January 2006
C O N T E N T S
1. Edits-Ayodhya ki Awaj, Ramdeo,
2. Forum News
3. Report – a. Shabri Kumbh- Ram Puniyani
b. Rang de Basanti -Digant Oza
4. Events
5. Articles
Communal Violence Bill
- Irfan Engineer
Indo-US Nuclear Deal
- Sukla Sen
6. Resources
Edits
1.
The 'Ayodhya Ki Awaz', a communal harmony group based
in Ayodhya was organizing a Communal Harmony program
in Kabir Math on 6th December, 2005 and 31 of its
activists were arrested. On 14th January, 2006 , in
the Shudra Mahasangh meeting many activists were
arrested amongst these was Mr. Jugal Kishore Shastri
who has played an important role in the Peace
activities in Ayodhya in last few years. This, seen
along with the role of state administration in Mau
riots indicates as to which direction wind is blowing
in the Mulaymam Singh ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Significantly Uma Bharti entered Ayodhya (Ram Roti
yatra) as a State Guest upon the conclusion of her
padyatra. Same Uma Bharati was hugging Murli Manohar
Joshi with joy when Babri Mosque was demolished. Same
Babri Masjid, for whose protection Mulayam Singh had
to order firing at one point of time! Now the unjust
ways of political calculation is on display with the
people working for communal harmony being put in jail
and the people indulging in communal politics are
being glorified?
2.
The comment by Brinda Karat that the Ayurvedic
medicines produced in Baba Ramdeo's factory in
Haridwar contains animal and human remains led to the
rampage by the followers of Ramdeo. Karat had made the
statement based on the testimony of workers in
Ramdeo's factory. Incidentally Ramdeo had sacked 133
workers, most of them women, who complained against
the violation of labor laws and hard working
conditions. The Sangh combine identified Yoga and
Ayurveda as being the symbol of Indian culture while
most other politicians kept quiet and the debate was
reduced to Ramdeo, Indian tradition versus Brinda
Karat and her opposition to 'Hindu' values. The core
issue of the labor laws and the fact that Indian laws
do not permit the use of Animal Human remains to be
made part of the ingredients was side tracked.
Ayurveda and Yoga came to the fore through this
debate. The correct issue has to be how to put the
Ayurveda and Yoga on the footings of critical
rationality rather than push it forward as a matter of
faith and self-proclaimed successes.
Forum News
On
4th Jan a NSS camp was addressed on the issue of
Communal harmony by Dr. Arif at Phulpur, Gaziabad
On
10 January All India Secular Forum, UP chapter
organized a one day workshop at with 73 participants
was held at Sultanpur. The theme of the meeting was
How to Halt the march of Communalism. The participants
pointed out that the Governments effort to reach
secular education is not very effective. The vested
elements have polluted the system with the result that
the contents have being heavily communalized. The
teachers are not able to stick to the secular content,
whatever little it be, due to the communal atmosphere
around. In the name of picnics the school children are
being taken to the temples of gods and goddesses.
While secular groups wake up after the riots and do
some investigation and relief, the communal forces are
active all the time. In the name of rehabilitation the
affluent and more powerful get some relief while the
poor remain sidelined. This does lead to
ghettoization. Teachers should talk about it in parent
teacher meetings. There is a need to undertake
awareness programs against the communal politics and
communal violence.
After
the all India meeting in Mumbai (2-3rd Dec.) the
minutes have been circulated and also the attempts for
zonal meeting of the forum are taking shape. The first
such meeting was held Ahmadabad on 30th January at
Gandhi Vidyapeeth convened by Digant Oza, Dr. Arif and
Dr. Suresh Khairnar attended as observers. Most of the
secular action groups and parties attended the meeting
(Details below).
• As a vehicle for communication amongst those
contributing for Secular values,
indiaseculardebates@yahoogroups.com has been
initiated.
• AISF Gujarat Chapter meeting on Gandhi Nirvan Din (
30th January, 2006) at Gujarat Vidhyapith. The names
of the organizations and individuals who were the
Signatories of the invitation for the inception of
Gujarat Chapter of All India Secular Forum were as
follows: -
Prof. D.S. Kare (President, Janpath - a networking of
over 200 NGOs active all over the state), Amarsinh Z.
Chaudhary (President, Gujarat Khet Vikas Parishad and
Former Member of Parliament), Sheeba George
(SEHERVARU), Ibrahim Shaikh (Muslim Mushavrat), Dinesh
Parmar (Behaviral Science Centre), Kirit Bhatt (
P.U.C.L. and Movement for Secular Democracy -
Vadodara), Sukhdev Patel (Gijubhai Bal Academy and
Gantar - Pioneer in the field of Childeren of Salt Pan
Worker and other deprived Classes), Jagdish Shah
(Shanti Abhiyaan and Gujarat Sarvodaya Mandal -
Vododara), Indukumar Jani (Editor : Naya Marg), Sophia
Khan (SAFAR), Samson Chritian (All India Chritian
Council ), Vasudev Charuka (Banaskantha Dalit
Sangathan), Vimalabahen Kharadi (EKLAVYA Sangathan of
Adivaasi - Sabarkatha), Chandrasinh Mahida (Saurashtra
Shramik Parishad), Dr. Hanif Lakadawala (SANCHETANA),
Advocate Bhushan Oza (INSAF Trust), Prof. Nisar Ansari
(Jamiat-E-Ulema-E-Hind), Advocate Nalini Jadeja (Akhil
Bhartiya Janvaadi Mahila Sangathan), Harinesh Pandya
(Agaria Hitrakshak Sangh), Suvarnabahen and Dwarika
Nath Rath (Movement for Secular Democracy), Sarup
Dhuva and Hiren Gandhi (DARSHAN), Bharat Pawar (Daangi
Mazdoor Union) and Digant Oza (All India Secular
Forum).
Almost 125 participated during the day long
proceedings which included Dr. Sudarshan Iyengar (
V.C. Gujarat Vidyapeeth), Prof. D.N. Pathak (P.U.C.L.
Chairperson in Gujarat), Gagan Sethi (Janvikas),
Nafisa Barot (Utthan and Pravah), Prof. Ghanshyam
Shah, Dr. Vidyut Joshi (Former V.C. Bhavnagar
Univercity) Prof. Dhaval Mehta, Prof. Rohit Shukla,
Rohit Prajapati and Dr. Shakeel Ahmed (Islamic Relief
Committe) among others.
Dawoodbhai and Pandu Chaudhari (Daang), Vasudev
Charuka (Banaskantha), Sophia Khan and Ibrahim Shaikh,
Ambubhai Patel (Salt Pan Worker from Surendranagar),
Uttam Parmar (Surat) and others made presentations
about the experiences in Gujarat at the begining of
21st Century in Various Social Sectors.
Urmila Patel (Former Union Minister), Prof. Hasmukh
Patel (Former Gujarat Minister), Pravin Rashtrapal
(Former M.P.) (All Congress), Arun Mehta (CPM - State
Sec.), Chintaman Pajenkar ( C.P.I.) and Gangaram Raval
(Socialist) represented the political sector of
Gujarat.
Ram Puniyani, Dr. Suresh Khairnar, Areefbhai and
Shabnam Hashmi were also present.
Seventeen Member Ad-Hoc Co-ordination Committee was
formed to usher in the activities of All India Secular
Forum in Gujarat. The Committee included:
Names of the Ad-Hoc Co-ordination Committee
1. Sophia Khan (Ahmedabad)
2. Vimalabahen Kharadi (Sabarkantha)
3. Nalinibahen Jadeja (Bhavnagar )
4. Kirit Bhatt (Vadodara)
5. Uttam Parmar (Surat-Kim)
6. Pandu Chaudhary (Saputara-Daang)
7. Ibrahim Shaikh (Ahmedabad)
8. Vasudev Charuka (Banaskantha)
9. D.N. Rath (Ahmedabad)
10. Rohit Prajapati (Vadodara)
11. A.O. Mathai (Ahmedabad)
12. Indukumar Jani (Ahmedabad)
13. Digant Oza (Ahmedabad)
14. Samson (Ahmedabad)
15. Harinesh Pandya (Janpath)
16. Utthan Rep. (Panchmahal - Bhavnagar )
17. Gantar Rep. (Surendranagar)
Friends
are requested to send their monetary contributions for
various activities of the forum. Also please send the
news related to secular actions in your area.
(Forum's annual membership fees-Rs.500/-
(organizations), Rs.100/- (individuals) to be sent to
CSSS, 9B Himalaya Apartments, 6 th Road, Santcruz (E)
Mumbai 400055)
-- Report Shabri Kumbh In Dangs A Kumbh for Shabri
Ram Puniyani
In the deep interiors in the district of Dangs preparations are afoot to hold the Shabri Kumbh on Feb 11-3, 2006. In a place called Subir, a small sleepy village 33 Kilometers from Ahva, the headquarters of Dang district, on the hillock, which earlier was called Chamak Dongar, a huge Shabri Temple has come up. Three stones, which were earlier worshipped as Shivar deo (the protector of the crops), have been rechristened as the one's where Lord Ram sat while eating the bers (wild berries) being given to him by Shabri. Nearby, six kilometers from the temple, on the banks of Purna, one small lake/pond has been spotted and has been called as being the place where Shabri's guru Matang rishi (sage) used to take bath and that will be the place where the Kumbh will be held. It is expected that 5 lakh visitors will come and take a dip in this thin stream river with stony bank. In Adivasi tradition Shabri was unheard of till few years ago. Tribal version of Ramayana is very different. In the currently popularized versions Dangs is supposed to be the derivative of Dandkaranya, mentioned in the Ramayana. The rhyming of the words is stretched to use the legends for inventing new tradition. Nearby, Unai, a place of hot springs has been projected as the creation of Lord Ram, who created this for the health benefits for sage Matang, the Guru of Shabri. The tasks of geologists to explain the features of earth, has been made easy. This place is being used for re-conversion of Adivasis into Hinduism. The whole lineage has been exactly located, where was Hanuman taking bath, what was the place of his mother, Anjani Devi etc. To shame the scientific archeology, even the marks of a place where Ram's brother Laxman sharpened his arrow has been identified and has been brought up as one of the holy places. The construction of temple and the place for Kumbh has been done by appropriating the property, land of the Tribal. At places the rich teak wood trees have also been cut for the twin purpose of temple and Kumbh. Reserved and protected forests have been cut mercilessly. Most of the program is being led by non tribal, the sympathizers of Sangh combine. The head office of this project is in Surat. The Chairman of local reception committee is a local contactor. One recalls that Dangs came to the lime light in 1998 for the wrong reasons, attacks on Churches and burning of Bibles. The Christmas day that year was chosen to beat up the Christians. Just two years ago, 1996, BJP had come to power at the center for the first time. Just a year ago (1997) Swami Aseemanand, currently Shraddha Jagran Pramukh (Chief of Faith Awakening) of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, the RSS affiliate working in the tribal areas, set up his camp here and began his activities for 'protection' of Hindu faith. The threat of area becoming Christians has been presented as a serious one. Incidentally at present total population of Christians in Dangs is just eight odd thousands and Christians are less than 0.5% of the total population of Gujarat as a whole. In the built up of the violence to follow in 1998 RSS volunteers spread themselves under different banners. The basic message being that Christian missionaries are converting by force and fraud. Tribal are essentially Hindus, Vanvasis. So the threat to Hindu religion, and what followed is too well known to recount. With BJP Government in the state and at that time even at the center, the necessary umbrella for protection of the acts of hooliganism was easily accessible. The process of Hinduisation of Adivisis has been a conscious ploy. One can see clearly the manipulation of legends and distortion of local beliefs to feed in to the politics of Hindutva in the region. Dangs happens to be amongst the poorest of poor areas requiring urgent steps to ameliorate its poverty and illiteracy. The problems of land rights and traditional forest rights of tribal have created a discomfort in the section of a population. The literacy being spread by Christian missionaries is a big obstacle to the suppression of their rights by the affluent sections who are big supporters of VHP and Hindu Jagran Manch (HJM). The contradiction in the interests of these two groups can not be reconciled easily. As such the basic problem has nothing to do with whether tribal are called Adivisis or Vanvasis, whether they believe in Christianity or Hinduism, the problem comes when they want to stick to their traditional rights, when they get empowered through education, the problem comes when they are organized to get their due. And here the role of Christian missions in empowering tribal cannot be excused by RSS affiliates, and so the Trishul Diksha, and so the spread of hatred against Christians as the foreigners, Hindu Jago Christi Bhago (Awake Hindus, Exit Christians). The RSS affiliates with vast human and monetary resources in their hands have no interest in going beyond cultural indoctrination and cooption of Adivasis, they essentially want to aid in the process of suppression of Adivasi rights by cultural manipulation. The spread of anti Christian sentiments, which form the base of violence now and then, are a cover to keep the Adivisis in a state of illiteracy and destitution. While they need the basic necessities, they are getting a Kumbh. (The Citizens Inquiry committee Report available with Anhad, 4 Windsor Place, Delhi, soft copy available on request
-- Gujarat Today Raang De Basanti
- Digant Oza
Believe it or not it happened in Gujarat, a laboratory of Hindutva where communal divide and polarization is suppose to have been complete. It was an evening show of actor Amir Khan's newest blockbuster "Raang De Basanti", former Gujarat Minister and present office-bearer of Bhartiya Janata Party – Gujarat Branch was watching with his better-half. When on the issue of Mig-disaster the filmi Defence Minister while defending himself and his Government blamed the pilot, there was anger allover both on the screen and also in the theatre. Finally when Amir Khan and his colleagues killed the Minister in La-Bhagat Singh style, there were shouts among the audience "Narendra Modi Ne Batavo (show it to N.M.) Narendra Modi Ne Batavo." Embarrassed very much the BJP leader from Saurashtra walked out of Theatre, in a huff, before the film was completed. Young spectators, both girls and boys, who were laughing in the first half of the film were so involved in the second half that they hooted BJP leader when he was leaving the Multiplex. This also happened in Gujarat . The Dariapur police station perhaps never ever had such a festive look. Girls with hennaed hands put their impressions on its walls as they got ready for "bidaai" and "rukhsat" on Monday. Twenty Hindu and Muslim couples tied the knot at the first-ever such mass marriage, hosted by the police. It was quite a sight as auto rickshaws with the names of brides and grooms left the police station with the newlywed couples in them. The event was a part of the confidence building measures by the police, after its image suffered a lot in the post-Godhra riots, Dariapur is considered to be one of the most communally sensitive areas of the Ahmedabad. Decked in red wedding attires, the young brides were not shy in sharing their feelings or thanking the families who had come to witness the coming together of the two communities in Dariapur, an area in the old city which witnessed large scale communal tension after the Sabarmati train carnage in February 2002. Prior to the wedding, the young girls spent several days together, shopping, sharing meals and even discussing their family lives "We enjoyed teasing each other. The mehendi ceremony brought us close as we danced to celebrate each other's happiness," said Taslim Shiekh who married Altaf Sheikh of Juhapura. The brides said that they were thrilled to be a part of a mass marriage and were confident of bridging the communal divide. Organised by the Dariapur police as an attempt to bridge the divide between the two communities, several senior police officials attended the marriage ceremony and stated that if 'vivaah' and 'nikaah' can be arranged under one roof then Hindus and Muslims can also live together. "I had never imagined that I will sign the nikahnama outside a police station," says 20-year-old Kausarbano Ajmeri who married Imran Ajmeri, a resident of Dariapur. The couple were excited to see Hindu marriage rituals being performed in an adjacent pandal. Kausar, along with nine Muslim brides of underprivileged families, married youths of their own community. Ten Hindu couples also tied the knot at the same venue. They said that they were thrilled to be a part of a mass marriage and were confident of bridging the communal divide. Two separate areas were prepared by the students of C N School of Fine Arts for the occasion. A massive 'shamiana' for 10 Muslim couples, who tied the knot according to Islamic traditions, while 10 sacrificial fire enclosures for Hindu marriage ceremonies were readied. Local residents also attended the mass marriage and assisted the police. Many families from the city offered gifts like clothes, jewellery, utensils and furniture to the couples. The guests worked as hosts and even offered food to families who were getting their children married. Bhavna Parmar, who married Rakesh Parmar of Mehsana said, "The trousseau we have received will remind us that our marriage was a glittering moment as thousands of families from across the state wanted us to tie the knot." "We want to break the myth that Hindus and Muslims live a cat-and-dog life in Gujarat. Marriages and celebrations always bring families and communities together," stated police inspector V D Vanar. The three-hour ceremony was attended by several senior IPS officials, State Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel and BJP MLA from Asarva, Pradeepsinh Jadeja. "Our area is infamous for a history of riots erupting over minor differences. Dariapur is considered synonymous to stone pelting and Hindu-Muslim scuffle. Now we have something positive to speak about," said Tanvir Momin, a 52-year-old Dariapur resident who lost his son during the communal tension. "During the 2002 riots, many houses in my locality were set on fire and hundreds of Muslims were killed. We always felt that police is not doing its duty. But today I might not have been able to get married in such a grand fashion but for the cops," says Omar Syed who married his neighbour. "The generous donations reflects that small initiatives for peace are being encouraged by citizens," added Vanar.
-- Events o Central Home Minister Shivraj Patil was in Mumbai where he called a meeting of state officials of Western states, and the social activists. In the meeting the suggestions coming out from the meeting organized by CSSS in Mumbai and the one organized by Movement for Peace and Justice, Initiative on Communal violence bill were presented. Incidentally the Gujarat Chief Minister did not attend the meeting and the officials deputed by him said the proposed bill is anti Gujarat! o A Day long consultation on Communal Violence bill was organized at YMCA, by CSSS, Mumbai on 14 th Jan o A meeting was organized on 20th Jan to discuss the Communal Violence bill, Convener, anees.mohammed@rediffmail.com o Sameep Pratishan organized a Youth camp at Yusuf Meharali Center, Tara, and Panvel from 23rd Jan to 27th Jan. One of the topics covered extensively was on communal harmony. o Consultation on Democracy-Secularism 26-27 Jan: Anhad, 4 Windsor Place, New Delhi 110001 e-mail: anhad_delhi@yahoo.co.in website: www.anhadindia.org o In Defense of Democracy, a poster exhibition (From Anhad) is now available with Pradeep Deshpande (Mumbai, < proton54@gmail.com> held on 30th Jan, at Salokha. This exhibition will be available for use in different schools and colleges.
-- Forthcoming o Nirman: 2006 a Wardha based organiastion is organizing a meeting of activists and students some of whom have been participating in the communal harmony camps, to chalk out a plan of action for the forthcoming year. The meeting will be held on 5 th Feb. at Yatri Niwas, Oppo-Bapu Kuti Wardha. o International Conference on Peace and Justice in South Asia, Mumbai, India Three- day conference: Goregaon Mumbai, From February 24th to 26, 2006. For details contact, Vikas Adhyan Kendra, D 1 Shivdham Apt, Link Road Malad (W) Mumbai, ph 022 28822850 -- Articles Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005: Old Wine in New Bottle Irfan Engineer After the earlier draft Bill presented by the UPA Government – Communal Violence (Suppression) Bill 2005 was severely criticized and rejected by the activists and organizations working amongst the victims and survivors of the communal violence, the UPA Government has come up with another Bill with cosmetic changes at best. The thrust of the Bill is to prescribe more stringent punishment for the offences related to the communal violence and empower the state with more powers to deal with the situation. The proposed Bill also provides for special courts, witness protection and relief and rehabilitation of the survivors of communal violence. The emphasis of the Bill is more on control of riots after the outbreak of violence – rather than prevention – by providing for more stringent punishment after the riots have occurred. Hitherto, the problem was never of lack of stringent punishment, but lack of prosecution and punishment for perpetrators, conspirators and abettors of offences leading to communal violence. Lack of certainty of punishment rather than quantum of punishment was a malaise that encouraged the communal forces to resort to and benefit from hate crimes. If (and only after), one or more scheduled offences are being committed in any area by a person or a group of persons, on such a scale which involves the use of criminal force or violence against any religious group resulting in death or destruction of property with a view to create disharmony or feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious group and unless immediate steps are taken there will be danger to secular fabric, integrity or unity of India, then by notification, the State Government can declare such area to be a communally disturbed area. On such declaration of area as communally disturbed area, the Act enables the State Government can take all measures which may be necessary to deal with the situation and appoint one or more of its officers as competent authority. It is to be noted here that for an area to declared as a communally disturbed area, there has to be commission of scheduled offences in the first instance and of such a scale that amongst other criteria, it should be such that unless immediate steps are taken, there will be a danger to the secular fabric, integrity or unity of India. Only extreme situations like Gujarat may qualify for declaring an area to be communally disturbed area. Otherwise the Act will not be applicable. In our opinion, the threshold for application of the Act has to be reduced and the Act should be applicable not only after the offences are committed but even if there is an apprehension and likelihood that the offences will be committed. Once the offences are being committed on the scale to qualify for declaration of an area as communally disturbed, there might have been substantial loss of life and property already which could be save by timely intervention. Once the area is declared as communally disturbed area, the State Government may request the Central Government to deploy armed forces of the Union to control the violence. But the State Government could always do so, and the Bill does not invest any new power in the State Government. In fact as per S. 130 of the Cr. P. C., even an Executive Magistrate has the power to requisition the armed forces of the Union for maintenance of law and order. Chapter III of the Bill – Prevention of Acts Leading to Communal Violence – is a complete misnomer. As pointed out above, it comes into effect only in area declared as communally disturbed area. Therefore no preventive actions are contemplated. The provisions of this chapter invests the competent authority with several powers to regulate religious assemblies, use of loudspeakers etc. once the area is declared as communally disturbed area. Most of the powers invested in the competent authority are in any way available to the police and Executive Magistrates in the Cr. P.C., including that of requiring arms to be deposited with the police station, search and seizure of arms, prohibition of carrying of arms, corrosive substance or explosives, stones or other missiles etc. in that sense, the Bill creates an additional authority to exercise the powers available in the Cr.P.C. to the police or Executive Magistrate and or District Magistrates. The Bill invests lot of discretionary powers to the competent authority, which is likely to be misused against the minorities, like exempting an individual or a class of individuals from the operations of prohibitory orders. The Competent Authority also has discretionary powers to permit public worships and prayers in a public place, use of loud speakers etc. violations of orders of the Competent Authority has penal consequences. Sections 21 of the Bill fill the much needed vacuum in making public servants or any other person accountable if they were authorized by a competent authority to act if the authority vested in them is exercised in a mala fide manner and which is likely to cause harm and injury to any person or property; or willfully omits to exercise authority vested in him and fails to prevent communal violence or breach of public order can be punished with imprisonment up to three years. However, there is a catch. Firstly sanction of the State Government will be necessary before any court can take cognizance of any offence under this section. The State Government has to dispose off any request for the sanction within thirty days. However, what happens after the passage of thirty days is not clear. Secondly, only public servants acting under the authority of competent authority can be prosecuted under this section. Therefore menial and lower rank officials may be prosecuted under the provision of this section. However, others who were not acting under the authority of the competent authority cannot be prosecuted at all, particularly, the higher ranks of the bureaucrats and the politicians who are more often than not, responsible for the outbreak of communal violence in the first place are not within the teeth of the Bill, even theoretically. Provisions pertaining to relief and rehabilitation set some standards for rehabilitation, though inadequate. However, the communal Disturbance Relief and Rehabilitation council to be set up by the State Government will be dominated by the bureaucrats rather than experts and concerned activists from the civil society who have knowledge, concern for the victims and expertise in the work of relief and rehabilitation. To sum up, the Bill empowers the state with more stringent powers. The state has failed in controlling occurrence of Gujarat in 2002 and anti-Sikh genocide in 1984 not because of lack of powers, but on account of lack of will in order to reap political benefits of the violence in both the cases. What is necessary is not more powers to state but vesting of powers in the hands of an independent authority which may include National and State Human Rights Commissions and other independent institutions / individuals with a proven commitment to Human Rights and peace. -- Indo-US Nuke Deal: Its Impact and Implications Sukla Sen The much talked of July 18 joint statement issued by Manmohan Singh and George Bush, as the culmination of the Indian PM's visit to the US last year, is, in fact, a wide-ranging one. Nevertheless only a specific portion of this document, etching out the contours of a (possible and promised) nuclear deal between the two countries has attracted widespread and disproportionate attention. The reasons are not too far to seek. The promised deal just not only runs counter to the current global non-proliferation order, it will also call for a radical revision of the domestic laws of the US itself and its policies in this regard hitherto. While the deal has met with very considerable ebullience, mainly from India's ruling circles, it also continues to face stiff opposition, on very divergent grounds, from all the three major quarters: India, US and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Apart from these, the global anti-nuke peace movement is also highly apprehensive of the deal. Within India, while the government and much of the nuclear establishment and its apologists have welcomed the deal with great gusto, the opposition came mainly from the rightwing "nationalists", the extreme nuclear hawks - and also major sections of the Left, albeit in a fairly muted tone. The support has been justified on mainly two grounds. The deal, if comes into force, will confer a sort of quasi-recognition as a nuclear weapon power on India by the international community, which it has been denied all along. This will also de-hyphenate India from Pakistan. A dream for the Indian elite. At a more mundane level, this would be a lifeline for India's nuclear power plants, given the paucity of fuel - naturally occurring uranium, available indigenously. The opposition claims that it will restrict India's 'sovereign option' to keep on endlessly piling up the weapon of deliberate mass murder and also hinder the prospect of further upgradation from the present level of fissile weapon to fusion weapon, or Hydrogen Bomb. >From the Indian side, the main driver is its elite's mindless obsession with attaining a full-scale nuclear status - global recognition of its nuclear weapon capability and continuing programme, and also safeguarding and promoting its nuclear energy industry. From its point of view, a closer relation with the US, even as a sub-junior partner, will serve also the other major 'strategic goals' viz. emerging as a mini-hegemon in Asia / South Asia, firmly establish its clear superiority over Pakistan, the traditional rival and neighbour - one-sixth of its size in terms of population, and neutralise (much stronger) China - to whatever extent possible. India will, however, not like to completely surrender its autonomy of options within this broader framework, in so far as these are perceived to be in alignment with these 'strategic goals', and engage with other regional/global powers - including Russia, France and even China, who pose varying degrees of challenge to the global hegemon. Indian Prime Minister's recent sojourn to Russia goes to further underscore this aspect and the complex nature of the game it is out to play in the global arena. It goes without saying that from the perspective of the peace movement, this is a very worrying development. On the one hand, it aids, abets and further encourages the neocon coterie-led US drive for an unfettered global Empire and, on the other, signifies India's transmutation from a champion of the global underdogs and consequent emergence as a continually growing threat, as exemplified through its earlier rejection of the CTBT in 96 culminating in the May 98 nuclear explosions, to the prospects of regional and global peace and nuclear disarmament in its own right - US, or no US. Note: For a fuller and comprehensive treatment of the issue, refer to 'A Deplorable Nuclear Bargain' by Praful Bidwai at < www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php%3Froot%3D2005%26leaf%3D07%26filename%3D8920%26filetype %3Dhtml> and also Wrong Ends, Means, and Needs: Behind the U.S. Nuclear Deal With India by Zia Mian and M. V. Ramana at
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(Editor-Ram Puniyani. Advisory Team-L.S.Hardenia, Digant Oza, Irfan Engineer) -------------------------------------------------------
C/o Centre for Study of Society and Secularism 9B, Himalaya Apts., 1st Floor, 6th Road , Santacruz (E), Mumbai:- 400 055. E-mail: csss@mtnl.net.in Website: www.csss-isla.com
