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) following events in Gujarat that resulted in an estimated 2,000 deaths. Although India was removed from the CPC list in 2005, USCIRF has continued to monitor, report, and comment publicly on events in the country, including last year’s violence in Orissa, attacks in Mumbai, and other events.
The Indian government did not offer alternative dates for a visit. USCIRF first tried to obtain visas for India in 2001. This would have been the Commission’s first visit to India. India joins Cuba as the only other nation to have refused all USCIRF requests to visit.
“We are particularly disappointed by the new Indian government’s refusal to facilitate an official U.S. delegation to discuss religious freedom issues and government measures to counter communal violence, which has a religious component,” said Commission chair Felice D. Gaer. “Our Commission has visited China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and over 20 other countries. India, a close ally of the United States, has been unique among democracies in delaying and denying USCIRF’s ability to visit. USCIRF has been requesting visits since 2001.”
USCIRF issues its annual report on religious freedom each May and this year’s India section was delayed because of the planned USCIRF trip. “We wanted to hear from all sectors of Indian society, and allow these diverse perspectives to shape our report,” said Gaer. In the absence of in-country travel, USCIRF will release a report on India later this summer.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. USCIRF’s principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress.
To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, contact Tom Carter, Communications Director at tcarter@uscirf.gov or (202) 523-3257.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress.
Visit our Web site at www.uscirf.gov
Felice D. Gaer, Chair • Michael Cromartie, Vice Chair • Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair
Don Argue • Imam Talal Y. Eid • Richard D. Land
Leonard A. Leo • Nina Shea • James D. Standish, Executive Director
800 NORTH CAPITOL STREET, NW SUITE 790 | WASHINGTON, DC 20002 | 202-523-3240 | 202-523-5020 (FAX)
June 17, 2009
India Visa Denied to US Commission on International Religious Freedom
The Times of India
India denies visa to US religious freedom watchdogs
17 June 2009, 0158 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN
WASHINGTON: The Manmohan Singh government has scuppered a proposed visit to India this week by the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congress-mandated organization that monitors religious rights worldwide and gives independent policy recommendations to the US President and his administration.
A USCIRF team that was to leave for New Delhi on June 12 was not given visas in time, according to an associate at the commission, who said it was done with the obvious intent of blocking the trip. "They knew we had tickets for June 12 and the visas are yet to be given, so the inference is obvious...they don’t want us to visit," the associate told TOI.
The Indian Embassy in Washington, the issuing authority for the visa, referred all questions to New Delhi, while acknowledging that the USCIRF team had applied for visas and the applications had been forwarded to
New Delhi as is the standard practice for all such visits.
Sources in the government, without acknowledging that the visas were deliberately withheld, said it was not a proper time for such a visit. "We really don’t care about what they report," an official who spoke on background said. "But a high profile visit seen as having government sanctions would have raised hackles in India." The USCIRF has in its reports criticized violence against religious minorities in India.
The official said the visa denial was not linked to the criticism of the proposed visit by the Hindu pontiff, Shankaracharya Jayendra Sarawati, who earlier this week described the USCIRF as an "intrusive mechanism of a foreign government which is interfering with the internal affairs of India," and said the team must not be allowed to enter the country.
The Obama administration too did not press for the visit, given that US Undersecretary of State William Burns was in New Delhi around the time of the proposed USCIRF visit, preparing ground for the visit to India by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sometime in July. Most "commissioners" and staff of the USCIRF are appointees of the previous Bush administration.
Although the United States acknowledges India’s rich religious and ethnic diversity and plurality, the USCIRF has in its annual reports criticized specific episodes involving violence against religious minority, like the ones in Gujarat and in Orissa.
"We understand India’s sensitivities about being criticized for religious discrimination given its democratic and secular credentials," a commission associate said Wednesday. "But we are concerned that some of the
judicial processes with regards to the incidents in Gujarat and Orissa are not functioning properly and we only wanted to get them going."
Indian hardliners, especially those on the extreme right, chafe at the idea that any US body would want to scrutinize the country’s religious freedom, given its secular credentials, when it dares not interfere in fundamentalist countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where minority rights are non-existent. Senior RSS functionaries had specifically inquired repeatedly about the proposed USCIRF visit.
Describing the proposed USCIRF visit to India as "incomprehensible," the US branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat said as the "largest functioning democracy in the world with an independent judiciary, a statutorily constituted Human rights Commission, an independent press and other supporting organizations would appear to be quite capable of taking care of the religious freedoms and human rights of its citizens."
"India not only offers freedom of religion under its constitution, but does not discriminate based on religion. Similar freedoms are not available in its neighboring countries," the VHP said on a statement.
But the Indian Left and the "secular" brigade in the US, including organizations representing minorities, argue that allowing such foreign bodies to visit India and examine its record and performance enhances the country's reputation as an open, democratic nation that has nothing to hide or fear.
India denies visa to US religious freedom watchdogs
17 June 2009, 0158 hrs IST, Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN
WASHINGTON: The Manmohan Singh government has scuppered a proposed visit to India this week by the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US Congress-mandated organization that monitors religious rights worldwide and gives independent policy recommendations to the US President and his administration.
A USCIRF team that was to leave for New Delhi on June 12 was not given visas in time, according to an associate at the commission, who said it was done with the obvious intent of blocking the trip. "They knew we had tickets for June 12 and the visas are yet to be given, so the inference is obvious...they don’t want us to visit," the associate told TOI.
The Indian Embassy in Washington, the issuing authority for the visa, referred all questions to New Delhi, while acknowledging that the USCIRF team had applied for visas and the applications had been forwarded to
New Delhi as is the standard practice for all such visits.
Sources in the government, without acknowledging that the visas were deliberately withheld, said it was not a proper time for such a visit. "We really don’t care about what they report," an official who spoke on background said. "But a high profile visit seen as having government sanctions would have raised hackles in India." The USCIRF has in its reports criticized violence against religious minorities in India.
The official said the visa denial was not linked to the criticism of the proposed visit by the Hindu pontiff, Shankaracharya Jayendra Sarawati, who earlier this week described the USCIRF as an "intrusive mechanism of a foreign government which is interfering with the internal affairs of India," and said the team must not be allowed to enter the country.
The Obama administration too did not press for the visit, given that US Undersecretary of State William Burns was in New Delhi around the time of the proposed USCIRF visit, preparing ground for the visit to India by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sometime in July. Most "commissioners" and staff of the USCIRF are appointees of the previous Bush administration.
Although the United States acknowledges India’s rich religious and ethnic diversity and plurality, the USCIRF has in its annual reports criticized specific episodes involving violence against religious minority, like the ones in Gujarat and in Orissa.
"We understand India’s sensitivities about being criticized for religious discrimination given its democratic and secular credentials," a commission associate said Wednesday. "But we are concerned that some of the
judicial processes with regards to the incidents in Gujarat and Orissa are not functioning properly and we only wanted to get them going."
Indian hardliners, especially those on the extreme right, chafe at the idea that any US body would want to scrutinize the country’s religious freedom, given its secular credentials, when it dares not interfere in fundamentalist countries like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where minority rights are non-existent. Senior RSS functionaries had specifically inquired repeatedly about the proposed USCIRF visit.
Describing the proposed USCIRF visit to India as "incomprehensible," the US branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishat said as the "largest functioning democracy in the world with an independent judiciary, a statutorily constituted Human rights Commission, an independent press and other supporting organizations would appear to be quite capable of taking care of the religious freedoms and human rights of its citizens."
"India not only offers freedom of religion under its constitution, but does not discriminate based on religion. Similar freedoms are not available in its neighboring countries," the VHP said on a statement.
But the Indian Left and the "secular" brigade in the US, including organizations representing minorities, argue that allowing such foreign bodies to visit India and examine its record and performance enhances the country's reputation as an open, democratic nation that has nothing to hide or fear.
Gujarat Pogrom 2002: If Justice is Denied, Hate will Spread
The Hindustan Times, June 16, 2009
Getting away with murder
by Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Now that election fever has abated, it’s time to look at important issues that were sidelined by the polls. The Supreme Court order to probe Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom has restored faith in the secular fabric of the country, even as we watch it being systematically and deliberately destroyed by communal forces.
I was a part of the first Women’s Commission invited to investigate the Gujarat atrocities against women in March 2002. We went from camp to camp interviewing women to document the horror stories of rape and murder they recounted. Our report — The Survivors Speak — stayed on the websites of major national newspapers for several months. But in the seven years since
2002, there has been neither relief nor justice for the victims.
The authorities swore there was no evidence of Modi’s complicity in the genocide. However, human rights groups talked openly of a February 27 meeting where the police were ordered to “look the other way to allow ‘our boys’ their ‘revenge’”.
So Modi was not merely complicit, say human rights groups, he was the mastermind. The source of this information, Haren Pandya, Modi’s Home Minister, deposed before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal, led by Justice Krishna Iyer. This information has been in the public domain since Outlook carried the story. Pandya was not allowed to live to tell his tale. His murder led his embittered father, Vitthalbhai Pandya, an RSS veteran, on a crusade for justice. Vitthalbhai is willing to testify that in the February 27 meeting, his son opposed Modi’s plan to make Muslims all over Gujarat pay for Godhra.
Cedric Prakash, Director, Prashant, an Ahmedabad-based human rights group, states, “I possess letters written by Vitthalbhai Pandya, addressed to the President and Prime Minister, categorically stating that his son, Haren Pandya, was killed by Modi and Advani. “
I spoke to the 82-year-old Vitthalbhai. “My son advised Modi, you cannot allow the violence to spread beyond Godhra, it will tarnish the reputation of Gujarat. But Modi is a dictator.” In Ellis Bridge area [Haren Pandya’s constituency], not a single killing happened. My son went out and stopped the mob. I am willing to testify before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that my son was at the February 27 meeting and tried to stop Modi from spreading the riots all over Gujarat.”
Three years after the violence, I revisited some of the worst-hit areas. Amina, (name changed) whose father, mother, husband, siblings and several children had been butchered, pointed out, “That is my father’s farm, there’s our house. The people who killed them have it all. They looted and confiscated our property. They laugh at us. We cower before the men
who raped us. They taunt us, laugh in our faces, but we can’t do a thing.”
Prakash says, “Muslims have mostly been forced out of the western part of Ahmedabad and from the upmarket areas. Gujarati Hindus will not sell property or houses to them in many places. Even wealthy or middle class Muslims have been forced into ghettos.”
Harsh Mander, who has worked for peace and justice in Gujarat since 2002, observes, “What’s happening in Gujarat is unprecedented. It’s a systematic, continuous process of social and economic boycott of Muslims, which has changed social relations forever between the communities. Gujaratis will not employ Muslims, trade with them or attend their weddings.
It’s worse in the villages. Those who were sent back have to live in submission next to the neighbours who murdered and raped them. They have been allowed back on conditionalities of total silence. There is a settled fear, a settled submission, a settled despair. Without justice there cannot be healing.”
The Supreme Court’s decision, however, has rekindled hope. It is vital that the SIT works swiftly and effectively at this crucial juncture. Will the SIT bring in Justice Iyer and members of the Tribunal as witnesses? The Tribunal comprises human rights defenders with impeccable records. Justice Iyer is revered for his integrity and intelligence. The Tribunal boasts of heavyweights who can provide invaluable information to the SIT. Others who have worked for justice, peace and reconciliation since 2002 include Harsh Mander, Gagan Sethi, Martin Macwan, Mallika Sarabhai, Cedric Prakash and Manjula Pradeep.
Gagan Sethi of Citizen’s Initiative, Ahmedabad, says, “Each commission or fact-finding team that came to Gujarat in 2002, corroborates the reports submitted by the others. So do hundreds of print and television journalistic reports. SIT can ask for a panel of judges known for their exemplary courage and fairness. Precedents have already been set in the past. There are good retired judges who have nothing to gain or lose at this point in their careers. The outcome will depend on this.”
Gujarat is a litmus test for justice for minorities. If Modi and his henchmen get away, quite literally, with murder, Gujarat, as the Hindutva laboratory, will have succeeded. The cancerous doctrine of hate and intolerance will spread. All those who believe in a secular, democratic State are praying that the Supreme Court will ensure that justice, even if delayed, will not be denied.
(Mari Marcel Thekaekara is founder of Accord, an NGO that works with tribals in the Nilgiris)
Getting away with murder
by Mari Marcel Thekaekara
Now that election fever has abated, it’s time to look at important issues that were sidelined by the polls. The Supreme Court order to probe Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat pogrom has restored faith in the secular fabric of the country, even as we watch it being systematically and deliberately destroyed by communal forces.
I was a part of the first Women’s Commission invited to investigate the Gujarat atrocities against women in March 2002. We went from camp to camp interviewing women to document the horror stories of rape and murder they recounted. Our report — The Survivors Speak — stayed on the websites of major national newspapers for several months. But in the seven years since
2002, there has been neither relief nor justice for the victims.
The authorities swore there was no evidence of Modi’s complicity in the genocide. However, human rights groups talked openly of a February 27 meeting where the police were ordered to “look the other way to allow ‘our boys’ their ‘revenge’”.
So Modi was not merely complicit, say human rights groups, he was the mastermind. The source of this information, Haren Pandya, Modi’s Home Minister, deposed before the Concerned Citizens Tribunal, led by Justice Krishna Iyer. This information has been in the public domain since Outlook carried the story. Pandya was not allowed to live to tell his tale. His murder led his embittered father, Vitthalbhai Pandya, an RSS veteran, on a crusade for justice. Vitthalbhai is willing to testify that in the February 27 meeting, his son opposed Modi’s plan to make Muslims all over Gujarat pay for Godhra.
Cedric Prakash, Director, Prashant, an Ahmedabad-based human rights group, states, “I possess letters written by Vitthalbhai Pandya, addressed to the President and Prime Minister, categorically stating that his son, Haren Pandya, was killed by Modi and Advani. “
I spoke to the 82-year-old Vitthalbhai. “My son advised Modi, you cannot allow the violence to spread beyond Godhra, it will tarnish the reputation of Gujarat. But Modi is a dictator.” In Ellis Bridge area [Haren Pandya’s constituency], not a single killing happened. My son went out and stopped the mob. I am willing to testify before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) that my son was at the February 27 meeting and tried to stop Modi from spreading the riots all over Gujarat.”
Three years after the violence, I revisited some of the worst-hit areas. Amina, (name changed) whose father, mother, husband, siblings and several children had been butchered, pointed out, “That is my father’s farm, there’s our house. The people who killed them have it all. They looted and confiscated our property. They laugh at us. We cower before the men
who raped us. They taunt us, laugh in our faces, but we can’t do a thing.”
Prakash says, “Muslims have mostly been forced out of the western part of Ahmedabad and from the upmarket areas. Gujarati Hindus will not sell property or houses to them in many places. Even wealthy or middle class Muslims have been forced into ghettos.”
Harsh Mander, who has worked for peace and justice in Gujarat since 2002, observes, “What’s happening in Gujarat is unprecedented. It’s a systematic, continuous process of social and economic boycott of Muslims, which has changed social relations forever between the communities. Gujaratis will not employ Muslims, trade with them or attend their weddings.
It’s worse in the villages. Those who were sent back have to live in submission next to the neighbours who murdered and raped them. They have been allowed back on conditionalities of total silence. There is a settled fear, a settled submission, a settled despair. Without justice there cannot be healing.”
The Supreme Court’s decision, however, has rekindled hope. It is vital that the SIT works swiftly and effectively at this crucial juncture. Will the SIT bring in Justice Iyer and members of the Tribunal as witnesses? The Tribunal comprises human rights defenders with impeccable records. Justice Iyer is revered for his integrity and intelligence. The Tribunal boasts of heavyweights who can provide invaluable information to the SIT. Others who have worked for justice, peace and reconciliation since 2002 include Harsh Mander, Gagan Sethi, Martin Macwan, Mallika Sarabhai, Cedric Prakash and Manjula Pradeep.
Gagan Sethi of Citizen’s Initiative, Ahmedabad, says, “Each commission or fact-finding team that came to Gujarat in 2002, corroborates the reports submitted by the others. So do hundreds of print and television journalistic reports. SIT can ask for a panel of judges known for their exemplary courage and fairness. Precedents have already been set in the past. There are good retired judges who have nothing to gain or lose at this point in their careers. The outcome will depend on this.”
Gujarat is a litmus test for justice for minorities. If Modi and his henchmen get away, quite literally, with murder, Gujarat, as the Hindutva laboratory, will have succeeded. The cancerous doctrine of hate and intolerance will spread. All those who believe in a secular, democratic State are praying that the Supreme Court will ensure that justice, even if delayed, will not be denied.
(Mari Marcel Thekaekara is founder of Accord, an NGO that works with tribals in the Nilgiris)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
