India: Congress Manifesto and Banning Hate Speech - Case of Karnataka | Ram Puniyani

 https://www.newsclick.in/politics-over-hate-speech-ban-karnataka

by Ram Puniyani

As the Karnataka election campaign is underway (May 2023), Congress released its manifesto in which it committed that the organizations spreading Hate will be banned. Already PFI has been banned, on those lines it equated Bajrang Dal, a part of RSS combine, with PFI.

In response there was a mini storm cup and BJP, right from top Narendra Modi downwards made it a major election campaign. In a way they got their favorite election plank. They equated Lord Hanuman with Bajrang Dal, and Mr. Modi accused Congress of trying to lock up Lord Hanuman as they earlier locked up Lord Ram. Incidentally BJP has been using Lord Ram in most of the elections so far. In contrast Congress retaliated by stating that equating Lord Hanuman with Bajrang Dal is an insult to Lord Hanuman, that BJP is hurting the sentiments of Hindus by making such an comparison. Some reminded that Sri Ram Sene of Pramod Mutalik was banned in Goa by the BJP itself! So BJP itself did ban an organization named after Lord Ram, so crying hoarse if one talks of Bajrang Dal, is a sheer political opportunism on the part of BJP.

Lord Hanuman is greatly revered in most of the places and Tulsidas’s Hanuman Chalisa may probably be the most often recited one at popular level. Lord Hanuman is also a symbol of devotion, can Bajrang dal in any way be synonymous with Bajrangbali.

To polarize the community, slogans of Bajrangbali are being given in the public meetings of BJP. Someone did point out that those who have sworn by the Indian Constitution, can they invoke Gods and Goddesses in political public meetings? Can the politicians from other faiths give the slogans of ‘Nara-E Tadbeer’ or ‘Allho Akbar’?

What is Bajrang Dal(BD)? It is a wing of VHP, which in turn is an affiliate of RSS. VHP came into prominence from the 1980s when it raised the issue of Ram Temple. BD was formed as its youth wing, to involve youth in Ram Temple campaign, initially in UP and later in other states also. BD was largely instrumental in recruiting youth for Kar Seva, demolition of the mosque. They played a major role in mobilization for Babri demolition. The creed of violence was visible with their offering a cup of blood and also putting a tilak of blood on the forehead of Mr. Advani during his Rath Yatra. The cult of violence was an inherent part of their programs.

Vinay Katiyar, the Chief of Bajrang Dal, who later became BJP MP, stated on the eve of Babri demolition that the mosque will be demolished and its debris will be thrown in river Sarayu. One recalls the breaking out of massive violence in the aftermath of Babri demolition.

BD also took up the issue of Valentine day celebrations by young couples. Couples exchanging Valentine Day greetings and spending time together were beaten up in different places. In due course it started opposing the wearing of jeans by girls and also came up with a dress code for girls.  

The burning of Pastor Graham Steward Stains came as an “a monumental aberration of time-tested tolerance and harmony. The killings belong to the world's inventory of black deeds". (Ex-President K.R. Narayanan). Initially the then Home Minster L.K.Advani denied Bajrang being involved in this gruesome act. The investigations pointed the finger to Rajendra Pal aka Darasing who was a member of BD. He is currently serving life imprisonment.

The period of 2006 to 2008 witnessed many acts of terror. One of the initial acts was that of two Bajrang Dal activists Naresh and Hinmashu Panse were killed while they were making bomb and some mishap happened. There was kutra-pajama and fake beard near the site. Many such cases were also reported from different parts of the country. In January 2019, a BD worker, Yogesh Raj was arrested for the murder of Inspector Subodh Kumar in Bulandshahar in an issue related to dead cow.

There are a dozen such incidents. In the recent violence related to Ram navami violence. In Biharshrif violence, Kundan Kumar of BD has been arrested in connection with the violence.

What about PFI? The spread of hate and consequent violence has been the hallmark of their activities. One recalls the horrific cutting of hands of Kerala Professor, Joseph, for blasphemy in 2010. The commonality between such organizations operating in the name of religion is that they are intolerant, spread hate and resort to violence. As such there are similarities and differences both. At an earlier occasion Rahul Gandhi had compared RSS with Muslim brotherhood. Rahul Gandhi said, "The RSS is trying to change the nature of India. There is no other organization in India that wants to capture India's institutions... It is similar to the idea that exists in the Arab world of the Muslim Brotherhood. The idea is that one ideology should run through every institution and one idea should crush all other ideas,” and that "Muslim Brotherhood was banned after Anwar Sadat's assassination; RSS was banned after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination… And the most interesting one -- women are not allowed in either of these organizations," 

Surely their modus oprandi is different but what puts them in the same league is their foundation on the particular understanding of their religion, imposing that version on the society and making it the base of their politics. They also oppose the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. They also share the promotion of charity work in the society.

During the course of the last few decades the religiosity has been intensified and politics in the name of religion is becoming powerful by the day. The fulcrum of the society has shifted towards orthodoxy and faith based attitudes in most aspects of society. The result is that even secular parties do not dare to ignore the intense use of religion in politics by communal forces. Today Taliban’s dictates for women may be the worst but that is a matter of degree, opposing girls wearing jeans and imposing the burqa are two spectrums of the same phenomenon!

India: Congress has shown rare electoral courage by naming the Bajrang Dal and listing the organisation among those that can potentially spread discord in the name of a religion

The call for banning the Bajrang Dal shows rare electoral courage

Hartosh Singh Bal

08 May 2023

https://t.co/jW0QCm3r6n

India: The BJP led govt's in Karnataka ordered to drop prosecution in over 380 criminal cases on offences of hate speech, mob lynchings and communal violence

in its four-year tenure from July 2019 to April 2023, the BJP govt in Karnataka issued 7 separate orders to drop prosecution in 385 criminal cases, including 182 cases of hate speech, cow vigilantism and communal violence 

https://t.co/HaRNISjWGG

India: The murder of a cattle transporter by Hindutva extremists in Karnataka| Puneeth Kerehalli

 

India: Editorial in The Hindu on Karnataka govt Karnataka govt’s decision to scrap 4% quota for Muslims

 The Hindu

Editorial | Karnataka govt’s decision to scrap 4% quota for #Muslims within the #OBC category and earmark an additional 2% each to the dominant Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities is a divisive gamble in the expectation of electoral dividends. https://trib.al/x7IHT2y

India: Rise in Communalism in Karnataka - Video recording of a discussion at Bangalore International Centre

 

India: Sustainable Communalism and a relentless and powerful anti-Muslim politics in Karnataka | Janaki Nair (The Indian Express)

Karnataka: A state of exclusion

Janaki Nair writes: Divisive politics drowns out clamour against corruption, criminality in Karnataka

Written by Janaki Nair |
Updated: July 27, 2022

The BJP in Karnataka is leaving no stone unturned in achieving the permanent abjection of Muslims in this once composite state. A determined march towards realising Hindu Rashtra in the shortest possible time, and delivering the South (more “legitimately” and respectably than in 2018) to the BJP in 2023 has begun. The Bajrang Dal, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, and Sri Rama Sene, despite minor quibbles with the ruling party, are joined by ordinary Kannadigas to enable this rapid political, social and economic disenfranchisement. An ever-lengthening list of accusations against Muslims finds a credulous and receptive audience – for alleged depredations in the past (building mosques on the site of temples), for plans for the future (the community’s devious demographic design) or for merely existing.

After months of attacks – via the threat of violence, actual violence, or through multiple court cases and government orders on hijab, halal, azaan, and Muslim commerce at Hindu jatras – comes the latest mode by which Muslim abjection is ensured. In February, Harsha Hindu, a member of the Bajrang Dal was murdered in Shivamogga. Initially, the police stated that the murder was a “localised crime stemming from long-standing communal rivalry” and cited his criminal record — five cases of assault and attempt to murder with communal overtones, including participation in a mob attack on Shivamogga’s Muslim traders in December 2020. But soon, the police — instead of investigating the murder — managed to find a larger Islamic conspiracy. Chief Minister B Bommai presented the family with a cheque of Rs 25 lakh from state funds. Similarly, in April, the death of a young man, Chandru, in a road rage case was given communal overtones by the political leadership, despite police assertions to the contrary.

Also Read |Bajrang Dal members stop party at Mangaluru pub: A string of moral policing instances in Karnataka

Karnataka, it seems, has now gone beyond the assertion that a Hindu can do no wrong to the conviction that a Muslim can do no right — even in representations. The play — Jotegiruvana Chandira, or The Moon Will be With Us — loosely derived by Jayanth Kaikini from the Fiddler on the Roof, had been performed for the past one-and-a-half decades without incident. It became “unbearable” to a small group of Bajrang Dal activists of Sorab taluk, Shivamogga District on July 3. They terminated the performance because it portrayed Muslims in a good light. The police, who were at first unaware of the reasons for the disruption, nevertheless upheld it, even giving the Dal time to think up other equally illegal “reasons” for stopping the performance. That it portrayed an inter-faith alliance? Or that no play foregrounding Muslims can be performed in a Lingayat-owned hall? How does it matter since we have heard nothing since?

Even more surprising was the uncomplaining acquiescence of the audience to this abrupt end to their entertainment. For some time now, despite a small, spirited and vociferous push back by some Kannadigas, there has been widespread acceptance of, and even active agreement with, the stand of the Hindu Right. The “nuisance” posed by azaan, the unacceptability of the “cruelty” of halal, the unfairness of Muslim stalls at Hindu festivals, (or indeed of any kind of successful Muslim business, WIPRO exempted), and the necessary redressal of unfair “weightage” given to Jainism, Buddhism and Muslim rule in Karnataka textbooks appear now to be a vocalised common sense of large section of Hindus.

Scrubbing public memory clean of Karnataka’s syncretic traditions, whether in practice (as is being attempted through claims to the paduka puja at Bababudangiri, or in ending “salam mangalarathi” in the name of Tipu at Kollur Mookambika) or in textbook representations, has been made easy.

Also Read |BJP govt in Karnataka trying to communalise school curriculum: Yashwant Sinha

Hindu claims to tolerance, a commitment to gender equality, and other noble virtues are also gathering force. In March, to buttress the righteousness of its decision on the hijab ban, the Karnataka High Court quoted at length B R Ambedkar’s lament about the deplorable fate of the veiled Muslim. Thus, patriarchy is made coterminous with one religion, while the majority shoves its own foundational inequalities behind Ambedkar’s shoulders.

The sustainable communalism of the Hindu Right drowns out the allegations of corruption and depredation involving leading political lights. We hear no more, for instance of “Sriki” or Srikrishna, the young mastermind behind the massive crypto-currency scam, after he was arrested and released on bail within days. Minister K S Eshwarappa has now been cleared of culpability for the suicide of one unpaid PWD contractor, despite his suicide note and contractors’ anger about the unbearable burden of the 40 per cent bribe allegedly demanded by the state’s ruling party. Daily denials are issued about the industrial-scale rigging of the examination to recruit 545 police sub-inspectors.

Don't Miss in Political Pulse |Infrastructure plus Hindutva push: Karnataka BJP follows the UP way

Far better and more rewarding to keep the anti-Muslim pot boiling. Easier, too, to announce Karnataka’s triumphant entry into the Brave New Hindu Rashtra with government support (Rs 5,000) for pilgrimage to Kasi. The “secularism” that the government is quick to invoke in withdrawing Muslim privileges (hijab in classrooms, or haj subsidies) is a customised weapon to ensure the permanent abjection of Karnataka’s Muslims.

The writer taught history at JNU

 Source URL: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/the-sustainable-communalism-karnataka-bjp-permanent-abjection-of-muslims-8053452/

India: Kannada author Devanoora Mahadeva takes RSS head on in his 68-page book | Yogendra Yadav (The Print, July 21, 2022)

Kannada author Devanoora Mahadeva fills the silence, takes RSS head on in his 68-page book

Even as his book exposes the truth of the politics of hatred, Devanoora Mahadeva's critique of the RSS is not a replay of the secular ideological polemics.

Yogendra Yadav

21 July, 2022

https://theprint.in/opinion/kannada-author-devanoora-mahadeva-fills-the-silence-takes-rss-head-on-in-his-68-page-book/1048805/

India: Culture Police, Bajrang Dal in Shivamogga says No play | GN Devy

 The Indian Express

 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/no-play-says-bajrang-dal-in-shivamogga-8015473/

 

No play, says Bajrang Dal in Shivamogga

G N Devy writes: Bajrang Dal's disruption of the performance of a play in Shivamogga cuts short the journey of a story — transcending a span of a millennium, a distance of several continents

Written by G. N. Devy | New Delhi |
Updated: July 8, 2022 2:48:56 pm

GN Devy writes: The drama unfolding before the people of India has an indulgent state and the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal as its eager actors. (Express Photo)

The world is, indeed, a small place. Otherwise why would the recently devastated Ukrainian Poltava create a familiar echo in Karnataka’s Shivamogga? There is apparently no connection between Poltava city along the Vorskla river and Shivamogga along the Tunga and Bhadra. Why would a 12th century story of insanity and love from a distant island come to visit Karnataka of the 21st century, transcending a span of a millennium and a distance of several continents?

The story involves three daughters and their doting, old father. It was reported first by the 12th century historian Geoffrey of Monmouth. It was then reproduced by Raphael Holinshed during the 16th century. A century later, William Shakespeare employed it as the plot for his tragedy, King Lear. Shakespeare’s Lear has never ceased to inspire many writers in all continents since then.

Express Column |Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Maulana Azad show how to deal with hurt religious sentiments

One of them was a 19th century genius from Poltava in central Ukraine. Born in 1859, Solomon Naumovich belonged to the minority of the Ashkenazim. When he started writing during his teens, he took the pen-name Sholem Aleichem. The Shakespeare story of Lear and his three daughters appealed to him as he himself had an engagement with three languages — Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish. Of these three, he gave up on the first two and passionately kept up with Yiddish. Though, deeply influenced by Germanic languages, Yiddish had kept alive its links with Hebrew and Arabic.

Solomon’s pen-name, Sholem Aleichem, reminiscent of the Arabic “salaam alequm”, takes one more easily back to the ancient Hebrew “sholem”, closely linked in its linguistic genesis with what Sanskrit inherited as “shanti”, both having roots in the ancient Indo-Iranian. Sholem Aleichem’s rendering of the story had the king turned into an amusing milk-man called Tevey. Given that he was witnessing the rise of a bitter anti-Semitic social ethos in Eastern Europe, his fiction got suffused with the pain and anxiety predicting the coming Holocaust. Like many other Jews of his days, he chose to migrate to the US when the First World War began. It was his fiction that inspired Joseph Stein for producing his musical Fiddler on the Roof, also made into a film by the same title.

The songs of Stein’s superlative musical thrilled the rest of the world and the depiction of religious discrimination made him a hero in the fight against anti-Semitism. It would have been a surprise had not Stein’s movie attracted Jayantha Kaikini, one of the finest lyricists of India in our time. Kaikini, son of a major Kannada fiction writer Gourish Kaikini, grew up in a progressive atmosphere and after a spell in Bombay’s industrial ethos, took to writing. He has produced outstanding fiction, poetry and plays, has won many literary awards and is held today as a leading Indian writer and lyricist in Kannada.

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Jayantha Kaikini’s “Jathegiruvanu Chandira (The Moon Will Be With Us)” is not a recent play. It was published as part of a collection of his plays a decade and a half ago. It has been performed in Bangalore and elsewhere and has received laurels for its control of language and dramatic intensity. It was performed in Shivamogga earlier this year by theatre group Rangabelaku led by Kotrappa S Hiremagadi. When a performance was staged on Sunday, July 3, it was disrupted by Bajrang Dal members. Their argument was that the place where it was being performed was a Veershaiva Hall and to perform a play with a Muslim character in it would be sacrilege. Little do they know that the Ukrainian author who created the modern story of the kind milkman and his three daughters, Sholem Aleichem, had a name which literally means “Peace be on you’, which in its Sanskrit form is “shanti, shanti, shanti”, the ultimate benediction for every Upanishad.

One wonders if the Bajrang Dal members know that the founding text of the Veershaiva sect, the Shri Siddhanta Shikhamani, states, “Bhaavo Yasy sthiro nityam manovaakkyaayakarmabhi… shaanto daantstapashishilah satyavaak samadarshan.” It means, “Do hold the ‘Shiv bhava’ — the mentality inspired by the divine — as the primary duty; do learn the ‘shant’ (peace), generosity, study, truthful speech, for they are manifestation of the divine.” The truth is the vandals who disrupted the performance do not care for the teachings of the Veershaiva path of life, nor do they know the long trajectory of the story that Kaikini’s play brought to the Shivamogga performance. Vandalism and cultural suppression are tragically short of memory. They may act in the name of tradition, but they have barely any knowledge of what it is that they are defending. The finest theatre academy in the country created by Subanna is located at Heggodu in Shimoga district. Another first-rate playwright and director, Prasanna, is a resident in the same district. The people in the district have seen some of the greatest theatre productions over the last half century. It is difficult to imagine that theatre would be brought under attack there.

In today’s India, the Hindutva forces have little time to understand what Hindu philosophies and metaphysics have advocated. Sholem, being an Ashkenazim, understood how the hatred for Jews in Europe during the late 19th century was affecting the creative sources of Russia, Germany and France. The Dreyfus imprisonment and trial is still not forgotten. Defenders of human dignity such as Sarah Bernhardt, Anatole France, Georges Clemenceau and Emile Zola, are still not pushed into amnesia. The hatred for Jews in Russia, France and in Hitler’s Germany is remembered as a shameful episode in history.

In recent years, several important writers in Karnataka such as UR Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Devanoor Mahadeva and Rahmat Tarikere have spoken against the rising atmosphere of hatred. Some like MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh had to face bullets. Initially it was an apprehension, a view of a horizon turning dark with clouds. Then followed physical assaults from close quarters. During the last few months, the state has actively ignited and encouraged an anti-minorities sentiment.

Now, the hatred project is on auto-pilot. It no longer requires state patronage or concealment of its intentions through subterfuge. The drama unfolding before the people of India has an indulgent state and the RSS, VHP and BD as its eager actors. The theatre of hatred has made spectacular progress. It has declared that even an imaginary character in a play can pollute the purity of a religious place. The world has always been a small place; in India, it is becoming much smaller than the space that our rapidly disappearing Constitution had imagined for it.

The writer is a cultural activist.

India: Karnataka road named after Gandhi assassin Godse, removed after criticism

 

Karnataka road named after Gandhi assassin Godse, removed after criticism

The signboard, put up in Bola grama panchayat of Karkala taluk, had the same colours and fonts as generally used by zilla panchayats across the state.

By: Express News Service | Bengaluru |
Updated: June 7, 2022 8:03:16 am

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/karnataka-road-named-after-gandhi-assassin-godse-removed-criticism-7955918/

India: The Long March Of Hindutva In Karnataka | Shivasundar, (India Forum, June 2, 2022)

The Long March Of Hindutva In Karnataka

Karnataka's recent spate of anti-minority policies must be seen as the logical development of social, cultural and political processes over several decades, which have created a Hindu samaj in the state.

 by Shivasundar, June 2, 2022

https://www.theindiaforum.in/article/long-march-hindutva-karnataka

India - Karnataka: Copy cat right-wing activists mimic muslim call for player & play Hanuman Chalisa at 5 am (May 9, 2022)

Karnataka: Right-wing activists play Hanuman Chalisa at 5 am to ‘counter’ azaan, detained

According to the police, the incidents were reported in places including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mandya, Belgaum, Dharwad and Kalaburagi.

By: Express News Service | Bengaluru |
Updated: May 9, 2022 11:33:10 am

 https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/bangalore/karnataka-right-wing-activists-hanuman-chalisa-azaan-7907498/

India: Meat less - Editorial on systematic targeting of a community | The Telegraph, April 12, 20

 

Meat less: Editorial on systematic targeting of a community

That Karnataka and Delhi should be linked through similar divisive campaigns does not augur well

Workers sit outside closed meat shops at the INA Market in New Delhi.

File picture

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The Editorial Board   |   Published 12.04.22, 12:23 AM

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Hatred is not noble; it is riddled with spite. Going door to door asking people not to buy halal meat is spiteful, as is distributing pamphlets at the marketplace on the same theme. But that does not deter members of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti and other right-wing groups from thus urging the majority community in Karnataka to boycott halal meat. They tried to ban its sale on Varshadodaku, when meat-eating is common in all communities. The Karnataka chief minister took some time to decide that his government will look into the demand to boycott halal meat; this does not entirely paper over the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party is not inimical to the campaign. The hijab controversy had culminated in the Karnataka High Court’s ruling disallowing hijabs in educational institutions. This was followed by the campaign banning non-Hindu traders from opening stalls on or near temple premises and that against halal meat. Both target the economy of the minority community. If these moves prosper, the worst sufferers would be farmers who raise livestock; they have already been hit with a beef ban. But the BJP national general secretary steadily pointed his finger: allegedly, the minority community is waging economic jihad through the sale of halal meat. Is all this a build-up to the state elections next year?      

The BJP’s role in the unconstitutional efforts to change people’s diet and to intervene in a community’s right to conduct trade freely is also obvious in Delhi. The BJP mayors of south and east Delhi ordered all meat shops to be closed for the period of Navratri because, according to them, people do not eat even garlic or onions then. The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has — unsurprisingly — been accused of thuggery in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus after a clash over the consumption of non-vegetarian food. Not only do these transgressions ignore the non-Hindu population, but they also imply conformity with their ideas of Hindutva among the majority community, which is far from homogenous in diet or belief. Since no one but the municipal commissioner can decide to close down shops, no formal order was issued. Whether or not the mayors succeeded in this instance is irrelevant. What stands out is the systematic targeting of a community, together with the indifference to rules, laws and the Constitution. That Karnataka and Delhi should be linked through similar divisive campaigns does not augur well. Only the refusal of people across communities to accept such bullying will turn these efforts to naught.

India: Why is the BJP Stirring the communal pot in Karnataka - TOI podcast

Stirring the pot in Karnataka

Political analysts and TOI Plus columnists Sugata Srinivasaraju and Radhika Ramaseshan explain why communalism is being stoked in Karnataka

India: Does a trader’s religion matter? Yes, says Karnataka - Editorial, The Times of India, March 24, 2022

 Editorial, The Times of Indi, March 24, 2022

Sanity goes south: Does a trader’s religion matter? Yes, says Karnataka, and sets itself and others up for a great fall

Karnataka government’s inaction over some temple authorities denying permission to Muslim traders to conduct business during Hindu festivals and annual temple fairs is unconscionable. The government cited a rule under the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 2002 barring leasing of land/building/sites near temples to non-Hindus. Rules drafted by bureaucrats straying beyond the intent of Acts passed by legislatures aren’t surprising: These rules aren’t subjected to scrutiny Bills receive.

Now imagine other communities like Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, applying this dangerous principle to exclude traders of other faiths from the vicinity of their religious places, festivals and fairs. What will self-styled champions of Hindus say then? What’s happening in Karnataka is not just violative of all democratic secular tenets, it is an invitation for future conflagrations. Let’s remember that among the Constitution’s fundamental guarantees is equitable access to public spaces for all citizens irrespective of religion, caste and gender and the freedom to work or trade subject to reasonable restrictions like public order. Plus, clearly there’s no ‘religious tradition’ for such a bar on Muslim traders, as that would have been in place long before 2002.

Karnataka is hosting too many of these combustible moments. The high court’s hijab judgment may have got the broad points right, but it is also true that only recently did hijab become an issue in Karnataka. Whatever may be the political calculation of those who wink at such aggressive attitudes, the social cost can be tragically big. Appeasing this new mood of zealotry at the cost of constitutional values brings India closer to neighbours like Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have patronised religious orthodoxy and partly as a result have killed their economic vibrancy. Also worth noting in this context is RSS’s worry about “elaborate plans by a particular community to enter the government machinery”. Everyone has equal rights to enter government, and if more minorities are joining the civil service it’s nothing but good news in a diverse country.

Karnataka’s law minister claimed Congress’s SM Krishna government framed the temple rules. Instead of a pointless blame game, the Basavaraj Bommai government should simply scrap the rule. Since when is BJP justifying a wrong by citing Congress?

India: The Hijab row in Karnataka Colleges will polarise and the BJP will make gains probably during the 2022 assembly elections in UP ?

Hijab controversy: More to do with UP than Karnataka? Is it entirely a coincidence that Owaisi has brought the hijab issue to the UP elections? by Bharat Bhushan (Deccan Herald, Feb 10, 2022) Udupi is a long way from Lucknow, but the hijab controversy is just the kind of emotive issue that could help the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) polarise voters in the UP election. https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/hijab-controversy-more-to-do-with-up-than-karnataka-1079976.html o o How Hindutva Group Mobilised the Saffron-Clad Students at Udupi College (The Quint) [Two days before students protested against their hijab-wearing classmates at MGM college, a message was circulated] https://www.thequint.com/news/india/how-the-hindutva-group-mobilised-the-saffron-clad-students-at-udupi-college

India: Congress Party Leader Margaret Alva's Letter to Narendra Modi in January 2022

 https://countercurrents.org/2022/01/margaret-alva-questions-pm-modis-silence-on-attack-against-minorities/

Margaret Alva questions PM Modi’s silence on attack against minorities

To
Shri Narendra Modi
Prime Minister
Government of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi-110 011.

Dear Prime Minister,

I write to you, the Leader of our great Democratic,Secular, Socialist Republic of India, governed by a Constitution which enshrines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Indian citizens, irrespective of caste, colour, race or creed, as a senior concerned citizen who has served my country for 50 years in various capacities.

You are a leader respected nationally and internationally. You travel around the world, calling on world leaders, including His Holiness the Pope, in Rome, proclaiming that India is a free democratic secular state. Your speeches and statements have been praised and extensively reported on, by the global media. Unfortunately, the reality on the ground here, presents a stark contrast to the image you project of India to the global community, especially in the context of minority rights and secularism.

Mr. Prime Minister, across India, highly organised and militant right wing extremist groups are terrorising, attacking and killing innocent citizens in the name of religion. I am appalled at the recent, widely reported statements, made by some religious leaders calling for genocide of non-Hindus, in order to create a Hindu Rashtra. What is even more shocking, is that there is no response or action either by your Central Government, or the State Government that’s controlled by the BJP, of which you are the undisputed leader, or the local administration, to crack down firmly on this virulent, toxic, hate speech, designed to create insecurity and fear amongst millions of minorities, who live here in the country.

From the early days of our freedom struggle, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians and indeed those from many other religious sects and denominations have fought shoulder to shoulder with our Hindu brothers and sisters, to win our freedom and defend our motherland. My parents-in-law, the late Joachim and Violet Alva, were freedom fighters who went to jail and became the first couple in India’s Parliament, she also becoming Parliament’s first woman Presiding officer. There are today thousands of minorities serving the nation in all walks of life, in all parts of the country. Are we now to be treated as second class citizens?

Mr. Prime Minister, how can you close your eyes and remain silent when atrocities on India’s minorities are mounting? Your silence Mr. The Prime Minister is misread as tacit approval and encouragement to the ever increasing violence and intimidation India’s minorities are being subjected to. When will you speak up and put a stop to this madness and violence?

My home state of Karnataka, where I was born and brought up, has boasted of a peaceful inclusive environment that has drawn people from all over the world. This Christmas, the State BJP government has gifted us the draconian “The Karnataka Protection of Right of Freedom of Religion Bill” in “recognition” of our services, which has provisions that have been previously struck down by courts and are clearly violative of the Indian Constitution. It makes all minorities, our institutions, practices, services and charities suspect. Personal liberties of privacy, of religion, of marriage, and decision making, are taken away, and the state becomes the arbiter of our personal lives, making us subject to probes, charges, and jail by the state and its officials, who will interpret the provisions of the law and imprison us
without trial.

We Christians are a disciplined, non-violent, service oriented community. If we were involved in mass conversions, why is our number under 3%? 200 years of rule by Christian colonial powers and work by so called “missionaries involved in forced conversions” should have shown in our numbers, which have been declining. Why then this false propaganda and violence against us? The work of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, for the poor, the sick and the abandoned,all over the world was hailed by Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji and Advaniji, and has brought honour and glory to India. Even she and her sisters have not been spared, with their funds frozen. Why?

Is this the India our freedom fighters fought for? Our Constitution makers sought to create? And the Father of the nation dreamt of, when he beseeched his countrymen to “wipe every tear from every eye”? Is this the India we have struggled over 70 years to build? Rulers and Regimes down the ages have tried to anes and kill Christianity but it has survived and reached all corners of the earth. It cannot be wiped out in India. We are part of this nation’s fabric. Indian blood flows in our veins and we are patriotic citizens who have, and will continue to serve our people and help build our motherland. History shows that Christianity has thrived and spread on the blood of martyrs. Christ taught us to love our enemies, do good to those who would harm us and forgive those who would kill us. This we will do, as we pray each day “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.

May Jesus Christ bless you my Prime Minister and guide you in your ways. May the love, joy and peace of Christmas remain with us all through the New Year.

Margaret Alva is a leader of the Congress party

India: State of Karnataka promoting sustainable communalism via subcontracting to non-state groups that impose an arbitrary “reign of terror”

 A ‘Nava Karnataka’ is emerging

State BJP is pushing for an ethnicised Hindu nation. Proposed anti-conversion law is the latest example

Written by Janaki Nair 
Updated: December 25, 2021  

 https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/a-nava-karnataka-emerging-anti-conversion-law-7689272/

Have you no sense of decency, sir? Ravi Joshi (Deccan Herald, May 21 2021)

(Deccan Herald, May 21 2021)

Have you no sense of decency, sir?

by Ravi Joshi

This anguished rebuke from Senator Joseph Nye Welch on June 9, 1954 during the Army-McCarthy Hearings in the Senate Sub-Committee on Investigations, watched by over 20 million Americans on live TV, put the lid on the career of that notorious witch-hunter of communists in America, Senator Joseph McCarthy. And with those words, the silent majority suddenly found a voice and an expression to put an end to that unedifying chapter in American history known as McCarthyism. Today, the term is used more broadly to denounce demagoguery, reckless and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the character or patriotism of political opponents or of minority communities. His supporters, however, chanted that “McCarthyism is Americanism with its sleeves rolled”, similar to our own version of “Hindutva is nationalism with its sleeves rolled.”

McCarthy’s career evaporated as the print and TV media came down heavily on him and decided to put an end to the hate campaign unleashed by him. Senator Welch’s question became the rallying cry for a nation that had temporarily lost its moral fibre to stop the cruelties of petty hatemongers. It is necessary to recall that period and that remarkable exchange, because memory is often the strongest power against tyranny.

Fast-forward to May 2021 and Bengaluru. On May 4, one of the young and ambitious MPs of the BJP made a dramatic revelation that a bed-allotment scam had been unearthed in the BBMP control room amidst a raging pandemic in the state. His point was simple. The crisis in Bengaluru over non-availability of beds was an artificial racket created by a bunch of operators who were booking beds in the names of asymptomatic or mildly affected patients and then selling them to critically ill and desperate patients at an exorbitant price. So, there was no shortage of beds, but critically ill patients were not getting it. In one fell swoop, he had put a fumbling government above blame and found the “real Public Enemy Number 1.”

them for hours on end. And then they were let off because there was not a shred of evidence against them in the alleged bed scam that the MP had so dramatically revealed. But the deed had been done. The MP had established his credentials at the highest levels in his party that he had what it takes to be a leader in that party. The hunting spirit.

Hunting down Muslims and depriving them of their lives or livelihoods has been a popular sport in the country since 2014. It started with the ‘Gau Rakshaks’ lynching several Muslims seen with a cow in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, even Karnataka. This appeared so well-orchestrated that there was a pattern and regularity to it that seemed to be either sanctioned or overlooked by the authorities. For none of the lynchers were brought to book for their crimes. When one such gang of lynchers was released on bail, one of the then Union ministers, educated at Harvard, went to receive and garland them outside the court in his home constituency in Jharkhand.

Carrying on with this cruel sport amidst a devastating pandemic started in March 2020, when PM Modi first imposed the world’s harshest lockdown on a nation of 1.3 billion people with a four-hour notice. Some 1,000-odd Tablighi Jamaat were caught in this lightning strike of a national lockdown at Hazrat Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi who could neither go back home nor stay where they were. They became ‘Corona-bombs’ or ‘Corona-Jihadis’ for a partisan and supplicant media. Police ignored the fact that many of them were patients suffering from Covid-19 themselves and put them behind bars.

Now, recalling Joseph Welch’s famous words, “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness...” When McCarthy resumed his attack, Welch interrupted him: “Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last? Have you no sense of decency left?”

“It is, I regret to say, equally true that this young man shall bear the scar for the rest of his life, needlessly inflicted by you”, said Welch about his young lawyer Fred Fisher, who was accused of being a communist sympathiser by McCarthy. Think of those 17 young men, all belonging to one community, who shall bear the scar for the rest of their lives, needlessly inflicted by a young MP. Incredibly, an MLA standing next to the MP even asked, “Were they recruited for a Madrassa?” The question reveals more about the mindset of our legislators than about those young men working at the BBMP’s Covid control room.

It is always easier for a handful of demagogues to create and take over a narrative than for the silent majority to assert its ethical worldview. And the ‘moralist’ demagogue seems to triumph over the ‘ethical’ citizen, even if it’s only in the short run or temporarily. By the time the ethical worldview prevails, i.e., by the time the moralist is told “enough of your shallow morals, let us get back to some basic decency in social life”, he would have damaged the social fabric. There comes a time in the life of every nation when the good men or the silent majority have to stand up and tell the rulers not to cross the line of decency. Let us get back to some simple virtues that have held us together for centuries.

(The writer is a former Cabinet Secretariat official)

India:: How coastal Karnataka was saffronised; part 14: RSS uses religious festivals to embed sense of Hindu identity in locals, widen its base

Firstpost.com

How coastal Karnataka was saffronised; part 14: RSS uses religious festivals to embed sense of Hindu identity in locals, widen its base

India Greeshma Kuthar Apr 19, 2019 20:02:07 IST

• The celebration of Raksha Bandhan is part of the six religious festivals the RSS celebrates every year, which was initiated by the its founder KB Hedgewar

• These festivals are points of interaction between the masses and karyakartas. These festivals are also modes for the RSS to build its membership and propagate religion

• By the mid 70s, the RSS had spread across the region. So even though they were banned during the Emergency in 1975, they had a strong network to facilitate communication

Editor's note: This is the fourteenth reported piece in an 18-part series on the contemporary history of Hindutva in coastal Karnataka. The series features interviews, videos, archival material and oral histories gathered over a period of four months.
 Read other articles of the series here

***

Raghavendra Bhandari is called 'omelette Bhandari' by those familiar with his shop, where he sells omelettes in the evening. As he welcomed me in, I noticed that though his store was small and unkempt, it didn't stop the consistent trickle of customers. Everybody seemed to recognise him. Inside the shop, pamphlets of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) programs are scattered here and there. On one wall is a framed photo of the World Trade Centre with 1973-2001 written on it.
Bhandari tells me how he has seen RSS grow from its initial days as a small shakha in Mannaguda to the towering palace-like structure which stands there now as RSS headquarters. Bhandari was initiated into RSS by his brothers, one of whom is Chandrashekhar Bhandari, a full-time RSS karyakarta and the author of Kadal Theerada Sangavate, an RSS publication which goes into the foundational activities of the RSS in coastal Karnataka.
Bhandari is all smiles when he talks about the founding years of the Sangh, "We did everything, from cremating unclaimed bodies to providing affordable catering services." Bhandari said the RSS enjoyed support of acclaimed businessmen like Panchamahal Vasudev Kamath, one of the earliest RSS supporters.
When asked about how things are now, Bhandari starts softly grumbling about the changed political climate. About how the sincerity he saw during his days as a young RSS karyakarta is no longer found among the youth. "Boys come to my shop, distract me and steal cigarette packets. This is what this generation has become," Bhandari said.

Raghavendra B​handari at his Mangaluru shop.

Till the 1970s, RSS didn't have a strong mass base in urban coastal Karnataka. The organisation remained Brahmin-centric, with most leaders belonging to the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community. But before the years leading to the Emergency, the RSS leadership spread out with more ease in semi-urban and rural spaces. Resistance was absent as the model of tapping into religious and cultural consciousness with nationalistic overtones was new.

Rajesh Poojary's temple in Kumpala. Greeshma Kuthar

Temples in this land spring up with relative ease, as Rajesh Poojary tells us. Poojary, a businessman from Thokottu which is 20 kilometres from Mangaluru, constructed a temple 15 years ago which has become an adda for himself and the youth in Kumpala, the Hindu ghetto adjacent to Ullal. Poojary is the state vice-president of the All India Hindu Mahasabha. His brother is the priest at the temple. As he recollects the early influence the RSS had on him, he said, "There were around 30 of us. Till I started going to the shakha, I had no knowledge about figures like Ram or about the Ramayana and Mahabharata. There was nobody to explain this to us. But the pracharak at my shakha did. My love for my nation started after I joined this shakha". Poojary added that one of the reasons why everyone was excited about attending the shakha was because they got to play sports such as kabbadi and cricket. "The RSS also encouraged us to organise blood donation camps and help the poor."
Poojary recounted a recent case of rescue he was involved in, where a 25-year-old Muslim lover of a 32-year-old Hindu widow was beaten up. Poojary was called by the sister of the woman. Poojary believes this woman was being exploited by her lover. He quickly added that Muslims are not all bad. He brought up the case of another woman in his neighbourhood who alleged that her brother was killed by a miffed Muslim boyfriend. But it later emerged that she killed him in order to be able to elope with her boyfriend. "There are such cases too, not denying it. But some of these Muslims are after our women," he alleged.
Poojary said he believes in love marriages, and that he has helped more than hundred couples get married. When asked if he has been in love, he said he has. "There were no cellphones at that time," Poojary said. "I couldn't keep in touch with her and hence we fell out. I had to prioritise my work over love". Poojary has had more than 30 cases filed against him.
Shyamala Madhav was the minister of information and broadcasting when India went to war against China in 1962. The portfolio wasn't a central government position, but a school-level leadership position which Shyamala still recollects fondly. "I made everybody in school pledge that they'll forego bursting crackers during Diwali and donate the money towards the war expense", said Shyamala.
"I was very politically aware as a child. And when Jawaharlal Nehru came to Mangalore to speak about the war, I listened attentively to everything he had to say," she added. Her first recollection of Jana Sangh is of the rally that was taken out during Sarvajanika Ganesh Utsav, which the Jan Sangh started to popularise in the late 1960s. "There was only one more Ganesh procession in the city and that was from KMC Medical College," she said. Kasturbha Medical College was established by educationalist TMA Pai, whose name is associated with the famous capitation fees legal battle. A banker and a doctor, Pai was the first to start a private medical college in India.

Ganesh Utsav in Bombay in the 1930s. Image courtesy: Homai Vyarawalla

The connection between Ganesh procession from Sanghaniketan (RSS headquarters) and KMC is that both were institutions with Goud Saraswat Brahmins at the helm. My mother recollects visiting Sanghaniketan a few times as a child to take a peek at the 'Ganesh idol'. My mother referred to Ganesh Visarjan as 'their festival' which made me curious. When I ask if she is referring to the RSS, she replied with an answer which was even more amusing. She said people like her didn't know what RSS was in the early 1970s. Sanghaniketan was a small building in an area which was not frequented by anybody other than Goud Saraswat Brahmins. People associated the building with the starting point of the yearly Ganesh visarjans. Her recollection of the festival is standing by the road and watching the procession pass, like another Goud Saraswat Brahmins celebration — the Sharada procession — which starts from Shri Venkatramana Temple in Car street. This temple, till recently, didn't allow non-Brahmins to enter, and still doesn't allow let other castes into its dining hall.
The Ganesh procession became a rallying point for many political activities. After all, it had a similar history associated with it outside Karnataka. Bal Gangadhar Tilak conceptualised Ganesh Utsav celebrations to instil a sense of homogeneous Hindu identity, across castes, in Maharashtra. RSS founder KB Hedgewar followed Tilak's method and decades later, so did MS Golwalkar. Golwalkar understood that such mass cultural celebrations go a long way in creating a support base. He encouraged his karyakartas to initiate such activities in their cities.
The Sarvajanika Ganesh Utsav, modelled after Tilak's Ganesh Utsav was a yearly activity organised at Sanghaniketan. Initiated in 1942 by U Vasudev Shenoy, it was modelled to attract youth to the organisation. An idol would be kept at Sanghaniketan for close to a week at the end of which it would be taken across the city in a procession at the end of which the idol would be immersed in water.
"Initially, only the Goud Saraswat Brahmin community participated in this," said Natesh Ullal, a filmmaker from Mangaluru. "But for their 25th year celebrations, they reached out to all communities in the city. Those interested could create a Ganesh tableau and take part. This time, even shudra communities, who otherwise had no role in such activities took part." What really worked for them is when they started organising festivals new to the region, such as Raksha Bandhan, at their shakhas.
Raksha Bandhan is part of the six religious festivals the RSS celebrates every year, which was initiated by Hedgewar. These festivals are points of interaction between the masses and karyakartas. These festivals are also modes for the RSS to build its membership and propagate religion.

The Brotherhood in Saffron by Walter K Anderson and Shridhar D Damle.

In The Brotherhood in Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism"by Walter K Anderson and Shridhar D Damle, the six festivals and the reasons why they are celebrated is explained:
"Each year the RSS celebrates six festivals (utsav). These festivals not only articulate the experience of those taking part, but like all ritual, they help to shape the spirit of the group. The ritual year begins with the Hindu New Year (Varsh Pratipad). This utsav provides the shakha leadership an opportunity to evaluate the previous year's progress. The date coincides with Hedgewar's birthday and is sometimes celebrated as Founder's Day.
The second utsav is the Coronation Ceremony of Shivaji (Hindu Samrajya Divotsav) which is celebrated to honor the "Hindu victory" over "Muslim Mughal" rule. The baudhiks at this festival frequently emphasize the "virtues" of strength, bravery, and courage.
The third is Raksha Bandhan, a north Indian celebration that Hedgewar introduced into the Sangh. The festival provides an opportunity for a sister to reaffirm her brother's obligation of continuing protection. She does this by tying a silk thread around her brother's wrist. In the RSS adaptation of this festival-, the mukhya sakshak or karyavah gives each swayamsevak a rakhi (a silk thread bracelet) to tie around the wrist of a fellow swayamsevak. The baudhik will emphasize the ties of kinship that bind the swayamsevaks together. Groups of swayamsevaks will also visit those who have either left the RSS or who only irregularly attend shakha and give them rakhis encouraging them to renew their fraternal ties.
The fourth festival is Guru Dakshina. On this occasion, the swayamsevaks offer money to their "guru"-the bhagva dhwaj (the banner). Most of the RSS funds are raised at this utsav. Each swayamsevak goes before the banner, offers pranam, and throws flowers on the base of the banner staff. On each side of the banner are the pictures of "heroes" of the Hindu nation, such as Hedgewar, Golwalkar, Ramdas Swami, and Guru Govind Singh. There are also usually pictures of several well-known Hindu warriors, such as Shivaji and Rana Pratap. Flowers are offered to these pictures as well. The member puts his offering (contained in a sealed, unmarked envelope) along with flowers on a thali (a round metal tray) and presents the offering to the banner. This banner is sometimes the topic of the baudhik. It is the image of the divine which swayamsevaks are encouraged to worship.
Dasara, the festival commemorating the victory of Ram over Ravana, is celebrated with more pomp and on a larger scale than any other festival. All shakhas in a geographic division of the RSS combine to perform the rituals.
Prior to the formal function, the RSS band will march through the city followed by uniformed participants. The public is invited to the ceremony. A well-known person from the area, often with no RSS affiliation, presides over the function.
Concluding the festival year is the celebration of Makar Sankrant (the winter solstice). The major themes of the utsav are personal renunciation and service to the nation. One part of the ceremony is meant to teach a behavioural trait considered "virtuous."
These festivals, as a method for gaining popular support, worked in Mangalore.
"Once, girls went to police stations and tied rakhis to policemen. This became front page news," said Natesh. He believes that the interpersonal relations the RSS built at the grassroots is what worked for them. RSS workers were designated to go door to door to inform the public about the activities of the nearest shakha.
By the mid-70s, the RSS had spread across the region. So even though they were banned during the Emergency in 1975, they had a strong network to facilitate communication. Many Sangh-affiliated leaders such as Ram Bhat and Prabhakar Bhat were arrested during the Emergency. But since the base had been built, RSS karyakartas led activities against the Emergency.

Writer and poet Aerya LN Alva remembers visiting an underground printing press run by Ram Bhat’s brother in Sullia where the newsletter ‘Kahale' was printed. Bottom right: A girl tyiing a rakhi to a policeman at a station. Bottom left: The messenger boys of ‘Kahale’, the RSS newsletter during the Emergency. Illustration by Shrujana Niranjani Shridhar.

Natesh was then in his early teens. Like children his age, he would do anything for a holligae, a local delicacy. "If one was lucky they would get an extra one in weddings, but nobody would indulge you with a holligae regularly because it was expensive," he recalled. When he was offered two a day to circulate a newspaper during the Emergency, he jumped at the offer. Boys like Natesh delivered Kahale (the RSS newsletter) during the Emergency.
Kamath (name changed on request) is a businessman from Mangaluru. He remembered the Ganesh Utsav during the Emergency, in 1976, with distinct clarity. Fearing violence, the district collector denied permission for the visarjan. Sanghaniketan continued the pooja for two weeks more than the designated seven days, refusing to end the festivities till they were allowed to take out a procession.
"We were outraged. The government's attempts hurt religious sentiments," Kamath said. "Sanghaniketan became a rallying point for this struggle. Word spread across the city and support flowed in to keep the utsav going. After more than 30 days, we were allowed to take a silent procession through the city."
When the Emergency was finally lifted, victory marches were organised across Mangalore by the RSS and its allies. Writer and poet Aerya LN Alva was celebrated at these rallies.
Alva remembered visiting an underground printing press run by Ram Bhat's brother in Sullia where the newsletter Kahale was printed. One of Alva's poems katthey setthu hogiday (the donkey has died) based on Indira Gandhi's excesses during the Emergency was republished by the RSS in its newsletter. This poem became popular overnight. "They tried to arrest me but congressmen such as UT Fareed saved me," said Alva. "They saw me as a writer and were accepting of my critique. Thereafter, I received tremendous encouragement from Dharmasthala Veerendra Hegde and Pejavar Vishwa Theertha. They pushed me towards VHP and eventually, I became the president of the district".
It was during his tenure as president that the first Hindu Samaja Utsav was organised in 1981. This model was the vehicle through which leaders such as Praveen Togadia and Sadhvi Rithambara emerged with their inflammatory statements calling Muslims "cow-slaughterers and temple-destroyers", the culmination of which saw riots break out across the region.

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Updated Date: Apr 19, 2019 20:02:07 IST

Tags : "Chowkidar-Bhagidar" Remark, Brahmin, Coastal Karnataka, Emergency, Ganesh Utsav, Goud Saraswat Brahmin, How Coastal Karnataka Was Saffronised, Indira Gandhi, Jan Sangh, Kadal Theerada Sangavate, Karnataka, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, RSS, Saffonisation Drive, Sanghaniketan, Shyamala Madhav Was, VHP