27 March 2010
PRESS RELEASE
Daughter of the murdered M.P. Ahsan Jafri urges Supreme Court Justice K.G. Balakrishnan not to preside over the convocation where Chief Minister Modi will be Chief Guest
A petition started by the daughter of Ahsan Jafri, the former M.P. who was murdered during the Gujarat massacre of 2002, and signed by hundreds of peace loving Indians and other world citizens, is submitted to Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, and Justice Ahmed Musa Ebrahim, the Former Judge of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe, urging them not to share the platform with the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri Narendra Modi.
Justice Balakrishnan and Justice Ahmed Musa Ebrahim are invited by the Gujarat National Law University to preside over its first annual convocation, to be held on Sunday, the 28th of March, where CM Narendra Modi would be the Chief Guest.
Outlining the concerns of the victims of Gujarat massacre of 2002, the petition says, “An association of the Chief Justices of India and Zimbabwe with a person who is being examined for his role in the killing of innocent people, under the directives of the Supreme Court will send out wrong signals and undermine the process of justice in Gujarat.”
It further states, “we are at an important threshold of the justice process in Gujarat against the Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the case for conspiracy into mass murder (Zakia Ahsan Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace). For the first time in the history of this country the chief minister will be questioned by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into direct allegations of his complicit role in the 2002 violence.”
The Petition applauds the role played by the Supreme Court in ensuring justice in Gujarat, “You have been a staunch supporter of this struggle”, and reminds the Justices, “Not long ago, Supreme Court of India had called the Chief Minister Narendra Modi a modern day “Nero”.
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The Petition is located at: http://www.petitiononline.com/cjp2010/petition.html
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March 27, 2010
No BJP leader tried to stop Babri demolition: police officer
The Hindu, 27 March 2010
No BJP leader tried to stop Babri demolition: police officer
by Vidya Subrahmaniam and Atiq Khan
Anju Gupta says Advani made fiery speech that electrified kar sevaks
Photo: PTI/Nand Kumar
A NEW TURN:Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta
Rae Bareli: The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 took place in the presence of a clutch of top Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar leaders, none of whom, Lal Krishna Advani included, made an attempt to stop the vandals, said Anju Gupta, senior police officer and the prosecution's star witness in the Ayodhya demolition criminal case on Friday.
Ms. Gupta, who was Mr. Advani's personal security officer (PSO) at the time, told the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Rae Bareli that the BJP leader gave a “joshila” (fiery) speech from the dais, repeating over and over that “mandir yahin banayenge ( the temple will be built right here) and this electrified the kar sevaks.
Ms. Gupta said she was present on the dais for a substantial part of the six hours it took to raze the “disputed structure.” Through this time not once did she see Mr. Advani – or the other leaders present on the makeshift Ramkatha Kunj Manch – order the kar sevaks to halt the demolition. Instead, they made merry, hugged each other as each dome of the 16th century monument fell, and distributed sweets.
The leaders on the manch sang bhajans, made inflammatory speeches, raised provocative slogans and egged the kar sevaks into staying on to finish the work. “Vahan par jashan ka mahoul tha” (the mood was celebratory), she said.
Her requests to the police control room for “force reinforcement” were met with indifference, she said.
Vantage view
Ms. Gupta's testimony is significant for two reasons. Though there were more than a dozen senior government officials present in the town on that day, she alone has come forward to narrate the events leading up to the demolition. Secondly, as Mr. Advani's PSO, she had a vantage view of both the structure as it was being demolished and the dais where over a dozen BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders had gathered. Among them were Mr. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Rithambhara, the former Director General of U.P. police, S.C. Dixit, and Acharya Dharmendra.
Ms. Gupta said she could only hear a part of Mr. Advani's speech as she had to leave the dais to escort the fleet of cars accompanying Mr. Advani.
On her way back to the dais, around 11.50 am-noon, she said she spotted kar sevaks, armed with a variety of implements, including pulleys and ropes, climbing atop the domes. Many of them fell to the ground. When she reached the stage, Mr. Advani asked her to describe the situation at the demolition site. On hearing that kar sevaks were falling off the domes, he was very worried, and insisted on going to the spot. However, later he relented and asked her to escort Ms. Bharti to the demolition site, she said.
No BJP leader tried to stop Babri demolition: police officer
by Vidya Subrahmaniam and Atiq Khan
Anju Gupta says Advani made fiery speech that electrified kar sevaks
Photo: PTI/Nand Kumar
A NEW TURN:Senior IPS officer Anju Gupta
Rae Bareli: The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 took place in the presence of a clutch of top Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar leaders, none of whom, Lal Krishna Advani included, made an attempt to stop the vandals, said Anju Gupta, senior police officer and the prosecution's star witness in the Ayodhya demolition criminal case on Friday.
Ms. Gupta, who was Mr. Advani's personal security officer (PSO) at the time, told the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Rae Bareli that the BJP leader gave a “joshila” (fiery) speech from the dais, repeating over and over that “mandir yahin banayenge ( the temple will be built right here) and this electrified the kar sevaks.
Ms. Gupta said she was present on the dais for a substantial part of the six hours it took to raze the “disputed structure.” Through this time not once did she see Mr. Advani – or the other leaders present on the makeshift Ramkatha Kunj Manch – order the kar sevaks to halt the demolition. Instead, they made merry, hugged each other as each dome of the 16th century monument fell, and distributed sweets.
The leaders on the manch sang bhajans, made inflammatory speeches, raised provocative slogans and egged the kar sevaks into staying on to finish the work. “Vahan par jashan ka mahoul tha” (the mood was celebratory), she said.
Her requests to the police control room for “force reinforcement” were met with indifference, she said.
Vantage view
Ms. Gupta's testimony is significant for two reasons. Though there were more than a dozen senior government officials present in the town on that day, she alone has come forward to narrate the events leading up to the demolition. Secondly, as Mr. Advani's PSO, she had a vantage view of both the structure as it was being demolished and the dais where over a dozen BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders had gathered. Among them were Mr. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Ashok Singhal, Sadhvi Rithambhara, the former Director General of U.P. police, S.C. Dixit, and Acharya Dharmendra.
Ms. Gupta said she could only hear a part of Mr. Advani's speech as she had to leave the dais to escort the fleet of cars accompanying Mr. Advani.
On her way back to the dais, around 11.50 am-noon, she said she spotted kar sevaks, armed with a variety of implements, including pulleys and ropes, climbing atop the domes. Many of them fell to the ground. When she reached the stage, Mr. Advani asked her to describe the situation at the demolition site. On hearing that kar sevaks were falling off the domes, he was very worried, and insisted on going to the spot. However, later he relented and asked her to escort Ms. Bharti to the demolition site, she said.
Eight year after the Gujarat Massacre Victims Speak at Meet The Press (Ahmedabad, 22 March 2010)
Rediff.com, March 26, 2010
'Is Narendra Modi sahab a coward?'
It's more than eight years now but the victims who survived the Gulbarg Society and Naroda Patiya massacre are still awaiting justice. They believe that the state government of Gujarat, and the man who heads it, have a moral responsibility towards providing justice to those who were killed in the riots that followed the burning of Sabarmati Express on February 27 in which 58 kar sevaks were killed.
In a meet-the-press organised by a non-government organisation Prashant and Citizens for Justice and Peace in Ahmedabad on March 22 those who survived the massacres made a fervent plea to Chief Minister Narendra Modi to come before the Special Investigating Team (appointed by the Supreme Court to answer) and answer the criminal charges leveled against him by the victims.
While reports suggest that Narendra Modi is likely to appear before SIT on March 27 there was controversy over his appearance before SIT on March 21 which turned out to be a no-show.
Here are three voices of victims who survived the Gulbarg Society and Naroda Patiya massacre pleading to and accusing the Gujarat chief minister of various criminal charges to appear before SIT.
Ijaz Pathan, resident of Gulbarg Society: Why is Modi sahab scared to appear before the SIT
I was in Gulbarg Society, bungalow number 18. When the rioters set fire to the building in February 2002 the police did not support us. Former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri called all the top police officers in the state and as last resort had also called Narendra Modiji. The only thing he got from Modiji were abuses and bad words.
I was standing next to Jafri sahab. When I asked him what happened he said 'I called on the chief minister of Gujarat to help save us and he has only abuses for me. Don't expect anybody to come and save us. And after that he became very disappointed and went into the kitchen.
After that the rioters took him out and slaughtered him.
Now that the SIT has issued summons to Narendra Modiji when he himself proclaims in his speeches, in front of the media that terrorists had plans to assassinate him then why is Modi sahab scared to appear before the SIT. Has he turned kaayar (coward)?
Now that the truth (about Narendra Modi's complicity in the post Godhra riots) is about to be revealed why is he getting scared? We urge him to come before and cooperate with SIT. If he is not involved then he must go before SIT.
Sairaben Sandhi, resident of Gulbarg Society, Room no 6
"Four people from my family were killed in the Gulbarg Society massacre. From the last 8 years we have been running everywhere for getting justice and when we are close to getting justice why is Narendra Modi backtracking from going before SIT. On other occasions he attends 100 meetings going around in helicopters then why can't he attend the SIT meeting even for an hour.
Who's is he scared of? He should not show such cowardice. In his speeches he always says that he is with the people of Gujarat and protecting their lives is my responsibility then why is he going back on his words.
When he has got an opportunity to come clean in the matter then he should come forward to prove his innocence. We want an answer from him as to why only we (Muslims) were targeted.
When Ehsan Jafri called Narendra Modi to help save us and send police protection we heard Modi saying this to Jafri sahab: You are still alive?
We want justice and we would like to request Modiji to help and cooperate with us and help us get justice."
Jannat Bibi Kalluben, Naroda Patiya resident:
"Will we ever get justice in the Naroda Patiya massacre case?
Now that this case has been dragging on for eight years what we want is only justice. But will we ever get justice?
125 people were killed in the Naroda Patiya massacre. When Modi says that I am with you, with the people of Naroda Patiya, I will give help get justice for you. It's about time. Why is he going back on his words now.
We are only asking for justice, nothing else."
March 24, 2010
India: Police officer to testify against Advani in Babri case
The Hindu, March 25, 2010
by Siddharth Varadarajan
A police officer present at the scene of the Babri Masjid's demolition in 1992 will take the witness stand in a Rae Bareli court on Friday as a witness for the prosecution against L.K. Advani and other sangh parivar leaders accused of inciting violence 17 years ago.
Anju Gupta, who joined the elite Indian Police Service in 1990, was posted as Mr. Advani's personal security officer during the period when the Bharatiya Janata Party was bringing its supporters to Ayodhya for ‘kar seva' at the mosque, claimed by the sangh parivar to be the birthplace of Lord Rama. As PSO, her job was to stick close to the BJP leader and keep track of his movements and meetings. Shortly after the mosque was destroyed, she deposed before the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was tasked with investigating the crime and prosecuting those responsible.
There were more than a dozen senior officers from the IAS, IPS, Provincial Civil Service and Central paramilitaries present in and around the site but none was willing to make a statement to the CBI outlining what they saw on that fateful day. The one exception was the young Anju Gupta, who made a detailed statement describing what various BJP leaders, including Mr. Advani, were saying and doing while the frenzied mob assembled by them demolished the 16th century mosque.
Ms. Gupta's statement formed a crucial part of the criminal case the CBI eventually filed against Mr. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and Sadhvi Ritambhara in 1993.
The eight were initially charged with various sections of the IPC, including 120B (conspiracy), 147, 149, 153A, 153B and 505, mainly dealing with inflammatory speeches and incitement. “I did not see these leaders making any attempt to prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure,” the CBI chargesheet quoted Ms. Gupta as saying. “On the fall of the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness.”
The conspiracy charge was dropped and in 2003 Mr. Advani was discharged entirely. In July 2005, however, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court reinstated the charges of intentionally provoking people into rioting, arson and indulging in rioting with intent to create disorder, as well as creating discord among communities.
Some five years later, the Rae Bareli court has made little progress in concluding the case. But with Ms. Gupta — who is now an officer with the Research & Analysis Wing — set to take the witness stand, the trial is likely to come alive again.
by Siddharth Varadarajan
A police officer present at the scene of the Babri Masjid's demolition in 1992 will take the witness stand in a Rae Bareli court on Friday as a witness for the prosecution against L.K. Advani and other sangh parivar leaders accused of inciting violence 17 years ago.
Anju Gupta, who joined the elite Indian Police Service in 1990, was posted as Mr. Advani's personal security officer during the period when the Bharatiya Janata Party was bringing its supporters to Ayodhya for ‘kar seva' at the mosque, claimed by the sangh parivar to be the birthplace of Lord Rama. As PSO, her job was to stick close to the BJP leader and keep track of his movements and meetings. Shortly after the mosque was destroyed, she deposed before the Central Bureau of Investigation, which was tasked with investigating the crime and prosecuting those responsible.
There were more than a dozen senior officers from the IAS, IPS, Provincial Civil Service and Central paramilitaries present in and around the site but none was willing to make a statement to the CBI outlining what they saw on that fateful day. The one exception was the young Anju Gupta, who made a detailed statement describing what various BJP leaders, including Mr. Advani, were saying and doing while the frenzied mob assembled by them demolished the 16th century mosque.
Ms. Gupta's statement formed a crucial part of the criminal case the CBI eventually filed against Mr. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and Sadhvi Ritambhara in 1993.
The eight were initially charged with various sections of the IPC, including 120B (conspiracy), 147, 149, 153A, 153B and 505, mainly dealing with inflammatory speeches and incitement. “I did not see these leaders making any attempt to prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure,” the CBI chargesheet quoted Ms. Gupta as saying. “On the fall of the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness.”
The conspiracy charge was dropped and in 2003 Mr. Advani was discharged entirely. In July 2005, however, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court reinstated the charges of intentionally provoking people into rioting, arson and indulging in rioting with intent to create disorder, as well as creating discord among communities.
Some five years later, the Rae Bareli court has made little progress in concluding the case. But with Ms. Gupta — who is now an officer with the Research & Analysis Wing — set to take the witness stand, the trial is likely to come alive again.
India: On Gujarat, SIT itself is on trial
The Times of India, 21 March 2010
On Gujarat, SIT itself is on trial
by Manoj Mitta
The Gujarat riot cases are again at the crossroads. The first time, an exasperated Supreme Court took the extreme measure of shifting two high-profile cases, Best Bakery and Bilkis Banu, out of Gujarat. It led to a fair trail and convictions.
Once again we are at the cusp of some out-of-the-box move by the Supreme Court. The court has already stayed the trial into the Gulbarg massacre case involving the murder of 69 people, including Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. The stay has come in the wake of stunning allegations of bias by special public prosecutor R K Shah against the probe agency, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), and the special court judge.
Shah has alleged that SIT was sabotaging the case by giving weak support to the prosecution team, and the judge — if Shah is to be believed — was behaving as though he was presiding over a kangaroo court; he was intimidating eye-witnesses and, generally speaking, showing little interest in getting to the truth.
In the circumstances, the Supreme Court — the one institution that has consistently batted for justice for the riot victims — was left with no option but to stay the trial for now. What it will do next is the big question. Will it upbraid SIT and urge it to discharge its duties fairly and diligently? Or will it, acting on a long-pending application, direct a reconstitution of SIT?
SIT’s credibility appears to have sunk to a new low. This is despite it summoning Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for questioning this Sunday. Modi is one of the worthies in a list of 62 influential persons against whom Zakia Jafri, Ehsan Jafri’s widow, has filed a complaint, which is still to be registered. But this remarkable step of summoning the chief minister has not quite retrieved SIT’s credibility — in fact, the timing of the summons is seen as a desperate effort by SIT to salvage its battered reputation.
Critics point out that SIT could have summoned Modi much earlier if it wanted to. Gulbarg is one of the nine cases
falling under SIT’s jurisdiction. And it could have examined Modi in this case because Rahul Sharma, one of the few Gujarat police officers to have acquitted himself well during the riots, has produced a CD containing cell phone records of BJP leaders and police officers. Besides, eyewitnesses have testified in court that shortly before his murder, Jafri rang Modi for help, only to be abused by him. The sudden summoning of Modi now is, therefore, being viewed with dollops of skepticism.
The larger skepticism about SIT lies in its composition. Apart from the former CBI chief, R K Raghavan, who heads the team, its senior officers are drawn largely from the Gujarat Police, which itself has been seen to have been biased during the riots. The three senior Gujarat officers are Shivanand Jha, Geeta Johri and Ashish Bhatia. One of them, Jha, is named as an accused in Jafri’s complaint.
Special prosecutor Shah has alleged that Bhatia tried to sabotage the prosecution’s case by producing fresh witness statements contradicting the earlier ones. Bhatia’s alleged machinations were exposed when all the eyewitnesses and victims stood by their original testimonies during the trial, disowning the retractions attributed to them. Shah’s damaging revelations about SIT corroborate previous allegations against Bhatia by eyewitnesses and victims in their transfer petition to the Gujarat high court.
Whether it is biased or not, SIT has certainly been horribly inept in its assistance to the prosecution. Prosecutor Shah alleged that statements of witnesses were given to him only when they were in the witness box, giving him no time to study. And the trial court, he alleged, was seeking to shield the Gulbarg massacre accused. Overall, this indicates that Modi’s Gujarat remains as hostile to justice as it was when the original Best Bakery case trial collapsed in Vadodara under the weight of testimonies retracted under duress.
So, if the Supreme Court felt Gujarat was not the right place for securing justice in the Best Bakery and Bilkis Banu cases, it might even feel similarly when it takes up the issue next month about the nine cases with SIT. But more likely, it could reconstitute the team so as to show it means business. It is clear the SIT experiment is in need of serious review.
At the next Supreme Court hearing, Raghavan may also be pressed to justify SIT’s handling of the Godhra train-burning case. Having bought into the Gujarat police’s claim that the killing of 57 passengers was the result of an ISI conspiracy, SIT seems to have acquiesced in the attempt to use trumped-up evidence. This came to light because of a plea filed before the Supreme Court by somebody who has been cited as an eyewitness. The eyewitness, Ilyas Hussain Mulla, claimed that he was not in Godhra that fateful day; he was, in fact, in Palej, 150 km from Godhra. Mulla has said that SIT officials abducted and tortured him again last month to prevent him from speaking the truth at the trial.
Look at it any which way, we haven’t heard the last of the Gujarat riot trials. One minister, Maya Kodnani, might have been arrested. But in the larger context, this seems a case of selective enforcement of law. Much greater rigour would be required to give justice to the riot victims. And heal a festering wound in our society.
On Gujarat, SIT itself is on trial
by Manoj Mitta
The Gujarat riot cases are again at the crossroads. The first time, an exasperated Supreme Court took the extreme measure of shifting two high-profile cases, Best Bakery and Bilkis Banu, out of Gujarat. It led to a fair trail and convictions.
Once again we are at the cusp of some out-of-the-box move by the Supreme Court. The court has already stayed the trial into the Gulbarg massacre case involving the murder of 69 people, including Congress MP Ehsan Jafri. The stay has come in the wake of stunning allegations of bias by special public prosecutor R K Shah against the probe agency, the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), and the special court judge.
Shah has alleged that SIT was sabotaging the case by giving weak support to the prosecution team, and the judge — if Shah is to be believed — was behaving as though he was presiding over a kangaroo court; he was intimidating eye-witnesses and, generally speaking, showing little interest in getting to the truth.
In the circumstances, the Supreme Court — the one institution that has consistently batted for justice for the riot victims — was left with no option but to stay the trial for now. What it will do next is the big question. Will it upbraid SIT and urge it to discharge its duties fairly and diligently? Or will it, acting on a long-pending application, direct a reconstitution of SIT?
SIT’s credibility appears to have sunk to a new low. This is despite it summoning Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for questioning this Sunday. Modi is one of the worthies in a list of 62 influential persons against whom Zakia Jafri, Ehsan Jafri’s widow, has filed a complaint, which is still to be registered. But this remarkable step of summoning the chief minister has not quite retrieved SIT’s credibility — in fact, the timing of the summons is seen as a desperate effort by SIT to salvage its battered reputation.
Critics point out that SIT could have summoned Modi much earlier if it wanted to. Gulbarg is one of the nine cases
falling under SIT’s jurisdiction. And it could have examined Modi in this case because Rahul Sharma, one of the few Gujarat police officers to have acquitted himself well during the riots, has produced a CD containing cell phone records of BJP leaders and police officers. Besides, eyewitnesses have testified in court that shortly before his murder, Jafri rang Modi for help, only to be abused by him. The sudden summoning of Modi now is, therefore, being viewed with dollops of skepticism.
The larger skepticism about SIT lies in its composition. Apart from the former CBI chief, R K Raghavan, who heads the team, its senior officers are drawn largely from the Gujarat Police, which itself has been seen to have been biased during the riots. The three senior Gujarat officers are Shivanand Jha, Geeta Johri and Ashish Bhatia. One of them, Jha, is named as an accused in Jafri’s complaint.
Special prosecutor Shah has alleged that Bhatia tried to sabotage the prosecution’s case by producing fresh witness statements contradicting the earlier ones. Bhatia’s alleged machinations were exposed when all the eyewitnesses and victims stood by their original testimonies during the trial, disowning the retractions attributed to them. Shah’s damaging revelations about SIT corroborate previous allegations against Bhatia by eyewitnesses and victims in their transfer petition to the Gujarat high court.
Whether it is biased or not, SIT has certainly been horribly inept in its assistance to the prosecution. Prosecutor Shah alleged that statements of witnesses were given to him only when they were in the witness box, giving him no time to study. And the trial court, he alleged, was seeking to shield the Gulbarg massacre accused. Overall, this indicates that Modi’s Gujarat remains as hostile to justice as it was when the original Best Bakery case trial collapsed in Vadodara under the weight of testimonies retracted under duress.
So, if the Supreme Court felt Gujarat was not the right place for securing justice in the Best Bakery and Bilkis Banu cases, it might even feel similarly when it takes up the issue next month about the nine cases with SIT. But more likely, it could reconstitute the team so as to show it means business. It is clear the SIT experiment is in need of serious review.
At the next Supreme Court hearing, Raghavan may also be pressed to justify SIT’s handling of the Godhra train-burning case. Having bought into the Gujarat police’s claim that the killing of 57 passengers was the result of an ISI conspiracy, SIT seems to have acquiesced in the attempt to use trumped-up evidence. This came to light because of a plea filed before the Supreme Court by somebody who has been cited as an eyewitness. The eyewitness, Ilyas Hussain Mulla, claimed that he was not in Godhra that fateful day; he was, in fact, in Palej, 150 km from Godhra. Mulla has said that SIT officials abducted and tortured him again last month to prevent him from speaking the truth at the trial.
Look at it any which way, we haven’t heard the last of the Gujarat riot trials. One minister, Maya Kodnani, might have been arrested. But in the larger context, this seems a case of selective enforcement of law. Much greater rigour would be required to give justice to the riot victims. And heal a festering wound in our society.
India: The Bareilly factor
(The Indian Express, March 24, 2010)
by Imtiaz Ahmad
Bareilly’s history of communal harmony means the recent riots have been an anomaly. It shows, however, that while Muslims project themselves as a unity and are similarly perceived by others, this unity has never been real. In Bareilly, the fundamental cleavage has been between Barelwis and Deobandis.
This cleavage dates back to the 19th century, traceable to the theological line propagated by Ahmad Raza Khan who lived in Bareilly. He distinguished his theological line from Deoband, the theological seminary located further west, in Saharanpur — some whose followers he described as “Wahhabis”, after the reactionary religious movement which sought to rid Islam in India of local accretions. The Barelwis refer to themselves as “Sunnis”, implying thereby that the Deobandis and other groups are not. The Deobandis and other antagonists make similar claims about them.
The differences between the two groups are not merely theological. They relate as much to Islamic practice. The Barelwis are somewhat eclectic, insisting that many of the ritual practices found among Muslims as a result of local influences are perfectly tenable. For example, they allow the veneration of saints, as well as using saints as intercessors between God and man. They also endorse the ritual offering of obeisance to the dead. The Deobandis are strongly opposed to the persistence of such practices, regarding them as remnants of a Hindu past. They want to stamp out such ritual practices and purify Islam. The Tablighi Jamat, whose founder himself was a Deoband product, has been active in trying to dissuade Muslims from adhering to such accretions and emphasise the practice of Islam’s fundamentals.
These differences over theology and ritual practices have led to rioting and conflict not only in Bareilly, but also in other parts of the country where people of Barelwi persuasion are found in substantial numbers. Unlike Hindu-Muslim conflict, Bareilly has witnessed Barelwi-Deobandi riots on several occasions in the past. Over the years, the level of conflict has worsened. Each regards the other as non-believers or kaffirs. Mosques in Bareilly, and now in many other towns and cities, carry a signboard announcing that it is a Barelwi mosque and non-Barelwis cannot pray there. If missionaries of the Tablighi Jamat ever use the mosque to propagate their ideology, the mosque is washed and cleansed.
One incident eloquently brings out the mutual antagonism took place at a funeral prayer, at which people of both persuasions joined. The prayer leader was a Deobandi; Barelwi clerics subsequently pronounced that the nikah, or marriage contracts, of all the Barelwis who had joined the prayer were thereby annulled and they must go through the nikah ceremony with their spouses afresh. Such antagonism is more distinctly visible among society’s lower classes; upper classes, whether of Deobandis and Barelwis, recognise these differences but quite often ignore them for marriage and similar purposes.
What sustains such theological and ritual differences are each group’s madrasas, which claim to teach Islam to Muslims, but in practice they teach them Islam as propagated by their distinct theological line. The students in these madrasas come from poor families in backward areas. Soon enough, the relationship between these students and founders of madrasas build up into a strong patron-client relationship because of the material help they receive in the form of food and free education. Subsequently, these students go on to their own madrasas and end up becoming more loyal than the king, as it were, to the theological line in which they have been trained. Thus, the antagonism of faith is strengthened and spread far and wide.
The Barelwi cleric, Tauquir Raza Khan, tried some time ago to bring the two groups together. He started declaring that Muslims should take to martyrdom — meaning that irrespective of theological differences they should act as one. His position was soon contested by other Barelwis, who went on to exhort their theological brethren not to be misguided by Tauquir Raza Khan, not to join hands and interact with the Deobandis. Even a cataclysmic event like the riot could not succeed in bringing the two lines of persuasion together.
In the face of this glaring chasm, an explanation for the communal riot must be found in the changing dynamics of residential patterns in the city. Historically, Hindus and Muslims have lived interspersed in the city. With the emergence of large colonies on the outskirts, Hindus have been moving out to new colonies. Muslims are not averse to this development as it would reduce population pressure. The popularity of Varun Gandhi-style politics in the Bundelkhand region has added to the tussle. These appear to be more potent factors than any kind of Muslim communal solidarity.
The writer is a former professor of political sociology, JNU
by Imtiaz Ahmad
Bareilly’s history of communal harmony means the recent riots have been an anomaly. It shows, however, that while Muslims project themselves as a unity and are similarly perceived by others, this unity has never been real. In Bareilly, the fundamental cleavage has been between Barelwis and Deobandis.
This cleavage dates back to the 19th century, traceable to the theological line propagated by Ahmad Raza Khan who lived in Bareilly. He distinguished his theological line from Deoband, the theological seminary located further west, in Saharanpur — some whose followers he described as “Wahhabis”, after the reactionary religious movement which sought to rid Islam in India of local accretions. The Barelwis refer to themselves as “Sunnis”, implying thereby that the Deobandis and other groups are not. The Deobandis and other antagonists make similar claims about them.
The differences between the two groups are not merely theological. They relate as much to Islamic practice. The Barelwis are somewhat eclectic, insisting that many of the ritual practices found among Muslims as a result of local influences are perfectly tenable. For example, they allow the veneration of saints, as well as using saints as intercessors between God and man. They also endorse the ritual offering of obeisance to the dead. The Deobandis are strongly opposed to the persistence of such practices, regarding them as remnants of a Hindu past. They want to stamp out such ritual practices and purify Islam. The Tablighi Jamat, whose founder himself was a Deoband product, has been active in trying to dissuade Muslims from adhering to such accretions and emphasise the practice of Islam’s fundamentals.
These differences over theology and ritual practices have led to rioting and conflict not only in Bareilly, but also in other parts of the country where people of Barelwi persuasion are found in substantial numbers. Unlike Hindu-Muslim conflict, Bareilly has witnessed Barelwi-Deobandi riots on several occasions in the past. Over the years, the level of conflict has worsened. Each regards the other as non-believers or kaffirs. Mosques in Bareilly, and now in many other towns and cities, carry a signboard announcing that it is a Barelwi mosque and non-Barelwis cannot pray there. If missionaries of the Tablighi Jamat ever use the mosque to propagate their ideology, the mosque is washed and cleansed.
One incident eloquently brings out the mutual antagonism took place at a funeral prayer, at which people of both persuasions joined. The prayer leader was a Deobandi; Barelwi clerics subsequently pronounced that the nikah, or marriage contracts, of all the Barelwis who had joined the prayer were thereby annulled and they must go through the nikah ceremony with their spouses afresh. Such antagonism is more distinctly visible among society’s lower classes; upper classes, whether of Deobandis and Barelwis, recognise these differences but quite often ignore them for marriage and similar purposes.
What sustains such theological and ritual differences are each group’s madrasas, which claim to teach Islam to Muslims, but in practice they teach them Islam as propagated by their distinct theological line. The students in these madrasas come from poor families in backward areas. Soon enough, the relationship between these students and founders of madrasas build up into a strong patron-client relationship because of the material help they receive in the form of food and free education. Subsequently, these students go on to their own madrasas and end up becoming more loyal than the king, as it were, to the theological line in which they have been trained. Thus, the antagonism of faith is strengthened and spread far and wide.
The Barelwi cleric, Tauquir Raza Khan, tried some time ago to bring the two groups together. He started declaring that Muslims should take to martyrdom — meaning that irrespective of theological differences they should act as one. His position was soon contested by other Barelwis, who went on to exhort their theological brethren not to be misguided by Tauquir Raza Khan, not to join hands and interact with the Deobandis. Even a cataclysmic event like the riot could not succeed in bringing the two lines of persuasion together.
In the face of this glaring chasm, an explanation for the communal riot must be found in the changing dynamics of residential patterns in the city. Historically, Hindus and Muslims have lived interspersed in the city. With the emergence of large colonies on the outskirts, Hindus have been moving out to new colonies. Muslims are not averse to this development as it would reduce population pressure. The popularity of Varun Gandhi-style politics in the Bundelkhand region has added to the tussle. These appear to be more potent factors than any kind of Muslim communal solidarity.
The writer is a former professor of political sociology, JNU
March 22, 2010
Release of Tehelka Tapes in the Public Domain - Press conference invitation Ahmedabad (22 March 2010)
Citizens for Justice and Peace
URGENT
Press Release
Release of Tehelka Tapes in the Public Domain
Selected Tapes of the Sting Operation where Interviewees who speak of the Direct and Indirect Role of Shri Narendra Modi in the 2002 massacre
Press Invite
Press Conference: Victim Survivors and CJP address the Press
Venue: PRASHANT, DRIVE IN ROAD
Time: 2 p.m.
Date Monday, March 22, 2010
The summons to chief minister Narendra Modi on charges of mass murder and criminal conspiracy is historic and unprecedented. There is enough prima facie evidence to lodge an FIR against the accused that includes the chief minister.
The present complaint against chief minister Narendra Modi and 61 others is being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) following an order of the Supreme Court of India in SLP 1088/2008 filed by Smt Zakia Ahsan Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) asking for registration of an FIR on charges of mass murder and criminal conspiracy. This complaint was dated June 8, 2006 and went uninvestigated and non-registered by the Gujarat police who was by the time it was sent, headed by Shri PC Pande former Commissioner of Police Ahmedabad, by then promoted to senior most police officer, Director General of Police , Gujarat.
___________________________________________________________________________
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai – 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288 email: cjp02in@yahoo.com, teesteesta@gmail.com
While the matter was still in the Gujarat High Court a tremendous boost to the complainants was given by the exposure of the extrajudicial confessions of Tehelka’s Operation Kalank (October 25-27 2007) that, in many parts spoke of the direct role of chief minister Narendra Modi in directing and masterminding the massacre. These tapes have been authenticated by the CBI under direct orders of the National Human Rights Commission. Both the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court of India directed that they be used as evidence at the appropriate time. The detailed and extremely courageous exposure by Tehelka and its then correspondent Ashish Khetan also point to the involvement of several persons in the conspiracy to commit mass murder and economic destruction.
Today, Tehelka, a magazine devoted to the public interest has permitted the release of portions of these tapes in the public domain. Today we release those portions that expose (a) the arms and bombs distribution in different parts of Gujarat b efore the Godhra incident ie Februaru 27 2002 and b) the direct or indirect role of Shri Modi alleged by BJP and VHP/Bajran Dal cades on camera that amount to extra judicial confessions. We, at CJP representing the victim survivors of the Gujarat genocidal carnage of 2002 acknowledge the role of Tehelka , express our gratitude to Tehelka and put these out in the public domain in the public interest.
Tehelka’s Operation Kalank
Modi’s Role
I. Babu Bajrangi (Patel) Role in Massacre
Modi’s Role In Helping Bajrangi Abscond
Bajrangi also speaks of
How Police Machinery was made ineffective on Modi’s Instructions
Manipulation of the Judiciary
2. Arvind Pandya State Government Lawyer
“Modi Nahi Hota To Kuch Nahi Hota”
Modi’s Role in Subverting Entire Criminal Justice System
3. Accountant MS University DHIMANT BHAT
Speaks of Modi’s Direct Role & VHP Meteting on Night of February 27, 2002 planning the post Godhra Conspiracy
4. HARESH BHATT former MLA Godhra
Speaks of Three Days given by Modi to do as they will
5. RAJENDRA VYAS VHP Ahmedabad City President
In charge of Train (Sabramati Express) speaks of the behaviour on board the train
6. SURESH RICHARD CHARA from NARODA PATIA (AN ACCUSED)
Modi’s Visit to Patia on evening of Fenruary 28 2002 to garland murderers and rapists saying they have accomplished a wonderful job
8. DHAWAL PATEL VHP ZILLA SANJOYAK SABARKANTHA
Speaks of Arms Distribution prior to the Gpdhra Trian Burning Pointing
to A Conspiracy
9. ANIL PATEL Gujarat VHP Vibhag Pramukh
Arms Distribution prior to the Gpdhra Trian Burning Pointing to A Conspiracy
Apart from other tapes of the Gulberg Accused, a Trial that has been stayed by the apex court
Please do attend and give wide coverage to the conference.
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Teesta Setalvad
Secretary
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS MODI’S ROLE
(EXCERPTS)
(EXCERPTS)
("http://www.tehelka.com/story)
What They Said About Modi
NARENDRA MODI’s anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Haresh Bhatt, the then national co-coordinator of the Bajrang Dal, was part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Bhatt says, “He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt.”
RAJENDRA VYAS, the VHP’s Ahmedabad city president, was consoled by Modi, who said, “Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of.”
NOT ONLY DID THE MODI government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail
SINCE THE POLICE were in control all over Gujarat, Modi instructed them to side with the Hindus, thus giving the rioters a free hand for three days until pressure from higher quarters necessitated the calling in of the army
AFTER THE NARODA PATIYA carnage, the chief minister himself went to the site and acknowledged the efforts of the Chhara tribe, who were key participants in the massacre at Naroda Patiya
ARVIND PANDYA, government counsel, is convinced that Modi’s strong leadership made the post-Godhra carnage possible
SURESH RICHARD CHARA (accused in Naroda Patia Massacre)
Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… at around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…
TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi…
Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…
TEHELKA: He came out on the road?
Richard: Here, near this house… Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…
TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened…
Richard: The same evening…
TEHELKA: February 28…
Richard: 28…
TEHELKA: 2002…
Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…
TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o’clock or at 7?
Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots…Richard:We’d finished burning everything and had returned… That was when the police called us… They said some Muslims were hiding in this sewer… When we went there, we saw their houses had been completely burned down but seven or eight of them had hidden in the gutter… We shut the lid on it… If we’d gone in after them, we might have been in danger… We closed the lid and weighted it down with big boulders… Later, they found eight or ten corpses in there… They’d gone there to save their lives, but... they died of the gases down there… This happened in the evening… the dhamal [killing spree] went till night, till about 8.30…
TEHELKA: So you went in again….
Richard:We were inside… By evening, things had cooled down… We were tired also… After all, a man gets tired out… Hurling stones, beating with pipes, stabbing, all this… The way we came out from inside could only be done by a man of strong heart…
• • •
Richard: Mayaben was moving around all day in an open jeep…
TEHELKA: On the day of the Patiya massacre…
Richard: [She was saying] Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram… wearing a saffron headband… She kept raising slogans… She said, carry on with your work, I’m here [to protect you]… She was wearing a white sari and had on a saffron band… I had also tied on a saffron band…
• • •
TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes…
Richard: Now look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit are going to be crushed and thrown away]... Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death anyway, some people must have helped themselves to the fruit…
TEHELKA: There must have been a couple of rapes…
Richard: Might even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say…the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I also ate… I also ate… I ate once
TEHELKA: Just once?Richard: Just once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… That scrap-dealer’s girl, Naseemo… Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top…
TEHELKA: You got on top of her…
Richard: Yes, properly…
TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she
Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle…
• • •
BABU BAJRANGI
What They Said About Modi
‘To Get Me Out On Bail, Narendrabhai Changed Judges Thrice’
Transcript (EXCERPT): BABU BAJRANGI
Modi has a definite soft spot for the man who would later stall the film Parzania. The regard is mutual
AUGUST 10, 2007
TEHELKA: The day Patiya happened, didn’t Modi support you?
Bajrangi: He made everything all right, otherwise who would have had the strength... It was his hand all the way... If he’d told the police to do differently, they would have f****d us.... they could have... they had full control…
TEHELKA: They had control?
Bajrangi: They were very much in control all over the city, all over Gujarat… [But] for two days, Narendrabhai was in control… from the third day… a lot of pressure came from the top… Sonia-wonia and all came here…
• • •
TEHELKA: Didn’t Narendrabhai come to meet you [in jail]?
Bajrangi: If Narendrabhai comes to meet me, he’ll be in deep trouble… I didn’t expect to see him… Even today, I don’t expect it…
TEHELKA: Did he ever talk to you over the phone?
Bajrangi: That way I do get to speak to him… but not just like that… The whole world starts singing…
TEHELKA: But when you were absconding, then he…..
Bajrangi: Hmm… I did speak to him twice or thrice…
TEHELKA: He’d encourage you…
Bajrangi: Marad aadmi hai [he’s a real man], Narendrabhai… If he were to tell me to tie a bomb to myself and jump... it wouldn’t take even a second… I could sling a bomb around me and jump wherever I was asked to… for Hindus…
TEHELKA: Had he not been there,then Naroda Patiya, Gulbarg etc…
Bajrangi:Wouldn’t have happened.Would’ve been very difficult.
• • •
SEPTEMBER 1, 2007
TEHELKA: Did Narendrabhai come to Patiya the day of the massacre?
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai came to Patiya… He could not make it to the place of the incidents because there were commando-phamandos with him… But he came to Patiya, saw our enthusiasm and went away… He left behind a really good atmosphere…
TEHELKA: Said you were all blessed…
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai had come to see that things didn’t stop the next day… He went all around Ahmedabad, to all the places where the miyas [Muslims] were, to the Hindu areas… told people they’d done well and should do more…
• • •Bajrangi: [After the massacre] the commissioner issued orders [against me]… I was told to leave my home… I ran away… Narendrabhai kept me at… the Gujarat Bhavan at Mount Abu for fourand- a-half months… After that, [I did] whatever Narendrabhai told me to… Nobody can do what Narendrabhai has done in - Gujarat… If I did not have the support of Narendrabhai, we would not have been able to avenge [Godhra]… [After it was over,] Narendrabhai was happy, the people were happy, we were happy… I went to jail and came back… and returned to the life I’d led before.
• • •
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai got me out of jail…… He kept on changing judges…. He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out yet... The first judge was one Dholakiaji... He said Babu Bajrangi should be hanged — not once, but four-five times, and he flung the file aside... Then came another who stopped just short of saying I should be hanged… Then there was a third one… By then, four-and-a-half months had elapsed in jail; then Narendrabhai sent me a message... saying he would find a way out... Next he posted a judge named Akshay Mehta… He never even looked at the file or anything…. He just said [bail was] granted… And we were all out... We were free….. For this, I believe in God… We are ready to die for Hindutva...
What They Said About Modi
‘His Rage Was Great’
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hardThe fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard
JUNE 12, 2007
Ramesh Dave:We went to the [VHP] office that night… the atmosphere was very disturbing… Everybody felt that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support…
TEHELKA: What was his reaction when he reached Godhra?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He was in a rage… He’s been with the Sangh from childhood… His anger was such… he didn’t come out into the open then but the police machinery was turned totally ineffective…
What They Said About Modi
‘He Has Done What No CM Ever Has’
Transcript: HARESH BHATT
A Bajrang Dal leader in 2002, Bhatt cannot fathom the opposition to his icon
JUNE 1, 2007
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when the Godhra incident happened?
Haresh Bhatt: I can’t tell you this… but I can say it was favourable… because of the understanding we shared at that time…
TEHELKA: Tell me something… Did he…
Bhatt: I can’t give a statement... But what he did, no chief minister has ever done …
TEHELKA: I won’t quote it anywhere…For that matter… I am not even going to quote you
Bhatt: He had given us three days… to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that… He said this openly...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt…
TEHELKA: It stopped after three days… Even the army was called in.
Bhatt: All the forces came… We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days...
TEHELKA: Did he say that?
Bhatt: Yes… That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do…
TEHELKA: Did he speak to you?
Bhatt: I told you that we were at the meeting.
and the upper castes too have come out now in support of the Parivar…
What They Said About Modi
‘Were Modi Not A Minister, He Would Have Burst Bombs’
Transcript: ARVIND PANDYA
The Gujarat CM is the Hindu samaj’s new saviour, says the government counsel in the Nanavati-Shah Commission
JUNE 6, 2007
Arvind Pandya: [The Muslims of Godhra] thought they could get away with it because the Gujarati is mild by nature. In the past, they had beaten the Gujarati, they have even beaten the entire world, and nobody has shown any courage… Nobody had ever resisted them… They thought they’d get away with it just like they always do, but they used to get away with it because there was Congress rule here earlier… To get their votes, the Congress would suppress Gujaratis and Hindus… But this time, they were thrashed… It is Hindu rule now… All of Gujarat is ruled by Hindus, and that too from the VHP and the BJP…
JUNE 8, 2007
TEHELKA: Sir, is it true that when Modi went to Godhra on February 27, that VHP workers attacked him?
Pandya: No, they didn’t. It’s like this… There are 58 bodies… and it’s evening… people are bound to say,
what have you done…
TEHELKA: From 8 in the morning till evening, he didn’t land up… So, when things got heated, then Modi ji got angry and he…
Pandya: No it’s not like that… Modi’s been on our line for a long time… Forget that matter… But he’s occupying a post, so naturally there are more limitations… and he has quite a few… It is he who gave all signals in favour of the Hindus… If the ruler is hard, then things can start happening…
TEHELKA: Did you meet… Narendra Modi after he returned from Godhra on the 27th?
Pandya: No, I will not answer queries on this… I shouldn’t...
TEHELKA: Sir, I want to know what was his first reaction?
Pandya: When Narendra Modi first heard it over the phone, his blood was boiling… Tell me, what else do I say… I’ve given you some hints and I can’t reveal more than that… nor should I say it…
TEHELKA: I wanted to know this… what his first reaction was…
Pandya: No, his reaction was like this: if he were not a minister, he would have burst bombs… If he had the capacity and was not a minister he would have detonated a few bombs in Juhapura [a Muslimdominated locality in Ahmedabad].
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS (EXCERPTS)
MEETINGS HELD TO PLAN MASSACRE
Conspirators & Rioters
‘The Idea Came From Modi Himself’
Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT
The chief auditor of MS University, Bhatt reveals the minute planning and mobilisation that went into the attacks
MAY 19, 2007
Dhimant Bhatt: I have two charges… I am chief auditor for the entire university [MSU] as well as chief accounts officer… this is a financial matter… everybody needs funds… this is why it is hectic… I am a staunch Hindu… suppose somebody from the Sangh says we have to promote Hindu fundamentalism, I will be the first to volunteer… I will go and say, brothers, put the Sangh’s lathis aside and pick up AK-56s … pick up AK-56s because if you have to develop Hinduism, it is clear who the enemies are… There are two who are against Hinduism… Muslims, who are open… but the Christians… they are like a bacterial virus … and there’s a third, the Communists, who are developing now… red waale… If you have to fight them, you need power and that power will not come from the lathi… only the bullet will do… we go to RSS shakhas … pick up the lathi and use it… All that is fine but now they should be replaced with AKs and a Hindu
brigade should be formed…
• • •
Bhatt: After Godhra, there was this reaction and a certain climate was created in the Parivar by the top leaders, meaning the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the BJP and the Durga Vahini… and in that we had Narendra Modi’s support… Let people say what they like, [we had] support in the sense that if Hindus are going to be burnt like this… if conspiracies are going to be hatched to burn Hindus… they wanted to burn the whole train [the Sabarmati Express]… and now if we don’t do anything, if we don’t generate an adequate reaction, another train will be set on fire…. This was the idea, the thought that came from him [Modi]… I was
present in the meeting…
TEHELKA: Where, sir…
Bhatt: It was held in Baroda itself…at a secret place…
TEHELKA: After Godhra …
Bhatt: Immediately after. The same day as Godhra… there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda… on what action we were to take… everybody was present … the BJP, the RSS, the Parishad… it was decided that we would not take this any longer… if we have the guts, we should react… so everyone felt, unanimously, that since we didn’t want to be on the defensive, we should start that night itself…
TEHELKA:Was this a meeting of the top leadership or of local leaders or of the ground workers?
Bhatt: Actually it was the local leaders… The message came from the top leaders… the local leaders implemented it and the workers spread it…
TEHELKA: So how many people were present at that meeting?
Bhatt: About 65 to 70.
TEHELKA: 65 to 70?
Bhatt: All key persons of Baroda.
TEHELKA: From different saffron organisations?
Bhatt: In Ahmedabad, there were two persons… I won’t tell you the place… that is secret… it is the Parivar’s… In Ahmedabad, the party has a farmhouse… we started… supplying everything… made a plan… If the police makes arrests, then [we were to secure] the release [of those in custody]. That night, we sat up and made a panel of advocates… If Hindus were injured, then how to take them to hospitals… how we were to help… We made the whole plan… to start a Hindu jehad… we were successful in Gujarat… We were thinking what should we do… so we got three-foot long iron rods… iron bars, and if the cadre was from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… In other words, we made a plan and supplied the samaan [weapons]… it was very necessary… After we supplied the samaan, the Hindus got very motivated… Until Godhra happened, the upper castes would never come out… Baniyas… Patels… they would never come out… But we mobilised them… told them that we had prepared teams from the police and amongst advocates… that if they went to jail, we would get them released…
Conspirators & Rioters
‘It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen’
Transcript: DEEPAK SHAH
A senior Vadodara BJP leader reveals how ‘revenge’ was planned the very day of the Sabarmati Express incident
MAY 20, 2007
TEHELKA: What time did you reach Baroda [from Godhra]?…
Deepak Shah:We got there at about three, four o clock…
TEHELKA: After admitting the injured to hospital …
Shah:We had gone with a big ambulance… went straight to the hospital… got them admitted… Then we met the Godhra MP, Gopal Singh … met the train collector also… The directives were clearly given to the police… to the MP also … the directives were very clear… that no Hindu is to be arrested now… catch all the Muslims… don’t talk to us about balance… “balance” is something we’ll do later… Just take the force now and teach them a lesson…
TEHELKA: In Godhra?
Shah:We went to a lot of places… Everybody’s views were zabardast [fierce]... Jaideepbhai from the VHP was also there… All our workers had gathered on
the road… there was tremendous fury… They seemed to have made up their minds then itself that this time they were not going to spare the Muslims… When we reached Baroda too, it was a curfew-like situation because everyone had come to know through the media of the terrible incident that had happened… The anger was so spontaneous… that even on the way, wherever there was a Muslim shop or house, it was burnt …
TEHELKA: How was it all organised…
Shah: For the next two days in Baroda, everyone just targeted… whoever they could… as many as possible… even in remote areas like Manzarpur... Areas like Alkapuri and Gotri have never even seen stonepelting... such areas which have no history whatsoever of riots… in those areas, people selectively targeted all the Muslim shops and burnt them …
TEHELKA:Were you at the meeting held in Baroda that night?
Shah: Yes… I went for that meeting too… The general sentiment was that if we did not retaliate even after such a big incident and if we just backed down quietly, then they would be encouraged to spread terror… They can do anything… First we gave a bandh call…
TEHELKA: Only VHP people attended the meeting….
Shah: No, no, everybody was there…There were people from the Sangh Parivar… from the Sangathan… the Mandal … you know, people who participate in any big event organized by the VHP… All the youth wings were also invited…
TEHELKA: Fifty to sixty people were there in the meeting …
Shah: The number was higher… around 100–150
TEHELKA: Like in Ahmedabad, where the meeting was held at some guesthouse…
Shah: Yes, it was held here at the Narmada guest house …
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me about the strategy… about constituting a team of lawyers …
Shah: Correct… because the police will conduct an inquiry… So [we had to think of] what we would do to protect our people…
TEHELKA: So who were there in the legal team?
Shah: Sanjaybhai Joshi was there… Neeraj Jain was there...
TEHELKA: Rajendra Trivedi was there?
Shah: Rajendra Trivedi was there… Pankaj Chabar …Tushar Vyas…
TEHELKA: Who was used in the attack?
Shah: There are warring communities… the Kharvas… the Baakris… They always come forward at such times… They are meat-eating people … they have the tools and they usually lead from the front… So they were channelised … There were Kahars… A lot of Rabaris were there this time… Bhadris, Parmars and
Marathi-speaking people, who have a lot of passion…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me that a peace committee was formed just to mislead everyone, and that committee moulded rods and pipes and distributed them…
Shah: Whatever was needed was given… After all, it was a battle for faith…
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS (EXCERPTS)
CONSPIRACY BEFORE FEBRUARY 27 2002
BEFORE GODHRA TRAGEDY (distribution of arms and bombs)
The Bomb Makers
Overview
HARESH BHATT, who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra, till the riots a Congress stronghold, made a never-before admission that bombs were made at a firecracker factory he owned. He describes how they assembled country-made explosives, including rocket launchers. These were then distributed to murderous mobs in Ahmedabad
IN 2002, despite curfew in Ahmedabad, swords were brought in from Punjab and country pistols from UP, Bihar and MP. Bhatt boasts that none of these states were under BJP rule then. The consignment of arms crossed the borders not once but many times. “There were tens and tens of them,” Bhatt reveals
IN AN UNRELATED but crucial disclosure, Bhatt says that he trained 40 young men who then went on to demolish the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He trained them like the army does, and ran obstacle courses for them and taught them how to climb a 30-ft rope. The camp still exists in Ahmedabad
DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL of the VHP used dynamite in his quarries in Sabarkantha. With the help of an old RSS hand, Amrudh Patel, who was an expert in handling explosives, bombs were made in the quarries using dynamite and RDX-based powder
ANIL PATEL, the VHP Vibhag pramukh, talks of how explosives were made in Sabarkantha and then supplied to Ahmedabad
Conspirators & Rioters
‘The Smallest Village Wasn’t Spared’
Transcript: ANIL PATEL
VHP leader Anil Patel says even Congress workers joined in the attacks, and that senior police officers were very helpful
JUNE 13, 2007
Anil Patel: You ask me questions and I will answer…
TEHELKA: I don’t know much about this area…
Patel: Let me tell you about this district, Sabarkantha. The maximum number of FIRs were filed here, after Godhra. I know because I handled all the cases on behalf of the VHP. There were 40 murders, 60 murders here…
TEHELKA: In Dhansura alone?
Patel: No, in Sabarkantha. All of Sabarkantha. As for setting villages ablaze, even the smallest one was not spared… Not even one Muslim home was spared in the entire district. At nine in the morning on February 27, I got to know that the train had been burnt but when I saw it on TV, I realised it was a big incident and that there would be a big reaction… Then a message came from the state office saying that the next day a bandh would be observed… Then I met a friend who asked me how we would respond
TEHELKA:Was he a Muslim?
Patel: No, he’s Hindu… I told him that the entire world would watch what we would do the next day. At 10 that night, I received a call from the [VHP] office asking me to identify the bodies of the 16 karsevaks who belonged to my district. I was asked to inform their families and arrange for the bodies to be taken to their homes. The first reaction to Godhra happened from my district, from village Badgaon near Dhansura. The stabbing that happened at Baroda railway station… that was carried out by a worker from Badgaon. Then there was a stabbing at Anand station — that was also done by one of our cadres with a trishul. And when our activists returned, they took an oath at the main square that the next day itself, they would give a befitting reply.
TEHELKA:Were only the Parishad workers present?
Patel: No, the entire Hindu community had got together. Even the Congress joined us. The BJP was also there. Some Congress supporters — every village has four or five — were not with us and were busy trying to protect the Muslims. There was an MLA, Haribhai Patel — he has expired since — who tried to protect the Muslims. There was another guy, Jagrobhai Mistri, a very rich man, who was also trying to save the Muslims…
TEHELKA: How were the activists motivated?
Patel: The incident was being repeated on TV. The killing of the karsevaks was being played and replayed [throughout the day]. All of us, including the Congressmen felt that we [Hindus] had been attacked. They did everything alongside us, even triggered the bomb to demolish the mosque …
TEHELKA: A masjid was demolished in Dhansura
Patel: One maulvi was killed. The mosque was destroyed. There was only one mosque here.
TEHELKA: The maulvi was burnt…
Patel: Hmm...
TEHELKA:Was he burnt alive?
Patel: No, they took him away… [makes a gesture of beheading someone]
TEHELKA: With a sword…
Patel: No, with an axe… After I visited the hospital [where the karsevaks’ bodies had been kept] and returned at four in the morning, I had decided that if there were no reaction that day, then I would leave the VHP.
TEHELKA: Yes… it had become a question of prestige…
Patel: I would not work unless 500 Muslims were killed… After everything was over, I thought to myself that others too had thought like me… At that time, I decided that the responsibility of hitting back was ours. They burnt our sisters and brothers, they too would be burnt alive…
TEHELKA: Children too?
Patel: Lock them indoors and just set them on fire… Kill the entire family. We’ll take care of whatever happens after that… Bolt the doors so no one can escape. I said, we will take responsibility for whatever happens afterwards…
TEHELKA: So houses were burnt here in Dhansura…
Patel: Many… there were 126 properties in Dhansura… they were all destroyed. In the entire district, there was only one village where 75 percent Muslims didn’t return…
TEHELKA: Didn’t return…
• • •
TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made in Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it work here?
Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here, because of which dynamite is available… Then, we also had some experts. They made [explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad as well…
TEHELKA: Ahmedabad?
Patel:We supplied from here also
• • •
Patel: I was very tired… mental tension… there were so many phone calls coming. At about 1, I got a call saying that about 2,500 people had gathered at Bayad road…
TEHELKA: Bayad road?
Patel: So I went to Bayad and told them that our people had been burnt to death and they were now to do whatever they wanted. Go to the villages and kill. After that, 30 incidents happened. From Bayad, I came to Dhansura and Dhansura was also up in flames. The arson was initiated by our workers but gradually everyone joined in… Some were opposed. Like Congress guys Praful… Sangram Singh in Modasa… Munnabhai in Sathamba… They tried to save [the Muslims]. The Congress guys tried to protest, but the majority were with us…
TEHELKA: The majority were with you. Any activists who were in the forefront?
Patel: The activists did everything... They killed, they hacked …
TEHELKA: Did [DSP] Solanki lend full support…
Patel: [mumbles a name]
TEHELKA: Who?
Patel: Someone called Mansoori, who was a SIMI sympathiser…
TEHELKA: SIMI is a terrorist organisation….
Patel: He [Mansoori] was a vegetable vendor. He was hacked to death… At night, I got a call from Arvindbhai Soni, our co-minister, saying this incident has happened. I asked him if he was at the spot and he said no, but some Bajrang Dal brothers were there. I told him to stay at some safe place and to be cautious. The next morning I got to know that Arvindbhai had been arrested… I went to Biloda and called the DSP [District Superintendent of Police] … Both Jayantibhai and I went to meet the DSP and he said he’d release Arvindbhai... Everything was there on paper, in the arrest report, but when Arvindbhai was to be transferred to judicial custody, he was told to go back to the [VHP] office...
TEHELKA: Go to the office…
Patel: He stayed in the office for a month and a half…
• • •
TEHELKA: The main contribution was the VHP’s and the Bajrang Dal’s…
Patel: I and the Sangh did a lot… the Sangh did it without being asked… Many Sangh workers also went to jail… There is a village nearby called Sathambha… the taluk executive was booked under Section 302 [IPC]… there is still a case against him in Modasa for killing a Muslim woman… There is Amrudhbhai… he also did a lot of good work… he is the taluk executive
TEHELKA: What’s his name?
Patel: Amrudhbhai Prajapati…
TEHELKA: Is he still in jail?…
Patel: He is out on bail now…
TEHELKA: He is from the Sangh?
Patel: He is VHP President, district Modasa. Another man, Ashokbhai Patel, he also went to jail…
TEHELKA: He is also from the VHP…
Patel: Yes, from the VHP... A lot of people tried their best to get me booked too, but ND Solanki, Arvindbhai Brahmbhat and Pravinbhai Togadia and the caution I exercised [saved me]… Later on, I looked after everybody in jail and organised their food and looked after their cases…
• • •
Patel: Strategy… there was no strategy as such… The main thing was to give a befitting retaliation, to harm as many Muslims as possible, in whatever manner… by burning them, killing them… Educated activists knew what was to be done… but the public felt that even breaking a door meant furthering the cause of Hindutva…
TEHELKA: Muslims were killed in Dhansura…
Patel: The maulvi was killed…
TEHELKA: You were in-charge of the entire district?
Patel: I was looking after three four taluks… Dhansura, Bayad, Meghraj, Maalpur, Modasa…
TEHELKA: How many Muslims were killed in these taluks?
Patel: More than 30...
TEHELKA: Some are missing as well…
Patel: In Bayad, they are missing … 60 drivers from Modasa never came back…
TEHELKA: Truck drivers…
Patel: From Mumbai…
• • •
Patel: Our Pravinbhai Togadia… did it at the district level…
TEHELKA: Did you speak to him?
Patel: Yes...
TEHELKA: Then during the riots…
Patel: Be careful with whatever you do. He told me about the cases also… that the main workers should not be jailed… because it would affect the morale of the workers… that it’s okay if the goonda elements were booked because we would be able to bail them out… But our main workers were not to get booked… this is what he told me… They were booked, though. Amrudhbhai got [Section] 302… The Modasa district president was also charged… It’s like this… I felt that several people went to jail even after the events…
• • •
Patel: Modasa was one village in which the Muslims had the upper hand over Hindus... They had attacked one of our Bajrang Dal associates… Later some 60-70 Muslim shops were burnt… But after Godhra, we stayed on top of them…
RAMESH DAVE VHP MAN
Conspirators & Rioters
‘I Got A Call Saying, What’s This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping?
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
Spurred on by Modi’s statement in Godhra, Dave and other VHP men set about picking out targets and killing them one by one
JUNE 12, 2007
Dave: Whatever happened [at Godhra], happened for the best… And, in any case, Rajendrabhai [Vyas] was in charge of the Godhra case…
TEHELKA: He was the incharge of the train…yes…
Dave: I was with him too as the deputy incharge…
TEHELKA: Were you on the train? Dave: No, I didn’t go… I am a diabetic and so I stayed back… Then around 9.30, I got a call from there, informing me of what had happened…
TEHELKA: Rajendrabhai called you up?
Dave: Rajendrabhai called up… he asked me what now… I said don’t worry… I will reach Godhra by 12 o’clock… Then he said there was no need to come to Godhra… some other people were already on their way… but the situation was out of control there and it had to be handled… I told him not to worry… and then he started crying… Rajendrabhai… he said 60 of our people had died… that we were playing a one-day…
TEHELKA: He told me that too…
Dave: One day khelna hai… 600 ko… maine bola koi tension mat lo, bhagwan ki kripa hai, ho jayega jo bhi hone wala hai… phir yahan laashein wagairah laayi… Phir main bhi raat ko gaya… drishya dekh kar bada… [We have to play a one-day… 600 have to be… I told him not to worry, whatever has to be done will be done by God’s grace… later on, the dead were brought here… I also went there that night… the scene was…
TEHELKA: I saw the pictures… in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office…
Dave: In the office… We went to the office at night… the atmosphere there was very disturbing… everybody had the same reaction… what all of them felt was that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support at that time…
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when he reached Godhra and when he returned?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He himself was in a rage… after all, he has been a swayamsevak with the Sangh right from childhood…his anger was such… he himself did not come out into the open then but the police and all had turned totally ineffective at that time… The next day, we took out a funeral procession for the dead at 10.30… from the VHP office… these are things that have never been told… What actually happened was that I got a call at around quarter to eleven saying Rameshbhai what is this… all of Gujarat is sleeping… what is to be done… doesn’t matter… you will get a reaction from my side right now… At quarter to eleven, we went to a spot there… There a shootout took place… from there the whole of Gujarat caught on… but the spot [where it started] was Dariyapur…
• • •
Dave: This is Kandhariapur… Hindus are gradually decreasing here… Muslims are more in number…
TEHELKA: They are increasing…
Dave: This is our border… All the area behind this house is his [Abdul Latif ’s]… At the time of the Godhra massacre, rioting started here at around 11 o’clock… We fought here till the next 11 o’clock…
TEHELKA: Was there firing from their side too?
Dave: They did not… This time, everyone was on the Hindus’ side… At that time, I was given charge of Madhopura… It is very nearby… there were almost 123 riot-related cases there… Of these, around 15 were under Section 302… you understand this… What happened was, we targeted and killed all those who had been in our sights for the past 20-25 years…
• • •
Dave: We showed the horrific video we had shot [at Godhra] to people… What happens is… there’s a certain fury… A dormant volcano erupted all of a sudden… Those people did suffer a lot of damage… Our plan was to burn Godhra down to the ground… to burn all these Musalman-wusalmans… but then, to get everyone together here… to handle the situation…
TEHELKA: And all the VVIPs had also started visiting by then… Was there retaliation in Kalupur?
Dave: Yes we took revenge… to a great extent… meaning zabardast.
TEHELKA: How many were killed?
Dave: Now approximately, here in the interiors, I’d say only around 60-70… But the kind of revenge there was… What these people did in Kalupur and Dariyapur… they have three areas… four areas… Juhapura, Shahpur, Dariyapur and Kalupur… What they would do is they’d riot all over the place, and then they would sneak back here to hide…
• • •
TEHELKA: I had such an open conversation that Hareshbhai told me… Hareshbhai Bhatt’s factory… how bombs were made in his cracker factory…
Dave: Yes they were made… here then… If we weren’t here, we would be outside… Ghanshyam Patel used to call up people and control everything...
TEHELKA: So when the riots started in Dariyapur and Kalupur, did you people have any weapons or not?
Dave: Some had already come…
TEHELKA: But Hindus don’t keep weapons…
Dave: They don’t have weapons, but our brother got us revolvers and that’s how we would get by… and this is not the age of swords, anyway… So that is all one wants for weapons…
TEHELKA: So how many did he get? Two or three… the stand wala?
Dave: No, they were about 8 or 10
• • •
TEHELKA: Can I meet our activists [from the Sangh] who had been jailed but are now released? Just one or two?
Dave: There was one by the name of Yogi… Have you met Harshadbhai… Harshadbhai Giletwala?
TEHELKA: Not yet, Rajendrabhai gave me his name a while ago… but I haven’t met him yet…
Dave: He got burnt in that case… while setting that hotel on fire… He had 75 percent burns…
TEHELKA: Which hotel? Best Bakery is in Baroda…
Dave: No, no, it’s this one…
Dave’s wife: It was a Muslim hotel…
TEHELKA: Was it in Kalupur?
Dave: No no… it is on that side, near Narayan Pura…
TEHELKA: Were some Muslims also killed?
Dave: One died…
TEHELKA: So Harshadbhai sustained 75 percent burns… Dave: If you meet him now, he looks just the same… He sustained 75 percent injuries… it wasn’t easy saving him… the mrityunjay was chanted one lakh twenty five thousand times… Rs 4-5 lakh were also spent…
TEHELKA: Can I meet someone other than him… Can I meet the person who runs the stand?
Dave: No, he is out of town somewhere… And he won’t talk about it all now… Actually… like he told me, in his business, he has to deal with both Hindus and Muslims…
TEHELKA: Was an FIR lodged against him?
Dave: It was lodged before the riots… It was in a case of the murder of a Muslim, in which he was arrested…
• • •
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have any meeting the day Godhra happened? Was any strategy planned? Some common strategy must have been made by you people?
Dave: No, it happened but… At that time, the atmosphere was also very volatile… It could have been used for the sangathan… the sangathan has grown because of that… there was a time when…
TEHELKA: No, like the Godhra massacre happened on the 27th… did our leaders, who were there in Ahmedabad that day, get in touch with each other and plan out some strategy?
Dave: It happened…
TEHELKA: Or was it that they couldn’t meet because of the curfew…
Dave: No even if curfew is imposed nowadays, we can go out… There are lanes that let you do that… and even if there aren’t any such, we set out on the roads themselves. Meetings did happen… eight to ten meetings at various places… The strategy was that since we had to take revenge, we should show them at one go and then there would be peace for the next ten or so years…
URGENT
Press Release
Release of Tehelka Tapes in the Public Domain
Selected Tapes of the Sting Operation where Interviewees who speak of the Direct and Indirect Role of Shri Narendra Modi in the 2002 massacre
Press Invite
Press Conference: Victim Survivors and CJP address the Press
Venue: PRASHANT, DRIVE IN ROAD
Time: 2 p.m.
Date Monday, March 22, 2010
The summons to chief minister Narendra Modi on charges of mass murder and criminal conspiracy is historic and unprecedented. There is enough prima facie evidence to lodge an FIR against the accused that includes the chief minister.
The present complaint against chief minister Narendra Modi and 61 others is being investigated by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) following an order of the Supreme Court of India in SLP 1088/2008 filed by Smt Zakia Ahsan Jafri and Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) asking for registration of an FIR on charges of mass murder and criminal conspiracy. This complaint was dated June 8, 2006 and went uninvestigated and non-registered by the Gujarat police who was by the time it was sent, headed by Shri PC Pande former Commissioner of Police Ahmedabad, by then promoted to senior most police officer, Director General of Police , Gujarat.
___________________________________________________________________________
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai – 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288 email: cjp02in@yahoo.com, teesteesta@gmail.com
While the matter was still in the Gujarat High Court a tremendous boost to the complainants was given by the exposure of the extrajudicial confessions of Tehelka’s Operation Kalank (October 25-27 2007) that, in many parts spoke of the direct role of chief minister Narendra Modi in directing and masterminding the massacre. These tapes have been authenticated by the CBI under direct orders of the National Human Rights Commission. Both the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court of India directed that they be used as evidence at the appropriate time. The detailed and extremely courageous exposure by Tehelka and its then correspondent Ashish Khetan also point to the involvement of several persons in the conspiracy to commit mass murder and economic destruction.
Today, Tehelka, a magazine devoted to the public interest has permitted the release of portions of these tapes in the public domain. Today we release those portions that expose (a) the arms and bombs distribution in different parts of Gujarat b efore the Godhra incident ie Februaru 27 2002 and b) the direct or indirect role of Shri Modi alleged by BJP and VHP/Bajran Dal cades on camera that amount to extra judicial confessions. We, at CJP representing the victim survivors of the Gujarat genocidal carnage of 2002 acknowledge the role of Tehelka , express our gratitude to Tehelka and put these out in the public domain in the public interest.
Tehelka’s Operation Kalank
Modi’s Role
I. Babu Bajrangi (Patel) Role in Massacre
Modi’s Role In Helping Bajrangi Abscond
Bajrangi also speaks of
How Police Machinery was made ineffective on Modi’s Instructions
Manipulation of the Judiciary
2. Arvind Pandya State Government Lawyer
“Modi Nahi Hota To Kuch Nahi Hota”
Modi’s Role in Subverting Entire Criminal Justice System
3. Accountant MS University DHIMANT BHAT
Speaks of Modi’s Direct Role & VHP Meteting on Night of February 27, 2002 planning the post Godhra Conspiracy
4. HARESH BHATT former MLA Godhra
Speaks of Three Days given by Modi to do as they will
5. RAJENDRA VYAS VHP Ahmedabad City President
In charge of Train (Sabramati Express) speaks of the behaviour on board the train
6. SURESH RICHARD CHARA from NARODA PATIA (AN ACCUSED)
Modi’s Visit to Patia on evening of Fenruary 28 2002 to garland murderers and rapists saying they have accomplished a wonderful job
8. DHAWAL PATEL VHP ZILLA SANJOYAK SABARKANTHA
Speaks of Arms Distribution prior to the Gpdhra Trian Burning Pointing
to A Conspiracy
9. ANIL PATEL Gujarat VHP Vibhag Pramukh
Arms Distribution prior to the Gpdhra Trian Burning Pointing to A Conspiracy
Apart from other tapes of the Gulberg Accused, a Trial that has been stayed by the apex court
Please do attend and give wide coverage to the conference.
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Teesta Setalvad
Secretary
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS MODI’S ROLE
(EXCERPTS)
(EXCERPTS)
("http://www.tehelka.com/story)
What They Said About Modi
NARENDRA MODI’s anger was palpable after the Godhra incident; he vowed revenge. Haresh Bhatt, the then national co-coordinator of the Bajrang Dal, was part of the meeting in which Narendra Modi told them they could do whatever they wanted for the next three days. After that, Bhatt says, “He asked us to stop and everything came to a halt.”
RAJENDRA VYAS, the VHP’s Ahmedabad city president, was consoled by Modi, who said, “Rajendrabhai, calm yourself, everything will be taken care of.”
NOT ONLY DID THE MODI government allow the mob fury to continue unabated, it also tried to shelter the perpetrators from the law. Modi himself arranged for Babu Bajrangi, the prime accused in the Naroda Patiya case, to stay at Gujarat Bhavan in Mount Abu, and transferred two judges to help Bajrangi get bail
SINCE THE POLICE were in control all over Gujarat, Modi instructed them to side with the Hindus, thus giving the rioters a free hand for three days until pressure from higher quarters necessitated the calling in of the army
AFTER THE NARODA PATIYA carnage, the chief minister himself went to the site and acknowledged the efforts of the Chhara tribe, who were key participants in the massacre at Naroda Patiya
ARVIND PANDYA, government counsel, is convinced that Modi’s strong leadership made the post-Godhra carnage possible
SURESH RICHARD CHARA (accused in Naroda Patia Massacre)
Richard: [On the day of the massacre] we did whatever we did till quite late in the evening… at around 7.30… around 7.15, our Modibhai came… Right here, outside the house… My sisters garlanded him with roses…
TEHELKA: Narendrabhai Modi…
Richard: Narendra Modi… He came with black commandos… got down from his Ambassador car and walked up here…. All my sisters garlanded him… a big man is a big man after all…
TEHELKA: He came out on the road?
Richard: Here, near this house… Then he went this way… Looked at how things were in Naroda…
TEHELKA: The day the Patiya incident happened…
Richard: The same evening…
TEHELKA: February 28…
Richard: 28…
TEHELKA: 2002…
Richard: He went around to all the places… He said our tribe was blessed… He said our mothers were blessed [for bearing us]…
TEHELKA: He came at about 5 o’clock or at 7?
Richard: Around 7 or 7.30… At that time there was no electricity… Everything had been burnt to ashes in the riots…Richard:We’d finished burning everything and had returned… That was when the police called us… They said some Muslims were hiding in this sewer… When we went there, we saw their houses had been completely burned down but seven or eight of them had hidden in the gutter… We shut the lid on it… If we’d gone in after them, we might have been in danger… We closed the lid and weighted it down with big boulders… Later, they found eight or ten corpses in there… They’d gone there to save their lives, but... they died of the gases down there… This happened in the evening… the dhamal [killing spree] went till night, till about 8.30…
TEHELKA: So you went in again….
Richard:We were inside… By evening, things had cooled down… We were tired also… After all, a man gets tired out… Hurling stones, beating with pipes, stabbing, all this… The way we came out from inside could only be done by a man of strong heart…
• • •
Richard: Mayaben was moving around all day in an open jeep…
TEHELKA: On the day of the Patiya massacre…
Richard: [She was saying] Jai Shri Ram, Jai Shri Ram… wearing a saffron headband… She kept raising slogans… She said, carry on with your work, I’m here [to protect you]… She was wearing a white sari and had on a saffron band… I had also tied on a saffron band…
• • •
TEHELKA: It is being said the Chharas also committed rapes…
Richard: Now look, one thing is true… bhookhe ghuse to koi na koi to phal khayega, na [when thousands of hungry men go in, they will eat some fruit or the other, no]… Aise bhi, phal ko kuchal ke phek denge [in any case, the fruit are going to be crushed and thrown away]... Look, I’m not telling lies… Mata is before me [gesturing to an image of a deity]… Many Muslim girls were being killed and burnt to death anyway, some people must have helped themselves to the fruit…
TEHELKA: There must have been a couple of rapes…
Richard: Might even have been more… then there were the rest of our brothers, our Hindu brothers, VHP people and RSS people… Anyone could have helped themselves… who wouldn’t, when there’s fruit?… The more you harm them, the less it is… I really hate them… don’t want to spare them… Look, my wife is sitting here but let me say…the fruit was there so it had to be eaten… I also ate… I also ate… I ate once
TEHELKA: Just once?Richard: Just once… then I had to go killing again… [turns to relative Prakash Rathod and talks about the girl he had raped and killed]… That scrap-dealer’s girl, Naseemo… Naseemo that juicy plump one… I got on top…
TEHELKA: You got on top of her…
Richard: Yes, properly…
TEHELKA: She didn’t survive, did she
Richard: No, then I pulped her… Made her into a pickle…
• • •
BABU BAJRANGI
What They Said About Modi
‘To Get Me Out On Bail, Narendrabhai Changed Judges Thrice’
Transcript (EXCERPT): BABU BAJRANGI
Modi has a definite soft spot for the man who would later stall the film Parzania. The regard is mutual
AUGUST 10, 2007
TEHELKA: The day Patiya happened, didn’t Modi support you?
Bajrangi: He made everything all right, otherwise who would have had the strength... It was his hand all the way... If he’d told the police to do differently, they would have f****d us.... they could have... they had full control…
TEHELKA: They had control?
Bajrangi: They were very much in control all over the city, all over Gujarat… [But] for two days, Narendrabhai was in control… from the third day… a lot of pressure came from the top… Sonia-wonia and all came here…
• • •
TEHELKA: Didn’t Narendrabhai come to meet you [in jail]?
Bajrangi: If Narendrabhai comes to meet me, he’ll be in deep trouble… I didn’t expect to see him… Even today, I don’t expect it…
TEHELKA: Did he ever talk to you over the phone?
Bajrangi: That way I do get to speak to him… but not just like that… The whole world starts singing…
TEHELKA: But when you were absconding, then he…..
Bajrangi: Hmm… I did speak to him twice or thrice…
TEHELKA: He’d encourage you…
Bajrangi: Marad aadmi hai [he’s a real man], Narendrabhai… If he were to tell me to tie a bomb to myself and jump... it wouldn’t take even a second… I could sling a bomb around me and jump wherever I was asked to… for Hindus…
TEHELKA: Had he not been there,then Naroda Patiya, Gulbarg etc…
Bajrangi:Wouldn’t have happened.Would’ve been very difficult.
• • •
SEPTEMBER 1, 2007
TEHELKA: Did Narendrabhai come to Patiya the day of the massacre?
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai came to Patiya… He could not make it to the place of the incidents because there were commando-phamandos with him… But he came to Patiya, saw our enthusiasm and went away… He left behind a really good atmosphere…
TEHELKA: Said you were all blessed…
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai had come to see that things didn’t stop the next day… He went all around Ahmedabad, to all the places where the miyas [Muslims] were, to the Hindu areas… told people they’d done well and should do more…
• • •Bajrangi: [After the massacre] the commissioner issued orders [against me]… I was told to leave my home… I ran away… Narendrabhai kept me at… the Gujarat Bhavan at Mount Abu for fourand- a-half months… After that, [I did] whatever Narendrabhai told me to… Nobody can do what Narendrabhai has done in - Gujarat… If I did not have the support of Narendrabhai, we would not have been able to avenge [Godhra]… [After it was over,] Narendrabhai was happy, the people were happy, we were happy… I went to jail and came back… and returned to the life I’d led before.
• • •
Bajrangi: Narendrabhai got me out of jail…… He kept on changing judges…. He set it up so as to ensure my release, otherwise I wouldn’t have been out yet... The first judge was one Dholakiaji... He said Babu Bajrangi should be hanged — not once, but four-five times, and he flung the file aside... Then came another who stopped just short of saying I should be hanged… Then there was a third one… By then, four-and-a-half months had elapsed in jail; then Narendrabhai sent me a message... saying he would find a way out... Next he posted a judge named Akshay Mehta… He never even looked at the file or anything…. He just said [bail was] granted… And we were all out... We were free….. For this, I believe in God… We are ready to die for Hindutva...
What They Said About Modi
‘His Rage Was Great’
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
The fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hardThe fury Modi evinced at Godhra was understandable to a fellow Sangh die-hard
JUNE 12, 2007
Ramesh Dave:We went to the [VHP] office that night… the atmosphere was very disturbing… Everybody felt that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support…
TEHELKA: What was his reaction when he reached Godhra?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He was in a rage… He’s been with the Sangh from childhood… His anger was such… he didn’t come out into the open then but the police machinery was turned totally ineffective…
What They Said About Modi
‘He Has Done What No CM Ever Has’
Transcript: HARESH BHATT
A Bajrang Dal leader in 2002, Bhatt cannot fathom the opposition to his icon
JUNE 1, 2007
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when the Godhra incident happened?
Haresh Bhatt: I can’t tell you this… but I can say it was favourable… because of the understanding we shared at that time…
TEHELKA: Tell me something… Did he…
Bhatt: I can’t give a statement... But what he did, no chief minister has ever done …
TEHELKA: I won’t quote it anywhere…For that matter… I am not even going to quote you
Bhatt: He had given us three days… to do whatever we could. He said he would not give us time after that… He said this openly...After three days, he asked us to stop and everything came to a halt…
TEHELKA: It stopped after three days… Even the army was called in.
Bhatt: All the forces came… We had three days… and did what we had to in those three days...
TEHELKA: Did he say that?
Bhatt: Yes… That is why I am saying he did what no chief minister can do…
TEHELKA: Did he speak to you?
Bhatt: I told you that we were at the meeting.
and the upper castes too have come out now in support of the Parivar…
What They Said About Modi
‘Were Modi Not A Minister, He Would Have Burst Bombs’
Transcript: ARVIND PANDYA
The Gujarat CM is the Hindu samaj’s new saviour, says the government counsel in the Nanavati-Shah Commission
JUNE 6, 2007
Arvind Pandya: [The Muslims of Godhra] thought they could get away with it because the Gujarati is mild by nature. In the past, they had beaten the Gujarati, they have even beaten the entire world, and nobody has shown any courage… Nobody had ever resisted them… They thought they’d get away with it just like they always do, but they used to get away with it because there was Congress rule here earlier… To get their votes, the Congress would suppress Gujaratis and Hindus… But this time, they were thrashed… It is Hindu rule now… All of Gujarat is ruled by Hindus, and that too from the VHP and the BJP…
JUNE 8, 2007
TEHELKA: Sir, is it true that when Modi went to Godhra on February 27, that VHP workers attacked him?
Pandya: No, they didn’t. It’s like this… There are 58 bodies… and it’s evening… people are bound to say,
what have you done…
TEHELKA: From 8 in the morning till evening, he didn’t land up… So, when things got heated, then Modi ji got angry and he…
Pandya: No it’s not like that… Modi’s been on our line for a long time… Forget that matter… But he’s occupying a post, so naturally there are more limitations… and he has quite a few… It is he who gave all signals in favour of the Hindus… If the ruler is hard, then things can start happening…
TEHELKA: Did you meet… Narendra Modi after he returned from Godhra on the 27th?
Pandya: No, I will not answer queries on this… I shouldn’t...
TEHELKA: Sir, I want to know what was his first reaction?
Pandya: When Narendra Modi first heard it over the phone, his blood was boiling… Tell me, what else do I say… I’ve given you some hints and I can’t reveal more than that… nor should I say it…
TEHELKA: I wanted to know this… what his first reaction was…
Pandya: No, his reaction was like this: if he were not a minister, he would have burst bombs… If he had the capacity and was not a minister he would have detonated a few bombs in Juhapura [a Muslimdominated locality in Ahmedabad].
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS (EXCERPTS)
MEETINGS HELD TO PLAN MASSACRE
Conspirators & Rioters
‘The Idea Came From Modi Himself’
Transcript: DHIMANT BHATT
The chief auditor of MS University, Bhatt reveals the minute planning and mobilisation that went into the attacks
MAY 19, 2007
Dhimant Bhatt: I have two charges… I am chief auditor for the entire university [MSU] as well as chief accounts officer… this is a financial matter… everybody needs funds… this is why it is hectic… I am a staunch Hindu… suppose somebody from the Sangh says we have to promote Hindu fundamentalism, I will be the first to volunteer… I will go and say, brothers, put the Sangh’s lathis aside and pick up AK-56s … pick up AK-56s because if you have to develop Hinduism, it is clear who the enemies are… There are two who are against Hinduism… Muslims, who are open… but the Christians… they are like a bacterial virus … and there’s a third, the Communists, who are developing now… red waale… If you have to fight them, you need power and that power will not come from the lathi… only the bullet will do… we go to RSS shakhas … pick up the lathi and use it… All that is fine but now they should be replaced with AKs and a Hindu
brigade should be formed…
• • •
Bhatt: After Godhra, there was this reaction and a certain climate was created in the Parivar by the top leaders, meaning the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the BJP and the Durga Vahini… and in that we had Narendra Modi’s support… Let people say what they like, [we had] support in the sense that if Hindus are going to be burnt like this… if conspiracies are going to be hatched to burn Hindus… they wanted to burn the whole train [the Sabarmati Express]… and now if we don’t do anything, if we don’t generate an adequate reaction, another train will be set on fire…. This was the idea, the thought that came from him [Modi]… I was
present in the meeting…
TEHELKA: Where, sir…
Bhatt: It was held in Baroda itself…at a secret place…
TEHELKA: After Godhra …
Bhatt: Immediately after. The same day as Godhra… there were two meetings, one at Ahmedabad and one at Baroda… on what action we were to take… everybody was present … the BJP, the RSS, the Parishad… it was decided that we would not take this any longer… if we have the guts, we should react… so everyone felt, unanimously, that since we didn’t want to be on the defensive, we should start that night itself…
TEHELKA:Was this a meeting of the top leadership or of local leaders or of the ground workers?
Bhatt: Actually it was the local leaders… The message came from the top leaders… the local leaders implemented it and the workers spread it…
TEHELKA: So how many people were present at that meeting?
Bhatt: About 65 to 70.
TEHELKA: 65 to 70?
Bhatt: All key persons of Baroda.
TEHELKA: From different saffron organisations?
Bhatt: In Ahmedabad, there were two persons… I won’t tell you the place… that is secret… it is the Parivar’s… In Ahmedabad, the party has a farmhouse… we started… supplying everything… made a plan… If the police makes arrests, then [we were to secure] the release [of those in custody]. That night, we sat up and made a panel of advocates… If Hindus were injured, then how to take them to hospitals… how we were to help… We made the whole plan… to start a Hindu jehad… we were successful in Gujarat… We were thinking what should we do… so we got three-foot long iron rods… iron bars, and if the cadre was from the Bajrang Dal, then trishuls… In other words, we made a plan and supplied the samaan [weapons]… it was very necessary… After we supplied the samaan, the Hindus got very motivated… Until Godhra happened, the upper castes would never come out… Baniyas… Patels… they would never come out… But we mobilised them… told them that we had prepared teams from the police and amongst advocates… that if they went to jail, we would get them released…
Conspirators & Rioters
‘It Should Be Something History Has Never Seen’
Transcript: DEEPAK SHAH
A senior Vadodara BJP leader reveals how ‘revenge’ was planned the very day of the Sabarmati Express incident
MAY 20, 2007
TEHELKA: What time did you reach Baroda [from Godhra]?…
Deepak Shah:We got there at about three, four o clock…
TEHELKA: After admitting the injured to hospital …
Shah:We had gone with a big ambulance… went straight to the hospital… got them admitted… Then we met the Godhra MP, Gopal Singh … met the train collector also… The directives were clearly given to the police… to the MP also … the directives were very clear… that no Hindu is to be arrested now… catch all the Muslims… don’t talk to us about balance… “balance” is something we’ll do later… Just take the force now and teach them a lesson…
TEHELKA: In Godhra?
Shah:We went to a lot of places… Everybody’s views were zabardast [fierce]... Jaideepbhai from the VHP was also there… All our workers had gathered on
the road… there was tremendous fury… They seemed to have made up their minds then itself that this time they were not going to spare the Muslims… When we reached Baroda too, it was a curfew-like situation because everyone had come to know through the media of the terrible incident that had happened… The anger was so spontaneous… that even on the way, wherever there was a Muslim shop or house, it was burnt …
TEHELKA: How was it all organised…
Shah: For the next two days in Baroda, everyone just targeted… whoever they could… as many as possible… even in remote areas like Manzarpur... Areas like Alkapuri and Gotri have never even seen stonepelting... such areas which have no history whatsoever of riots… in those areas, people selectively targeted all the Muslim shops and burnt them …
TEHELKA:Were you at the meeting held in Baroda that night?
Shah: Yes… I went for that meeting too… The general sentiment was that if we did not retaliate even after such a big incident and if we just backed down quietly, then they would be encouraged to spread terror… They can do anything… First we gave a bandh call…
TEHELKA: Only VHP people attended the meeting….
Shah: No, no, everybody was there…There were people from the Sangh Parivar… from the Sangathan… the Mandal … you know, people who participate in any big event organized by the VHP… All the youth wings were also invited…
TEHELKA: Fifty to sixty people were there in the meeting …
Shah: The number was higher… around 100–150
TEHELKA: Like in Ahmedabad, where the meeting was held at some guesthouse…
Shah: Yes, it was held here at the Narmada guest house …
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me about the strategy… about constituting a team of lawyers …
Shah: Correct… because the police will conduct an inquiry… So [we had to think of] what we would do to protect our people…
TEHELKA: So who were there in the legal team?
Shah: Sanjaybhai Joshi was there… Neeraj Jain was there...
TEHELKA: Rajendra Trivedi was there?
Shah: Rajendra Trivedi was there… Pankaj Chabar …Tushar Vyas…
TEHELKA: Who was used in the attack?
Shah: There are warring communities… the Kharvas… the Baakris… They always come forward at such times… They are meat-eating people … they have the tools and they usually lead from the front… So they were channelised … There were Kahars… A lot of Rabaris were there this time… Bhadris, Parmars and
Marathi-speaking people, who have a lot of passion…
TEHELKA: Dhimantbhai was telling me that a peace committee was formed just to mislead everyone, and that committee moulded rods and pipes and distributed them…
Shah: Whatever was needed was given… After all, it was a battle for faith…
TEHELKA TRANSCRIPTS (EXCERPTS)
CONSPIRACY BEFORE FEBRUARY 27 2002
BEFORE GODHRA TRAGEDY (distribution of arms and bombs)
The Bomb Makers
Overview
HARESH BHATT, who was the Bajrang Dal rashtriya sah sanyojak in 2002 and is now the BJP MLA from Godhra, till the riots a Congress stronghold, made a never-before admission that bombs were made at a firecracker factory he owned. He describes how they assembled country-made explosives, including rocket launchers. These were then distributed to murderous mobs in Ahmedabad
IN 2002, despite curfew in Ahmedabad, swords were brought in from Punjab and country pistols from UP, Bihar and MP. Bhatt boasts that none of these states were under BJP rule then. The consignment of arms crossed the borders not once but many times. “There were tens and tens of them,” Bhatt reveals
IN AN UNRELATED but crucial disclosure, Bhatt says that he trained 40 young men who then went on to demolish the Babri Masjid in December 1992. He trained them like the army does, and ran obstacle courses for them and taught them how to climb a 30-ft rope. The camp still exists in Ahmedabad
DHAWAL JAYANTI PATEL of the VHP used dynamite in his quarries in Sabarkantha. With the help of an old RSS hand, Amrudh Patel, who was an expert in handling explosives, bombs were made in the quarries using dynamite and RDX-based powder
ANIL PATEL, the VHP Vibhag pramukh, talks of how explosives were made in Sabarkantha and then supplied to Ahmedabad
Conspirators & Rioters
‘The Smallest Village Wasn’t Spared’
Transcript: ANIL PATEL
VHP leader Anil Patel says even Congress workers joined in the attacks, and that senior police officers were very helpful
JUNE 13, 2007
Anil Patel: You ask me questions and I will answer…
TEHELKA: I don’t know much about this area…
Patel: Let me tell you about this district, Sabarkantha. The maximum number of FIRs were filed here, after Godhra. I know because I handled all the cases on behalf of the VHP. There were 40 murders, 60 murders here…
TEHELKA: In Dhansura alone?
Patel: No, in Sabarkantha. All of Sabarkantha. As for setting villages ablaze, even the smallest one was not spared… Not even one Muslim home was spared in the entire district. At nine in the morning on February 27, I got to know that the train had been burnt but when I saw it on TV, I realised it was a big incident and that there would be a big reaction… Then a message came from the state office saying that the next day a bandh would be observed… Then I met a friend who asked me how we would respond
TEHELKA:Was he a Muslim?
Patel: No, he’s Hindu… I told him that the entire world would watch what we would do the next day. At 10 that night, I received a call from the [VHP] office asking me to identify the bodies of the 16 karsevaks who belonged to my district. I was asked to inform their families and arrange for the bodies to be taken to their homes. The first reaction to Godhra happened from my district, from village Badgaon near Dhansura. The stabbing that happened at Baroda railway station… that was carried out by a worker from Badgaon. Then there was a stabbing at Anand station — that was also done by one of our cadres with a trishul. And when our activists returned, they took an oath at the main square that the next day itself, they would give a befitting reply.
TEHELKA:Were only the Parishad workers present?
Patel: No, the entire Hindu community had got together. Even the Congress joined us. The BJP was also there. Some Congress supporters — every village has four or five — were not with us and were busy trying to protect the Muslims. There was an MLA, Haribhai Patel — he has expired since — who tried to protect the Muslims. There was another guy, Jagrobhai Mistri, a very rich man, who was also trying to save the Muslims…
TEHELKA: How were the activists motivated?
Patel: The incident was being repeated on TV. The killing of the karsevaks was being played and replayed [throughout the day]. All of us, including the Congressmen felt that we [Hindus] had been attacked. They did everything alongside us, even triggered the bomb to demolish the mosque …
TEHELKA: A masjid was demolished in Dhansura
Patel: One maulvi was killed. The mosque was destroyed. There was only one mosque here.
TEHELKA: The maulvi was burnt…
Patel: Hmm...
TEHELKA:Was he burnt alive?
Patel: No, they took him away… [makes a gesture of beheading someone]
TEHELKA: With a sword…
Patel: No, with an axe… After I visited the hospital [where the karsevaks’ bodies had been kept] and returned at four in the morning, I had decided that if there were no reaction that day, then I would leave the VHP.
TEHELKA: Yes… it had become a question of prestige…
Patel: I would not work unless 500 Muslims were killed… After everything was over, I thought to myself that others too had thought like me… At that time, I decided that the responsibility of hitting back was ours. They burnt our sisters and brothers, they too would be burnt alive…
TEHELKA: Children too?
Patel: Lock them indoors and just set them on fire… Kill the entire family. We’ll take care of whatever happens after that… Bolt the doors so no one can escape. I said, we will take responsibility for whatever happens afterwards…
TEHELKA: So houses were burnt here in Dhansura…
Patel: Many… there were 126 properties in Dhansura… they were all destroyed. In the entire district, there was only one village where 75 percent Muslims didn’t return…
TEHELKA: Didn’t return…
• • •
TEHELKA: In Ahmedabad, bombs were made in Hareshbhai’s own factory. How did it work here?
Patel: There are a lot of boring industries here, because of which dynamite is available… Then, we also had some experts. They made [explosives] and supplied them to Ahmedabad as well…
TEHELKA: Ahmedabad?
Patel:We supplied from here also
• • •
Patel: I was very tired… mental tension… there were so many phone calls coming. At about 1, I got a call saying that about 2,500 people had gathered at Bayad road…
TEHELKA: Bayad road?
Patel: So I went to Bayad and told them that our people had been burnt to death and they were now to do whatever they wanted. Go to the villages and kill. After that, 30 incidents happened. From Bayad, I came to Dhansura and Dhansura was also up in flames. The arson was initiated by our workers but gradually everyone joined in… Some were opposed. Like Congress guys Praful… Sangram Singh in Modasa… Munnabhai in Sathamba… They tried to save [the Muslims]. The Congress guys tried to protest, but the majority were with us…
TEHELKA: The majority were with you. Any activists who were in the forefront?
Patel: The activists did everything... They killed, they hacked …
TEHELKA: Did [DSP] Solanki lend full support…
Patel: [mumbles a name]
TEHELKA: Who?
Patel: Someone called Mansoori, who was a SIMI sympathiser…
TEHELKA: SIMI is a terrorist organisation….
Patel: He [Mansoori] was a vegetable vendor. He was hacked to death… At night, I got a call from Arvindbhai Soni, our co-minister, saying this incident has happened. I asked him if he was at the spot and he said no, but some Bajrang Dal brothers were there. I told him to stay at some safe place and to be cautious. The next morning I got to know that Arvindbhai had been arrested… I went to Biloda and called the DSP [District Superintendent of Police] … Both Jayantibhai and I went to meet the DSP and he said he’d release Arvindbhai... Everything was there on paper, in the arrest report, but when Arvindbhai was to be transferred to judicial custody, he was told to go back to the [VHP] office...
TEHELKA: Go to the office…
Patel: He stayed in the office for a month and a half…
• • •
TEHELKA: The main contribution was the VHP’s and the Bajrang Dal’s…
Patel: I and the Sangh did a lot… the Sangh did it without being asked… Many Sangh workers also went to jail… There is a village nearby called Sathambha… the taluk executive was booked under Section 302 [IPC]… there is still a case against him in Modasa for killing a Muslim woman… There is Amrudhbhai… he also did a lot of good work… he is the taluk executive
TEHELKA: What’s his name?
Patel: Amrudhbhai Prajapati…
TEHELKA: Is he still in jail?…
Patel: He is out on bail now…
TEHELKA: He is from the Sangh?
Patel: He is VHP President, district Modasa. Another man, Ashokbhai Patel, he also went to jail…
TEHELKA: He is also from the VHP…
Patel: Yes, from the VHP... A lot of people tried their best to get me booked too, but ND Solanki, Arvindbhai Brahmbhat and Pravinbhai Togadia and the caution I exercised [saved me]… Later on, I looked after everybody in jail and organised their food and looked after their cases…
• • •
Patel: Strategy… there was no strategy as such… The main thing was to give a befitting retaliation, to harm as many Muslims as possible, in whatever manner… by burning them, killing them… Educated activists knew what was to be done… but the public felt that even breaking a door meant furthering the cause of Hindutva…
TEHELKA: Muslims were killed in Dhansura…
Patel: The maulvi was killed…
TEHELKA: You were in-charge of the entire district?
Patel: I was looking after three four taluks… Dhansura, Bayad, Meghraj, Maalpur, Modasa…
TEHELKA: How many Muslims were killed in these taluks?
Patel: More than 30...
TEHELKA: Some are missing as well…
Patel: In Bayad, they are missing … 60 drivers from Modasa never came back…
TEHELKA: Truck drivers…
Patel: From Mumbai…
• • •
Patel: Our Pravinbhai Togadia… did it at the district level…
TEHELKA: Did you speak to him?
Patel: Yes...
TEHELKA: Then during the riots…
Patel: Be careful with whatever you do. He told me about the cases also… that the main workers should not be jailed… because it would affect the morale of the workers… that it’s okay if the goonda elements were booked because we would be able to bail them out… But our main workers were not to get booked… this is what he told me… They were booked, though. Amrudhbhai got [Section] 302… The Modasa district president was also charged… It’s like this… I felt that several people went to jail even after the events…
• • •
Patel: Modasa was one village in which the Muslims had the upper hand over Hindus... They had attacked one of our Bajrang Dal associates… Later some 60-70 Muslim shops were burnt… But after Godhra, we stayed on top of them…
RAMESH DAVE VHP MAN
Conspirators & Rioters
‘I Got A Call Saying, What’s This? All Of Gujarat Is Sleeping?
Transcript: RAMESH DAVE
Spurred on by Modi’s statement in Godhra, Dave and other VHP men set about picking out targets and killing them one by one
JUNE 12, 2007
Dave: Whatever happened [at Godhra], happened for the best… And, in any case, Rajendrabhai [Vyas] was in charge of the Godhra case…
TEHELKA: He was the incharge of the train…yes…
Dave: I was with him too as the deputy incharge…
TEHELKA: Were you on the train? Dave: No, I didn’t go… I am a diabetic and so I stayed back… Then around 9.30, I got a call from there, informing me of what had happened…
TEHELKA: Rajendrabhai called you up?
Dave: Rajendrabhai called up… he asked me what now… I said don’t worry… I will reach Godhra by 12 o’clock… Then he said there was no need to come to Godhra… some other people were already on their way… but the situation was out of control there and it had to be handled… I told him not to worry… and then he started crying… Rajendrabhai… he said 60 of our people had died… that we were playing a one-day…
TEHELKA: He told me that too…
Dave: One day khelna hai… 600 ko… maine bola koi tension mat lo, bhagwan ki kripa hai, ho jayega jo bhi hone wala hai… phir yahan laashein wagairah laayi… Phir main bhi raat ko gaya… drishya dekh kar bada… [We have to play a one-day… 600 have to be… I told him not to worry, whatever has to be done will be done by God’s grace… later on, the dead were brought here… I also went there that night… the scene was…
TEHELKA: I saw the pictures… in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad office…
Dave: In the office… We went to the office at night… the atmosphere there was very disturbing… everybody had the same reaction… what all of them felt was that [we had taken it] for so many years… Narendrabhai gave us great support at that time…
TEHELKA: What was Narendra Modi’s reaction when he reached Godhra and when he returned?
Dave: In Godhra, he gave a very strong statement… He himself was in a rage… after all, he has been a swayamsevak with the Sangh right from childhood…his anger was such… he himself did not come out into the open then but the police and all had turned totally ineffective at that time… The next day, we took out a funeral procession for the dead at 10.30… from the VHP office… these are things that have never been told… What actually happened was that I got a call at around quarter to eleven saying Rameshbhai what is this… all of Gujarat is sleeping… what is to be done… doesn’t matter… you will get a reaction from my side right now… At quarter to eleven, we went to a spot there… There a shootout took place… from there the whole of Gujarat caught on… but the spot [where it started] was Dariyapur…
• • •
Dave: This is Kandhariapur… Hindus are gradually decreasing here… Muslims are more in number…
TEHELKA: They are increasing…
Dave: This is our border… All the area behind this house is his [Abdul Latif ’s]… At the time of the Godhra massacre, rioting started here at around 11 o’clock… We fought here till the next 11 o’clock…
TEHELKA: Was there firing from their side too?
Dave: They did not… This time, everyone was on the Hindus’ side… At that time, I was given charge of Madhopura… It is very nearby… there were almost 123 riot-related cases there… Of these, around 15 were under Section 302… you understand this… What happened was, we targeted and killed all those who had been in our sights for the past 20-25 years…
• • •
Dave: We showed the horrific video we had shot [at Godhra] to people… What happens is… there’s a certain fury… A dormant volcano erupted all of a sudden… Those people did suffer a lot of damage… Our plan was to burn Godhra down to the ground… to burn all these Musalman-wusalmans… but then, to get everyone together here… to handle the situation…
TEHELKA: And all the VVIPs had also started visiting by then… Was there retaliation in Kalupur?
Dave: Yes we took revenge… to a great extent… meaning zabardast.
TEHELKA: How many were killed?
Dave: Now approximately, here in the interiors, I’d say only around 60-70… But the kind of revenge there was… What these people did in Kalupur and Dariyapur… they have three areas… four areas… Juhapura, Shahpur, Dariyapur and Kalupur… What they would do is they’d riot all over the place, and then they would sneak back here to hide…
• • •
TEHELKA: I had such an open conversation that Hareshbhai told me… Hareshbhai Bhatt’s factory… how bombs were made in his cracker factory…
Dave: Yes they were made… here then… If we weren’t here, we would be outside… Ghanshyam Patel used to call up people and control everything...
TEHELKA: So when the riots started in Dariyapur and Kalupur, did you people have any weapons or not?
Dave: Some had already come…
TEHELKA: But Hindus don’t keep weapons…
Dave: They don’t have weapons, but our brother got us revolvers and that’s how we would get by… and this is not the age of swords, anyway… So that is all one wants for weapons…
TEHELKA: So how many did he get? Two or three… the stand wala?
Dave: No, they were about 8 or 10
• • •
TEHELKA: Can I meet our activists [from the Sangh] who had been jailed but are now released? Just one or two?
Dave: There was one by the name of Yogi… Have you met Harshadbhai… Harshadbhai Giletwala?
TEHELKA: Not yet, Rajendrabhai gave me his name a while ago… but I haven’t met him yet…
Dave: He got burnt in that case… while setting that hotel on fire… He had 75 percent burns…
TEHELKA: Which hotel? Best Bakery is in Baroda…
Dave: No, no, it’s this one…
Dave’s wife: It was a Muslim hotel…
TEHELKA: Was it in Kalupur?
Dave: No no… it is on that side, near Narayan Pura…
TEHELKA: Were some Muslims also killed?
Dave: One died…
TEHELKA: So Harshadbhai sustained 75 percent burns… Dave: If you meet him now, he looks just the same… He sustained 75 percent injuries… it wasn’t easy saving him… the mrityunjay was chanted one lakh twenty five thousand times… Rs 4-5 lakh were also spent…
TEHELKA: Can I meet someone other than him… Can I meet the person who runs the stand?
Dave: No, he is out of town somewhere… And he won’t talk about it all now… Actually… like he told me, in his business, he has to deal with both Hindus and Muslims…
TEHELKA: Was an FIR lodged against him?
Dave: It was lodged before the riots… It was in a case of the murder of a Muslim, in which he was arrested…
• • •
TEHELKA: Did the Vishwa Hindu Parishad have any meeting the day Godhra happened? Was any strategy planned? Some common strategy must have been made by you people?
Dave: No, it happened but… At that time, the atmosphere was also very volatile… It could have been used for the sangathan… the sangathan has grown because of that… there was a time when…
TEHELKA: No, like the Godhra massacre happened on the 27th… did our leaders, who were there in Ahmedabad that day, get in touch with each other and plan out some strategy?
Dave: It happened…
TEHELKA: Or was it that they couldn’t meet because of the curfew…
Dave: No even if curfew is imposed nowadays, we can go out… There are lanes that let you do that… and even if there aren’t any such, we set out on the roads themselves. Meetings did happen… eight to ten meetings at various places… The strategy was that since we had to take revenge, we should show them at one go and then there would be peace for the next ten or so years…
March 21, 2010
Swamis, Celibacy and Sex Scandals
by Ram Puniyani
Many a sex scandals related to Holy men have come to surface during last few weeks (March 2010). Its not that these are the first one’s to have been brought to social attention, such incidents have been coming to social notice time and over again. The present ones’ about Swami Nityanand and Ichhchadhari Baba (Bhimanand) have highlighted the same in a very intense fashion as these scandals are very blatant.
One recalls in recent history many such cases have startled the media and society, the allegation of a foreign writer about Satya Sai Baba, then allegations against Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Santosh Madhavan, happenings of the Kamkoti Peetham Shakarachrya are quite well known. From other religious traditions, one recalls the recent book by Sister Jesme (Story of a Nun) and the news that the Roman Catholic Church has sacked a priest accused of pedophilia as large number of complaints were coming forth in Germany from people who were abused as children. At another level the RSS pracharak (RSS pracharaks are to remain bachelors for political reasons) Sanjay Joshi had also to give up his political responsibility when a CD related to his sexual exploits came to surface.
In all these cases the underlying mechanisms are different. In Catholic establishment, to remain unmarried is the norm and many cases have come to light, which have shamed the establishment. The Hindu God-men are all ‘stand alone’ systems, not an organized Church. While comparing these may not be easy, what is common in these is that the organizations where members remain celibate to discharge their religiously or politically ordained duties, many of them do get tainted by the fall out of such acts.
What is different about the case of these God-men in particular is a deliberate misuse of their ‘spiritual attainments’ to indulge in carnal pleasures, under the guise of spirituality, to the extent of running sex rackets in association with those in power. Here is the case of gross abuse of faith to the extent of deliberately setting up a situation to exploit the women devotees. The methods used by the swamis are diverse. This should come under a serious crime not only at legal but also at social level to ensure that such gross abuse of faith is brought under serious scanner.
As such the concept of celibacy in many a religious orders had a spiritual base in the noble idea of renunciations and transcending of the physical pleasures to attain the higher spiritual platform. The religious Gurus have been of different types as for as celibacy is concerned. In early India there were renouncers as well as those who led a family life. Patanjali stated “swa-ang jugupsa, parai asansargah’, meaning that with increasing spiritual insights, with mind achieving higher truth, apathy for physical body comes in. This is what is supposed to have made celibacy the path to sanyas. Celibacy, Brahmcharya has been highly respectable in sections of society.
After 8th century celibacy was taken to exalted levels into Hindu tradition by Shankara, while he was leading the battle of Hinduism against Buddhism. To attack Buddhism he adopted various concepts from Buddhism itself, e.g. the concept of renunciation of material wants, celibacy included. Today the idea of celibacy is prevalent mainly in Buddhism, sects of Hinduism and amongst Catholic priests. These three have base in religious traditions. For much different reasons, mainly political one’s, organization like RSS has also brought this in for its propagators.
Patanjali’s argument is repeated by modern God-man, Sri Sri Ravishaker. According to him as you go to higher levels, body becomes insignificant and interest in sex is reduced to nothing. There have been dissenting note from within the stable of God-men itself. The major such voice was that of Osho, Bhagwan Rajneesh. He argued that sex could be transcended only through experience; this was what he preached and penned down in his book, Sambhog se Samadhi (From Sex to Superconciousness).
These semi philosophical outpourings apart, the biological compulsions have always accompanied the celibates and the scandals have kept popping out from such institutions and individuals, telling us that these sexual escapades are a rule than an exception. It may be in the form of child abuse, same sex relationships to downright cunning methods indulged by God-men to trap the women on the pretext of their ‘spiritual’ pursuits. Different philosophical sounding arguments are dished out to the unsuspecting laity.
From last few decades these incidents are coming more to the surface as the phenomenon of God-men has mushroomed all around. This phenomenon is an accompaniment of the existential anxieties of the globalized world, the razor edge competitive era, where cut throat competition at work place, heightened consumerism and moving upward in the scale of financial earning is the only index of one’s success. The need for emotional succor is leading to the rise of the industry of God-men.
The God-men, belong to many categories, each having his-her own entrepreneurial skills. God-men put out their brand of spirituality, which apparently gives solace to the aggrieved middle and lower middle classes in particular amongst others. God-men have set up institutions which cater to vastly expanding market. Meera Nanda in her book, the ‘God Market’ argues that there is an increased religiosity, collusion with the corporate World and the state. In India in particular, a subtle Hindusization is going on as such and this has been aided by the private sector. There is an active promotion of religious tourism. Higher education has been handed over to private sector, some of whom use religious trusts to run these institutions to impart ‘value education’. State has been generous in giving away land at highly subsidized rates to the Gurus and God-men.
One can also see the rise of religious Right here and in different countries during this period. RSS is having a field day in culturally Hinduizing the social space, and God-men are the major players in the game. One can say that these swamis of the ilk of Nityanad and Ichchhadhari are just the visible part of a larger phenomenon. These two cases also show the range of activities, from the spiritual façade to downright sex racket.
The broader picture of the phenomenon is much more disturbing. Last three decades have been one of the most tragic periods of human history for different reasons. It is this period when the global political and social phenomenon has adopted the language of the religion. This language has created multiple problems. On one hand, one major religious community has been demonized, and on the other there is a big set back to the rational thinking and progressive values. When the language of religion is used with great aplomb, the reason is forced on the back-foot and the suppression of human rights takes the garb of religion. Since religion is accompanied by faith, which in turn can create hysteria, the latter ensures that blind religiosity and blind faith rule the roost. The beneficiaries of these arrangements are the entrenched social, economic powers.
Globally, US took on Russian forces by promoting the conservative versions of Islam, used the religious language to train Al Qaeda, and laced its ambitions for oil in the language of religion. Here in India those who were opposed to social transformation of caste and gender, used Ram Temple type issues, created mass hysteria around identity issues and have tried to push back the process of social transformation. The increased social presence of God-men is an accompaniment of this process. They have duel function. On one hand they aid in creating conservative values, refurbished caste and gender norms from Manusmiriti are propagated, and on the other they exploit this situation for their material enhancement, sexual exploitation included. Interestingly the God men who talk of renunciation and going to higher levels themselves are the biggest beneficiaries of material riches. Society has to learn the lessons from the sprawling wealth and sexual exploitation done by section of God-men and to understand as to what is really taking place in the garb of holy clothes is a mere misuse of faith for crass purposes. Nityanand and Icchadhari Baba is a sort of barometer of the phenomenon which has gripped our society.
--
Many a sex scandals related to Holy men have come to surface during last few weeks (March 2010). Its not that these are the first one’s to have been brought to social attention, such incidents have been coming to social notice time and over again. The present ones’ about Swami Nityanand and Ichhchadhari Baba (Bhimanand) have highlighted the same in a very intense fashion as these scandals are very blatant.
One recalls in recent history many such cases have startled the media and society, the allegation of a foreign writer about Satya Sai Baba, then allegations against Gurmeet Ram Rahim, Santosh Madhavan, happenings of the Kamkoti Peetham Shakarachrya are quite well known. From other religious traditions, one recalls the recent book by Sister Jesme (Story of a Nun) and the news that the Roman Catholic Church has sacked a priest accused of pedophilia as large number of complaints were coming forth in Germany from people who were abused as children. At another level the RSS pracharak (RSS pracharaks are to remain bachelors for political reasons) Sanjay Joshi had also to give up his political responsibility when a CD related to his sexual exploits came to surface.
In all these cases the underlying mechanisms are different. In Catholic establishment, to remain unmarried is the norm and many cases have come to light, which have shamed the establishment. The Hindu God-men are all ‘stand alone’ systems, not an organized Church. While comparing these may not be easy, what is common in these is that the organizations where members remain celibate to discharge their religiously or politically ordained duties, many of them do get tainted by the fall out of such acts.
What is different about the case of these God-men in particular is a deliberate misuse of their ‘spiritual attainments’ to indulge in carnal pleasures, under the guise of spirituality, to the extent of running sex rackets in association with those in power. Here is the case of gross abuse of faith to the extent of deliberately setting up a situation to exploit the women devotees. The methods used by the swamis are diverse. This should come under a serious crime not only at legal but also at social level to ensure that such gross abuse of faith is brought under serious scanner.
As such the concept of celibacy in many a religious orders had a spiritual base in the noble idea of renunciations and transcending of the physical pleasures to attain the higher spiritual platform. The religious Gurus have been of different types as for as celibacy is concerned. In early India there were renouncers as well as those who led a family life. Patanjali stated “swa-ang jugupsa, parai asansargah’, meaning that with increasing spiritual insights, with mind achieving higher truth, apathy for physical body comes in. This is what is supposed to have made celibacy the path to sanyas. Celibacy, Brahmcharya has been highly respectable in sections of society.
After 8th century celibacy was taken to exalted levels into Hindu tradition by Shankara, while he was leading the battle of Hinduism against Buddhism. To attack Buddhism he adopted various concepts from Buddhism itself, e.g. the concept of renunciation of material wants, celibacy included. Today the idea of celibacy is prevalent mainly in Buddhism, sects of Hinduism and amongst Catholic priests. These three have base in religious traditions. For much different reasons, mainly political one’s, organization like RSS has also brought this in for its propagators.
Patanjali’s argument is repeated by modern God-man, Sri Sri Ravishaker. According to him as you go to higher levels, body becomes insignificant and interest in sex is reduced to nothing. There have been dissenting note from within the stable of God-men itself. The major such voice was that of Osho, Bhagwan Rajneesh. He argued that sex could be transcended only through experience; this was what he preached and penned down in his book, Sambhog se Samadhi (From Sex to Superconciousness).
These semi philosophical outpourings apart, the biological compulsions have always accompanied the celibates and the scandals have kept popping out from such institutions and individuals, telling us that these sexual escapades are a rule than an exception. It may be in the form of child abuse, same sex relationships to downright cunning methods indulged by God-men to trap the women on the pretext of their ‘spiritual’ pursuits. Different philosophical sounding arguments are dished out to the unsuspecting laity.
From last few decades these incidents are coming more to the surface as the phenomenon of God-men has mushroomed all around. This phenomenon is an accompaniment of the existential anxieties of the globalized world, the razor edge competitive era, where cut throat competition at work place, heightened consumerism and moving upward in the scale of financial earning is the only index of one’s success. The need for emotional succor is leading to the rise of the industry of God-men.
The God-men, belong to many categories, each having his-her own entrepreneurial skills. God-men put out their brand of spirituality, which apparently gives solace to the aggrieved middle and lower middle classes in particular amongst others. God-men have set up institutions which cater to vastly expanding market. Meera Nanda in her book, the ‘God Market’ argues that there is an increased religiosity, collusion with the corporate World and the state. In India in particular, a subtle Hindusization is going on as such and this has been aided by the private sector. There is an active promotion of religious tourism. Higher education has been handed over to private sector, some of whom use religious trusts to run these institutions to impart ‘value education’. State has been generous in giving away land at highly subsidized rates to the Gurus and God-men.
One can also see the rise of religious Right here and in different countries during this period. RSS is having a field day in culturally Hinduizing the social space, and God-men are the major players in the game. One can say that these swamis of the ilk of Nityanad and Ichchhadhari are just the visible part of a larger phenomenon. These two cases also show the range of activities, from the spiritual façade to downright sex racket.
The broader picture of the phenomenon is much more disturbing. Last three decades have been one of the most tragic periods of human history for different reasons. It is this period when the global political and social phenomenon has adopted the language of the religion. This language has created multiple problems. On one hand, one major religious community has been demonized, and on the other there is a big set back to the rational thinking and progressive values. When the language of religion is used with great aplomb, the reason is forced on the back-foot and the suppression of human rights takes the garb of religion. Since religion is accompanied by faith, which in turn can create hysteria, the latter ensures that blind religiosity and blind faith rule the roost. The beneficiaries of these arrangements are the entrenched social, economic powers.
Globally, US took on Russian forces by promoting the conservative versions of Islam, used the religious language to train Al Qaeda, and laced its ambitions for oil in the language of religion. Here in India those who were opposed to social transformation of caste and gender, used Ram Temple type issues, created mass hysteria around identity issues and have tried to push back the process of social transformation. The increased social presence of God-men is an accompaniment of this process. They have duel function. On one hand they aid in creating conservative values, refurbished caste and gender norms from Manusmiriti are propagated, and on the other they exploit this situation for their material enhancement, sexual exploitation included. Interestingly the God men who talk of renunciation and going to higher levels themselves are the biggest beneficiaries of material riches. Society has to learn the lessons from the sprawling wealth and sexual exploitation done by section of God-men and to understand as to what is really taking place in the garb of holy clothes is a mere misuse of faith for crass purposes. Nityanand and Icchadhari Baba is a sort of barometer of the phenomenon which has gripped our society.
--
Women's protest placards to protest Muslim right wing attack on women's revervation bill
20 March 2010, New Delhi
March 14, 2010
India: A Critique Communal Violence Bill: Interview with Vrinda Grover
The Times of India, 8 March 2010
'Communal violence Bill is a nasty piece of legislation'
by Humra Quraishi
Vrinda Grover , a Delhi-based human rights lawyer, is director of Multiple Action Research Group (MARG). She is presently counsel for survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage, 1987 Hashimpura police killings and the 2008 anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal. She speaks to Humra Quraishi about the Communal Violence Bill expected to be tabled soon in Parliament:
A new version of the communal violence Bill has been cleared by the cabinet. How different is it from the earlier version?
The most significant change is this Bill gives powers of authority to the states to declare an area communally disturbed and it's this clause which is likely to be misused by the state governments. This Bill is a nasty piece of legislation to hoodwink and dupe the minority communities under the garb they will get protection. On the contrary, it will only make them more vulnerable to the powers of the government and the states.
What are the shortcomings of the Bill?
Documented experience clearly shows that in communal carnages there is a definite role played by the various state agencies (civil and police forces and the politician). This has not been taken into consideration. The Bill treats communal violence as though it's mere rioting between two communities and does not create any accountability for the state and the various agencies. Another flaw is this Bill does not follow the Doctrine of Command and Superior Responsibility that is, it will not hold the man at the helm of affairs responsible for communal rioting and carnage. For example, in the Ehsan Jaffri murder case, his widow says they had called/contacted the police commissioner when they were besieged by mobs during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, but he didn't respond and come to their rescue. So the person held responsible for Jaffri's murder/killing should be the then police commissioner of Ahmedabad and not some small players or people who were in the mob.
Another flaw is that the Bill is only relying on old offences of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On the aspect of sexual violence the definition of sexual violence is restricted to rape as under the IPC and it doesn't cover the sexual offences that take place during communal rioting/carnage. Nor does the Bill cover the very consequences of the aftermath of sexual violence. There is hardly any mention of victims' rights. After all, it's the obligation of the state to provide relief. But, in this Bill, it makes rioting appear as though it's just between two communities. So the state moves away from that responsibility/accountability. Psycho-socio traumas of victims need to be addressed but there is not even a mention of these in the Bill. No mention of the need for counsellors, long-term medical relief etc.
What does it say about the police?
This Bill does not challenge the absolute impunity that the police force enjoys. In fact, it reinforces the impunity by the addition of 'good faith' clause, which ensures that no prosecution of the police and public servants is permitted without the prior permission of the executive. The executive will, for very obvious reasons, shield them. If this Bill is amended and some fundamental changes are brought about which give rights to the victims and accountability falls on the state and its functionaries, only then can it uphold the rights of the targeted communities.
'Communal violence Bill is a nasty piece of legislation'
by Humra Quraishi
Vrinda Grover , a Delhi-based human rights lawyer, is director of Multiple Action Research Group (MARG). She is presently counsel for survivors of the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage, 1987 Hashimpura police killings and the 2008 anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal. She speaks to Humra Quraishi about the Communal Violence Bill expected to be tabled soon in Parliament:
A new version of the communal violence Bill has been cleared by the cabinet. How different is it from the earlier version?
The most significant change is this Bill gives powers of authority to the states to declare an area communally disturbed and it's this clause which is likely to be misused by the state governments. This Bill is a nasty piece of legislation to hoodwink and dupe the minority communities under the garb they will get protection. On the contrary, it will only make them more vulnerable to the powers of the government and the states.
What are the shortcomings of the Bill?
Documented experience clearly shows that in communal carnages there is a definite role played by the various state agencies (civil and police forces and the politician). This has not been taken into consideration. The Bill treats communal violence as though it's mere rioting between two communities and does not create any accountability for the state and the various agencies. Another flaw is this Bill does not follow the Doctrine of Command and Superior Responsibility that is, it will not hold the man at the helm of affairs responsible for communal rioting and carnage. For example, in the Ehsan Jaffri murder case, his widow says they had called/contacted the police commissioner when they were besieged by mobs during the 2002 Gujarat pogrom, but he didn't respond and come to their rescue. So the person held responsible for Jaffri's murder/killing should be the then police commissioner of Ahmedabad and not some small players or people who were in the mob.
Another flaw is that the Bill is only relying on old offences of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). On the aspect of sexual violence the definition of sexual violence is restricted to rape as under the IPC and it doesn't cover the sexual offences that take place during communal rioting/carnage. Nor does the Bill cover the very consequences of the aftermath of sexual violence. There is hardly any mention of victims' rights. After all, it's the obligation of the state to provide relief. But, in this Bill, it makes rioting appear as though it's just between two communities. So the state moves away from that responsibility/accountability. Psycho-socio traumas of victims need to be addressed but there is not even a mention of these in the Bill. No mention of the need for counsellors, long-term medical relief etc.
What does it say about the police?
This Bill does not challenge the absolute impunity that the police force enjoys. In fact, it reinforces the impunity by the addition of 'good faith' clause, which ensures that no prosecution of the police and public servants is permitted without the prior permission of the executive. The executive will, for very obvious reasons, shield them. If this Bill is amended and some fundamental changes are brought about which give rights to the victims and accountability falls on the state and its functionaries, only then can it uphold the rights of the targeted communities.
March 13, 2010
RSS believes only Hindus are Indians
Subverting Democratic Ethos
RSS believes only Hindus are Indians!
Ram Puniyani
RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences and controls different political and semi political organizations, calling themselves as Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology and political agenda at different layers, by different means. While its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a ‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this organization is going to implement in times to come.
It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February (2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become stronger.
At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu (Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear indication that followers of those religions which did not originate in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition.
After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here; that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same religion may have a way of life which is very different from each other.
The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to Mother Mary.
The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship, presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress and community life.
Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism, to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya.
It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas (Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is religion all the same.
So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of ‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to multiple factors.
Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender, we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal ideology of RSS.
To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism. The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West, deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock and barrel.
What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement, regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a community lies in its economic status, social security and human rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater for all the religious communities and in addition to implement affirmative action for weaker sections of society.
We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
--
RSS believes only Hindus are Indians!
Ram Puniyani
RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences and controls different political and semi political organizations, calling themselves as Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology and political agenda at different layers, by different means. While its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a ‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this organization is going to implement in times to come.
It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February (2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become stronger.
At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu (Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear indication that followers of those religions which did not originate in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition.
After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here; that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same religion may have a way of life which is very different from each other.
The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to Mother Mary.
The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship, presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress and community life.
Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism, to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya.
It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas (Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is religion all the same.
So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation, Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of ‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to multiple factors.
Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender, we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal ideology of RSS.
To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism. The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West, deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock and barrel.
What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement, regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a community lies in its economic status, social security and human rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater for all the religious communities and in addition to implement affirmative action for weaker sections of society.
We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
--
March 12, 2010
Attacks by Chauvinists Continue Against The Use of Name Bombay
The Times of India
Sena attacks BNHS for 'Bombay' in its name
by Viju B & Ambarish Mishra, TNN, Mar 12, 2010, 01.13am IST
MUMBAI: The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a 126-year-old landmark institution that has undertaken pioneering wildlife conservation and research in the country, on Thursday became the latest victim of the campaign for the Marathification of Mumbai being undertaken by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Around 50 Shiv Sainiks marched into the premises and, using hammers and a chisel, vandalised the society's sign by taking off the 'B' from 'Bombay' in the name. They then put a 'Mumbai' over the 'Bombay' in the Devanagari part of the sign and erected a banner proclaiming the organisation as the 'Mumbai Natural History Society' in Devanagari.
Close on the heels of MNS members attacking the stores of a mobile service provider on Wednesday for not giving recordings in Marathi, the Shiv Sena, not wanting to be left behind in the battle for the Marathi vote, engaged in its own strong-arm tactics on Thursday at the BNHS headquarters in Colaba.
A BNHS official said the organisation, which calls itself "the largest NGO in the Indian subcontinent engaged in nature conservation research", was hit "because it is a soft target".
The BNHS office is in Hornbill House, bang opposite the HQ of the Maharashtra police, where the director general of police sits. It is also a kilometre from the Colaba Police Station, whose personnel reached the spot after the damage was done. A sainik later quipped, "The police, as always, came in late." No arrests were made.
"We are filing a criminal complaint against the Shiv Sena leaders for damaging and destroying a heritage institution," said BNHS president B G Deshmukh, who is a former Union cabinet secretary.
Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray is a life member of the BNHS and an avid wildlife photographer. "He would visit the BNHS when there were exhibitions. We thought he was a friend of the BNHS. We are completely shocked by this behavior," said a senior BNHS official. Deshumkh said that party leaders who instigate their members should be made responsible for damages. "The recent Bombay high court order is very clear on this issue," said an official.
A BNHS official said that sainiks had met them a month earlier and demanded the name change. "We told them that the BNHS's name is registered with the charity commissioner and any change could be done only after informing the commission," said BNHS director Dr Asad R Rahmani. He said only the BNHS board had the power to change the name. "The issue will be discussed at the next board meeting. We have filed a police complaint on the entire incident," he said.
BNHS officials said the sainiks came armed with hammers, chisel and even a ladder. "Before we knew what was happening outside, they climbed up and broke the 'B' from the sign that has stood for a hundred years. As per the state government's directive, we had in fact added another sign in the Devanagiri script," the official said.
He said it was an insult to the city's rich cultural heritage that research institutions like the BNHS, which have done much to protect and promote wildlife and the environment, have been targeted for petty political gain.
The sainiks, in keeping with their sons-of-the-soil agenda, raised angry slogans outside the BNHS office. Led by party leader Anil Desai and vibhag-pramukh Pandurang Sakpal, they presented a memorandum to a BNHS functionary calling for a change in the nomenclature.
"The BNHS people have told us that there will be a meeting in Mumbai in April when a proposal to rename the society will be discussed," said Sakpal.
When asked if the Sena respects the BNHS's sterling contribution to the preservation of environment and wildlife, Sakpal said, "We all know about the society, but it should adhere to the change in the city's name which was done a few years ago. We don't wish to belittle the BNHS's work. However, they should respect local sentiments."
However, a BNHS official said, "The BNHS was targeted because it is a soft target. There are so many other public institutions with the same name nearby that were left alone as they have better security. We are sitting ducks," the official said.
The Sena has stepped up its sons-of-the-soil crusade in an attempt to curb the growing clout of the MNS, which won its political spurs by raking up the Marathi issue.
Sena attacks BNHS for 'Bombay' in its name
by Viju B & Ambarish Mishra, TNN, Mar 12, 2010, 01.13am IST
MUMBAI: The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), a 126-year-old landmark institution that has undertaken pioneering wildlife conservation and research in the country, on Thursday became the latest victim of the campaign for the Marathification of Mumbai being undertaken by the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Around 50 Shiv Sainiks marched into the premises and, using hammers and a chisel, vandalised the society's sign by taking off the 'B' from 'Bombay' in the name. They then put a 'Mumbai' over the 'Bombay' in the Devanagari part of the sign and erected a banner proclaiming the organisation as the 'Mumbai Natural History Society' in Devanagari.
Close on the heels of MNS members attacking the stores of a mobile service provider on Wednesday for not giving recordings in Marathi, the Shiv Sena, not wanting to be left behind in the battle for the Marathi vote, engaged in its own strong-arm tactics on Thursday at the BNHS headquarters in Colaba.
A BNHS official said the organisation, which calls itself "the largest NGO in the Indian subcontinent engaged in nature conservation research", was hit "because it is a soft target".
The BNHS office is in Hornbill House, bang opposite the HQ of the Maharashtra police, where the director general of police sits. It is also a kilometre from the Colaba Police Station, whose personnel reached the spot after the damage was done. A sainik later quipped, "The police, as always, came in late." No arrests were made.
"We are filing a criminal complaint against the Shiv Sena leaders for damaging and destroying a heritage institution," said BNHS president B G Deshmukh, who is a former Union cabinet secretary.
Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray is a life member of the BNHS and an avid wildlife photographer. "He would visit the BNHS when there were exhibitions. We thought he was a friend of the BNHS. We are completely shocked by this behavior," said a senior BNHS official. Deshumkh said that party leaders who instigate their members should be made responsible for damages. "The recent Bombay high court order is very clear on this issue," said an official.
A BNHS official said that sainiks had met them a month earlier and demanded the name change. "We told them that the BNHS's name is registered with the charity commissioner and any change could be done only after informing the commission," said BNHS director Dr Asad R Rahmani. He said only the BNHS board had the power to change the name. "The issue will be discussed at the next board meeting. We have filed a police complaint on the entire incident," he said.
BNHS officials said the sainiks came armed with hammers, chisel and even a ladder. "Before we knew what was happening outside, they climbed up and broke the 'B' from the sign that has stood for a hundred years. As per the state government's directive, we had in fact added another sign in the Devanagiri script," the official said.
He said it was an insult to the city's rich cultural heritage that research institutions like the BNHS, which have done much to protect and promote wildlife and the environment, have been targeted for petty political gain.
The sainiks, in keeping with their sons-of-the-soil agenda, raised angry slogans outside the BNHS office. Led by party leader Anil Desai and vibhag-pramukh Pandurang Sakpal, they presented a memorandum to a BNHS functionary calling for a change in the nomenclature.
"The BNHS people have told us that there will be a meeting in Mumbai in April when a proposal to rename the society will be discussed," said Sakpal.
When asked if the Sena respects the BNHS's sterling contribution to the preservation of environment and wildlife, Sakpal said, "We all know about the society, but it should adhere to the change in the city's name which was done a few years ago. We don't wish to belittle the BNHS's work. However, they should respect local sentiments."
However, a BNHS official said, "The BNHS was targeted because it is a soft target. There are so many other public institutions with the same name nearby that were left alone as they have better security. We are sitting ducks," the official said.
The Sena has stepped up its sons-of-the-soil crusade in an attempt to curb the growing clout of the MNS, which won its political spurs by raking up the Marathi issue.
March 07, 2010
Madhya Pradesh's Hindutva Soaked Chief Minister Wants Gita in Schools
The Times of India
CM Chouhan wants Gita lessons in schools
by Suchandana Gupta, TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 03.42am IST
BHOPAL: After the row over Surya Namaskar and yoga, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh appears to be heading for another showdown with minorities: this time, over the Bhagwad Gita that the CM wants as part of the curriculum in government-run schools.
The fresh controversy surfaced after Chouhan, during a visit to Mirzapur on Friday, said the state government was contemplating introducing the ‘Bhagwad Gita' in school curriculum. He had gone to seek the blessings of Swami Argaranand at his ashram on his 52nd birthday. The CM had said that for moral education, study of the Gita is necessary.
"Bhagwad Gita mein gyan ka bhandar hai (Bhagwad Gita is a treasure of knowledge). Children should be imparted the knowledge of the Gita and there should not be any politics over it," Chouhan said.
He, however, specified that the decision regarding inclusion of Gita in the curriculum "will not be taken in a hurry". A committee would look into it and discuss it.
CM Chouhan wants Gita lessons in schools
by Suchandana Gupta, TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 03.42am IST
BHOPAL: After the row over Surya Namaskar and yoga, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government in Madhya Pradesh appears to be heading for another showdown with minorities: this time, over the Bhagwad Gita that the CM wants as part of the curriculum in government-run schools.
The fresh controversy surfaced after Chouhan, during a visit to Mirzapur on Friday, said the state government was contemplating introducing the ‘Bhagwad Gita' in school curriculum. He had gone to seek the blessings of Swami Argaranand at his ashram on his 52nd birthday. The CM had said that for moral education, study of the Gita is necessary.
"Bhagwad Gita mein gyan ka bhandar hai (Bhagwad Gita is a treasure of knowledge). Children should be imparted the knowledge of the Gita and there should not be any politics over it," Chouhan said.
He, however, specified that the decision regarding inclusion of Gita in the curriculum "will not be taken in a hurry". A committee would look into it and discuss it.
March 06, 2010
MF Hussain Caught between the Hindu moral police and Govt inaction
Mail Today
5 March 2010
EXILING TRADITION
by Jyotirmaya Sharma
Husain’s work is rooted in the pauranik tradition which celebrates interpretation and improvisation
THE M. F. Husain controversy can be viewed at various levels. At one level, it is one of the uneducated literates and the uneducated illiterates of the sangh parivar making a public display of bad taste.
They have been caught in a time warp that compels them to think of Hindu gods and goddesses only in the artless, yet stylised, form that Raja Ravi Varma gave them.
Most of them can hardly distinguish between a kirana- shop new- year calendar and a canvas: they are to art what Bal Thackeray is to democracy, namely, a pestilence and a running sore. Despite their nationalist and Hindu rhetoric, there is scarcely anyone who can convince them that they are prisoners of Victorian tastes and morality, and what they impose in the name of moral policing through their unchecked thuggery is neither national nor Hindu.
The sangh parivar also has a few English- speaking Oxbridge types who, perhaps, privately collect and possess a Husain painting or two, but make a show of public condemnation of the artist. They are ready to question Husain’s acceptance of Qatari citizenship, but are more than willing to embrace an ill- informed and megalomaniac individual like V. S. Naipaul as Indian, Hindu and as one of their own just because he repeats their mindless platitudes and universalises their deep- seated prejudices.
While political expediency has led the RSS, the BJP and their other excitable affiliates to take unusual positions with regard to the Shah Rukh Khan controversy, it represents no paradigm shift as far as their core ideology is concerned. Having flogged the rhetoric of nationalism for so long, they can scarcely take on the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Asha Bhonsle.
In taking divergent positions, for instance, on Shah Rukh Khan as contrasted with the Husain controversy, the sangh parivar has sought to confuse those elements within what they perceive as the Hindu community who remain disenchanted with their brand of intolerant and threatening Hindutva.
Sins
Their political strategy is to present not one unified face of Hindutva, but a proliferation of various masks that would, in the end, be successful in hiding the true tenets of their ideology.
The sangh parivar has realised that for the Indian middle class, there is no single idea of the sacred but a plurality of choices, some of them secular, that an individual might consider sacred and impart equal value.
If this argument is plausible, the question remains why the sangh parivar has one set of positions in relation to Taslima Nasreen and Shah Rukh Khan and another stance in relation to M. F. Husain. On the face of it, they are all Muslims.
The Hindutva votaries see Taslima Nasreen as someone who speaks against the hardened and fanatical aspects of Islam and Islamic clergy.
Shah Rukh Khan speaks about being an ardent nationalist, wears his and his family’s nationalism on the sleeve and speaks of a soft humanism that forms the very stuff that the middle class and the new- age gurus espouse. On the contrary, Husain dares to interpret the great epics and the gods and goddesses that inhabit these texts in the manner of a grand pauranik commentator. The freedom that a pauranik has to interpret, interpolate and improvise a classical tradition and keep it alive is the very antithesis of what Hindutva stands for and seeks in the name of religion.
In other words, Husain is guilty in the eyes of the Hindutva fanatics of two cardinal sins. The first is to claim the right to partake of the common heritage of this country by not seeking permission from the selfappointed guardians of faith, but exercising this right as a free citizen of a free country.
The second, and more serious misdemeanour in the eyes of the lunatic mainstream of the sangh parivar, is to don the traditional mantle of a pauranik at a time when the Hindutva votaries themselves are seeking to abandon the dazzling plurality of the pauranik tradition in favour of a misunderstood and faulty notion of oneness. This manifests itself in a notion of advaita and its more contemporary pop variants in the service of arguments for national unity within the nationalist discourse.
It is no one’s business to question the taboo on the idea of representation in Islam, but Husain’s appropriation and celebration of the freedom to represent within the Hindu traditions, classical and folk, is a way also of intervening and questioning the hijacking of Islam by those who represent the al- Qaeda’s brand of intolerant Islam, which prohibits all forms of creativity, whether it is art, music or cinema. Questioning Husain’s right to interpret and represent Hindu gods and goddesses is symptomatic of the confusion that has existed within Hindu nationalism since the nineteenth century.
The Hindu nationalist attempt to paint the entity called Hinduism in monochromatic colours and to compel compliance on the basis of a distorted version of a unified faith makes its family resemblance to more fanatical versions of Islam more evident than it realises or is ready to admit.
Husain on the other hand has the best of both worlds.
State
He remains a Muslim in the sense that would make every civilised and reasonable Muslim proud, and he has fashioned himself also as an illustrious pauranik in the best sense that can be conveyed by that term.
The sangh parivar, on the other hand, lives in this vast sea of confusion, mouthing platitudes that are foreign, colonial and, worst still, Victorian.
Their vilification of Husain is a symptom of their own confusion and disarray; their only way of finding a solution, given their intellectual and moral bankruptcy, is to bully and intimidate. This is also one reason why the political affiliates of the Sangh are always ready to capture political power, which they see as the only way to impose their agenda.
Characteristically, the Indian state too has failed to protect the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Indian Constitution. In its actual functioning, the Indian state is secular on certain days of the week, indifferent on some other days, and aids and abets mindlessness on other days, and there are days when it actively colludes with the malcontents of society.
Even if the reasons are different, there is no explanation why the same state that can protect Shah Rukh Khan and the screening of his film cannot prevent the vandalism of Husain’s home or his exhibitions.
The Indian state too mirrors in many ways the confusion that has claimed the sangh parivar.
Mediocrity
It tries hard to be democratic, secular and fair on most days, but it lapses into populism, expediency and electoral calculations more often than it is desirable.
It is only a piece of useless legalism to claim that the state is different from the regime, and that the sins of the regime in power ought not to be interpolated on to the formal structures of the state.
This is nothing but pious intent, a dream that may some day fructify. But by the time it happens, the barbarians within would have driven many artists and other creative individuals out into self- imposed exile.
We will be left with our own mediocre crumbs and live in the smug satisfaction of at least having the dregs to contend with.
The writer teaches politics at University of Hyderabad
5 March 2010
EXILING TRADITION
by Jyotirmaya Sharma
Husain’s work is rooted in the pauranik tradition which celebrates interpretation and improvisation
THE M. F. Husain controversy can be viewed at various levels. At one level, it is one of the uneducated literates and the uneducated illiterates of the sangh parivar making a public display of bad taste.
They have been caught in a time warp that compels them to think of Hindu gods and goddesses only in the artless, yet stylised, form that Raja Ravi Varma gave them.
Most of them can hardly distinguish between a kirana- shop new- year calendar and a canvas: they are to art what Bal Thackeray is to democracy, namely, a pestilence and a running sore. Despite their nationalist and Hindu rhetoric, there is scarcely anyone who can convince them that they are prisoners of Victorian tastes and morality, and what they impose in the name of moral policing through their unchecked thuggery is neither national nor Hindu.
The sangh parivar also has a few English- speaking Oxbridge types who, perhaps, privately collect and possess a Husain painting or two, but make a show of public condemnation of the artist. They are ready to question Husain’s acceptance of Qatari citizenship, but are more than willing to embrace an ill- informed and megalomaniac individual like V. S. Naipaul as Indian, Hindu and as one of their own just because he repeats their mindless platitudes and universalises their deep- seated prejudices.
While political expediency has led the RSS, the BJP and their other excitable affiliates to take unusual positions with regard to the Shah Rukh Khan controversy, it represents no paradigm shift as far as their core ideology is concerned. Having flogged the rhetoric of nationalism for so long, they can scarcely take on the likes of Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan and Asha Bhonsle.
In taking divergent positions, for instance, on Shah Rukh Khan as contrasted with the Husain controversy, the sangh parivar has sought to confuse those elements within what they perceive as the Hindu community who remain disenchanted with their brand of intolerant and threatening Hindutva.
Sins
Their political strategy is to present not one unified face of Hindutva, but a proliferation of various masks that would, in the end, be successful in hiding the true tenets of their ideology.
The sangh parivar has realised that for the Indian middle class, there is no single idea of the sacred but a plurality of choices, some of them secular, that an individual might consider sacred and impart equal value.
If this argument is plausible, the question remains why the sangh parivar has one set of positions in relation to Taslima Nasreen and Shah Rukh Khan and another stance in relation to M. F. Husain. On the face of it, they are all Muslims.
The Hindutva votaries see Taslima Nasreen as someone who speaks against the hardened and fanatical aspects of Islam and Islamic clergy.
Shah Rukh Khan speaks about being an ardent nationalist, wears his and his family’s nationalism on the sleeve and speaks of a soft humanism that forms the very stuff that the middle class and the new- age gurus espouse. On the contrary, Husain dares to interpret the great epics and the gods and goddesses that inhabit these texts in the manner of a grand pauranik commentator. The freedom that a pauranik has to interpret, interpolate and improvise a classical tradition and keep it alive is the very antithesis of what Hindutva stands for and seeks in the name of religion.
In other words, Husain is guilty in the eyes of the Hindutva fanatics of two cardinal sins. The first is to claim the right to partake of the common heritage of this country by not seeking permission from the selfappointed guardians of faith, but exercising this right as a free citizen of a free country.
The second, and more serious misdemeanour in the eyes of the lunatic mainstream of the sangh parivar, is to don the traditional mantle of a pauranik at a time when the Hindutva votaries themselves are seeking to abandon the dazzling plurality of the pauranik tradition in favour of a misunderstood and faulty notion of oneness. This manifests itself in a notion of advaita and its more contemporary pop variants in the service of arguments for national unity within the nationalist discourse.
It is no one’s business to question the taboo on the idea of representation in Islam, but Husain’s appropriation and celebration of the freedom to represent within the Hindu traditions, classical and folk, is a way also of intervening and questioning the hijacking of Islam by those who represent the al- Qaeda’s brand of intolerant Islam, which prohibits all forms of creativity, whether it is art, music or cinema. Questioning Husain’s right to interpret and represent Hindu gods and goddesses is symptomatic of the confusion that has existed within Hindu nationalism since the nineteenth century.
The Hindu nationalist attempt to paint the entity called Hinduism in monochromatic colours and to compel compliance on the basis of a distorted version of a unified faith makes its family resemblance to more fanatical versions of Islam more evident than it realises or is ready to admit.
Husain on the other hand has the best of both worlds.
State
He remains a Muslim in the sense that would make every civilised and reasonable Muslim proud, and he has fashioned himself also as an illustrious pauranik in the best sense that can be conveyed by that term.
The sangh parivar, on the other hand, lives in this vast sea of confusion, mouthing platitudes that are foreign, colonial and, worst still, Victorian.
Their vilification of Husain is a symptom of their own confusion and disarray; their only way of finding a solution, given their intellectual and moral bankruptcy, is to bully and intimidate. This is also one reason why the political affiliates of the Sangh are always ready to capture political power, which they see as the only way to impose their agenda.
Characteristically, the Indian state too has failed to protect the rights and freedoms enshrined in the Indian Constitution. In its actual functioning, the Indian state is secular on certain days of the week, indifferent on some other days, and aids and abets mindlessness on other days, and there are days when it actively colludes with the malcontents of society.
Even if the reasons are different, there is no explanation why the same state that can protect Shah Rukh Khan and the screening of his film cannot prevent the vandalism of Husain’s home or his exhibitions.
The Indian state too mirrors in many ways the confusion that has claimed the sangh parivar.
Mediocrity
It tries hard to be democratic, secular and fair on most days, but it lapses into populism, expediency and electoral calculations more often than it is desirable.
It is only a piece of useless legalism to claim that the state is different from the regime, and that the sins of the regime in power ought not to be interpolated on to the formal structures of the state.
This is nothing but pious intent, a dream that may some day fructify. But by the time it happens, the barbarians within would have driven many artists and other creative individuals out into self- imposed exile.
We will be left with our own mediocre crumbs and live in the smug satisfaction of at least having the dregs to contend with.
The writer teaches politics at University of Hyderabad
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