Tuesday, March 9, 2010

rec.arts.movies.local.indian - 16 new messages in 8 topics - digest

rec.arts.movies.local.indian
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian?hl=en

rec.arts.movies.local.indian@googlegroups.com

Today's topics:

* Newly Released Tamil Movies | Newly Released Tamil Movies Chennai |
FindNearYou - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/ab3049c2042521a2?hl=en
* The American cinematography. - 1 messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/98f7cbd1842ad6c9?hl=en
* MUSLIMS CHECK THEIR FECES BY HAND TO SEE IF THEIR NEXT PROPHET IS IT - 1
messages, 1 author
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/467cc474491374ee?hl=en
* GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR - 4 messages, 3 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e19d9793a12a546d?hl=en
* FURORE IN J&K OVER SMS MOCKING AT ABDULLAHS - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/02d417894976499e?hl=en
* WHY THE BIG FUSS OVER ONE MUSLIM LEADER CONDEMNING TERRORISTS? - 2 messages,
2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/54e137b93f3610de?hl=en
* UK RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS FORCED TO PROMOTE ABORTION, HOMOSEXUALITY UNDER SEX-ED
BILL - 3 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/dcfc2e198d269895?hl=en
* BOMB BLASTS IN PUNE [MUSLIM TERRORISM] - 2 messages, 2 authors
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/810eae7dd0a55571?hl=en

==============================================================================
TOPIC: Newly Released Tamil Movies | Newly Released Tamil Movies Chennai |
FindNearYou
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/ab3049c2042521a2?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sun, Mar 7 2010 10:26 pm
From: mamta


Find chennai Local now running movies, movies running in theatres,
newly released tamil movies and now running hindi, english, telugu,
malayalam movies details at Findnearyou.com

Click a below link to Know More Details about movies Running in
Chennai:

http://www.findnearyou.com/finders/movie/Chennai


Watch Now Running Movies Video Trailer:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo9tmSFOlPk

==============================================================================
TOPIC: The American cinematography.
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/98f7cbd1842ad6c9?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 1:20 am
From: vetiksemicvetik1@list-dot-ru.no-spam.invalid (Svetlana)


Hi! I'm from Russia. I suppose U know this country. So, I write the
scientific work about American cinema, films and Hollywood. In my
work I should compare attitude Russian and American people to
Hollywood films. I ask you to answer this questions, write you
country,
[b:6fa0e0c8eb]age[/b:6fa0e0c8eb] and
[b:6fa0e0c8eb]name.[/b:6fa0e0c8eb]
1.What films do you prefer?
2.Are the Hollywood films popular in your country?
3.How often do you watch the Hollywood films?

thanks for your attention. :P


==============================================================================
TOPIC: MUSLIMS CHECK THEIR FECES BY HAND TO SEE IF THEIR NEXT PROPHET IS IT
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/467cc474491374ee?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 2:02 am
From: usenet@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)


Forwarded message

One of the sects of the murderous cult of Islam
believe their next prophet will be born by a man.

They check their feces by hand to see if any lump
is it.

Posted on Sunday, March 7, 2010 by HuntsvilleTxVeteran

End of forwarded message from:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2466267/posts

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

==============================================================================
TOPIC: GANG WAR ERUPTS IN BHENDI BAZAAR
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/e19d9793a12a546d?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 3:00 am
From: bademiyansubhanallah


Actions belie his words

There is a popular saying about the newly appointed president of BJP,
Nitin Gadkari … that he manages to elicit results with the least of
efforts. It was with great pomp that Gadkari had raised the apt issue
in Indore that the party was in need of combative people, not of
sychophants or yes-men. But it is not hidden from anyone as to how
serious the gentleman, whom Gadkari himself kept portraying as Mr
Genius from Indore to Delhi, is about political issues. Even
otherwise, in Gadkari's regime the people who were first appointed to
various posts are all known to be the flagbearers of the practice of
doing the rounds of the powers that be. For example, the newly-
appointed president of Punjab BJP Ashwini Sharma or Khimi Ram,
Himachal's executive president who has been made a full president by
Gadkari. The BJP president wanted to send Prabhat Jha as the president
of Madhya Pradesh BJP; in Bihar he is advocating the need of handing
over the reins to another loyal-tag owner Mantoo Pandey alias Mangal
Pandey. One Alok Kumar has been appointed the chief of the all India
training camp of the party. Or the saffron flag of aggression of the
yes-brigade is flying high during the Gadkari rule.

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AEactions-belie-his-words

Gadkari's Govindacharya

BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started the process of selecting his
team. But for Gadkari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is the most important
person right now and if sources are to be believed then Gadkari's is
moving fast forward on Sahasrabuddhe's brains. In a way Sahasrabuddhe
is working as the political secretary of Gadkari. This association is
exactly like the relationship Govindacharya once shared with Advani.
Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte are also going to play an important role in
identifying and selecting the new team for Gadkari. In view of the
importance of the forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar, Leader of
Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley is being made the in-
charge. One finds it difficult to recall if earlier a Leader of
Opposition had played the role of an election in-charge. What kind of
a precedent is being set by Gadkari?

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%b8%e0%a4%b9%e0%a4%b8%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%87-%e0%a4%95%e0%a5%80-%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a7%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%bfgadkari%e2%80%99s-govindach

Poll

Is BJP a sinking boat?

Yes (67.12%)
No (32.88%)

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%85%e0%a4%ac-%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%82%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%87%e0%a4%97%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%9a%e0%a4%bf%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%82%e0%a4%ac%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ae-%e0%a4%95%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%ad%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%aechidamb

BJP too trying to earn some brownie points

Anita Saluja
First Published : 07 Mar 2010 03:49:00 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Sensing that history may be created on the centenary of
International Women's Day in India, if the Rajya Sabha succeeds in
passing the controversial Women's Reservation Bill, enabling 33
percent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, the BJP on Saturday lent a helping hand to the UPA
Government.

The BJP core group meeting, which was convened by BJP president Nitin
Gadkari, appealed to all political parties to vote in favour of the
Women's Reservation Bill.

After the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, "The
BJP was the first party to demand one-third reservation for women in
Parliament and state Assemblies. It has promised the Centre full
support to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha." Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was optimistic of the passage of the
Women's Bill in the Upper House and said that on its own, the BJP was
mobilising support for the Bill.

Claiming that the BJP has always stood for empowerment of women, being
the first party to give one-third reservation to women in the party
organisation, Gadkari said that it had issued whip to all the party
members of Rajya Sabha.

He said that it was the NDA Government, which first moved the Bill in
Parliament and mooted the idea to set apart 33 percent of the total
seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for women in BJP National
Council meeting at Vadodara.

Unlike in 1996, when the BJP was riven with dissensions on the Women's
Reservation Bill, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti opposing the
legislation inside the Lok Sabha, this time around, there is no
dissenting voice.

Uma Bharti is no more in the BJP and with Sushma Swaraj leading the
party in the Lok Sabha, no one dares to challenge her ruling. "We have
to prove our own credibility," remarked a senior leader from the Rajya
Sabha.

Apart from the three Yadavs, Mulayam Singh of the SP, Lalu Yadav of
RJD and Sharad Yadav of JD (U), the BJP alliance partner in
Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, is also opposing the Bill in its present
form.

Comments

Right & time demand step by leading political parties in national
interest.
By Kapil Pathak
3/7/2010 10:04:00 AM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=PM+confident+of+women%E2%80%99s+quota+Bill+passage&artid=0wcbTOGE2j4=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=Women%E2%80%99s+Reservation+Bill&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=

I don't want to make a show of it

BJP youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan spills the beans on why she
skipped her brother's big fat TV wedding

By Anand Holla and Vickey Lalwani
Posted On Monday, March 08, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM

The Mahajans have a way of making it to the headlines. This time it is
Rahul, who tied the knot, for the second time, with a 21-year-old
Bengali model and item girl in a televised event on Saturday which was
attended by his mother, but not his sister.

Poonam Mahajan-Rao

Poonam Mahajan-Rao, who had always stood by her elder brother during
the darkest phases of his life - the drug scandal for instance – was
missing from the scene.

This sent the media and commentators in a tizzy, as Rahul and his
spokespersons found themselves struggling to deal with speculations
that Poonam, who is a BJP youth wing leader, wanted to stay away from
the reality drama.

After considerable effort, Mirror managed to speak to Poonam. "I am a
very private person, and for me, an event like a marriage is a private
affair." However, Rahul's 'private affair' was a high-voltage mega-TRP-
driven event with millions watching it live as it unfolded. When asked
why she didn't join in the much-watched ceremony, Poonam defended, "I
am the kind of person who prefers to sit at home rather than make a
show out of things. I even keep my son's birthday party as private as
possible. That's how I am."

Incidentally, Poonam was very much around when Rahul married his
childhood sweetheart Shweta in a private ceremony in 2006. They
divorced two years later.

Speaking about her own wedding which was a low-key affair, Poonam
said, "Ten years ago, I made a choice of getting married to the person
I wanted to. Now, Rahul has made his choice and being his sister
support him entirely."

Rahul with his newly-wedded wife Dimpy Ganguly after the reality show
concluded

When asked if there are any differences within the Mahajan family over
Rahul's choice and decision, Poonam said, "Rahul is my elder brother
and his decisions are totally his. I will be there for him just like
I've always been there for him, even during the tough times. I wish
him all the luck with this marriage. Together, we want to take forward
our father's legacy by helping each other."

Not just Poonam, missing from what was purported to be Rahul's big day
was his uncle Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary and MP.
Munde has been constantly by the side of late BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan's family since he was shot dead three years ago by younger
brother Pravin.

BJP sources said Munde along with national president Nitin Gadkari and
leader of state legislature Eknath Khadse were in Nashik for their
felicitation. "The felicitation programme was finalised few months ago
and Munde had accepted the invitation. In fact he made it a point to
attend the Nashik event as his absence at previous felicitation event
in Aurangabad was being blamed on intra party tussle with Gadkari,'' a
party leader remarked.

But the speculations over Poonam's absence refuse to die down. "Poonam
may have deliberately avoided not to attend the much publicised
wedding show for political reasons. She is keen to establish herself
politically and does not want to get embroiled in any controversy,''
the source said.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/201003082010030803124526953f94fde/I-don%E2%80%99t-want-to-make-a-show-of-it.html

Parties divided, but government determined to push women's bill

PM says the Centre is moving towards providing one-third reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures

By PTI
Posted On Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 04:12:40 AM

New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women's empowerment, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Government is moving
towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and
state legislatures.

Inaugurating the women's leadership summit here, he said the
Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment
of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.

Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development,
Krishna Tirath welcomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
inauguration of the Women's Leadership Summit 2010

The Women's Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of
seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come
up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has
revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, "We hope
to give this movement of political participation of women further
fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and
city and town governments to 50 per cent.

"More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third
reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures," he
said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by Women and Child
Development Minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have
broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to
avail of many opportunities.

LS Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high
status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practise is reversed
in society.

The three-day summit being held as part of women's day celebrations
would be attended by women achievers from all fields.

JD-U divided

However, sharp divisions have emerged among the opponents of the Bill
with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure, pitting himself
against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.

SP also opposes

The Samajwadi Party, which opposes the Bill in its present form, on
Saturday said it will register its "protest" on Monday. The SP has
suggested reservation within reservation for OBC women, not more than
20 per cent.
BJP supports

Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of the Bill, BJP
sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since
the UPA coalition was in minority in the RS, the onus of getting it
adopted was with the main opposition.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting
of the party Core Group to discuss the Bill.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News -
Nation&sectid=3&contentid=2010030720100307041240664ef9a81db

JD(U) Hints At Softening of Opposition to Women's Bill

New Delhi, March 7 – With the numbers favouring the passage of the
women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha Monday, the Janata Dal-
United (JD-U), a prominent party opposing it, Sunday indicated a
softening of its position.

JD-U chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Ali Anwar Ansari said the party
will consider the opinion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in
support of the bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women
in parliament and state legislatures.

'A meeting of JD-U MPs will be held at party president Sharad Yadav's
residence Monday morning. We will take a unanimous decision,' Ansari
told IANS.

The JD-U has not issued a whip to its MPs to either support or oppose
the bill.

Ansari said the bill is expected to be passed by the upper house of
parliament and 'there is no point of opposing it for the sake of
opposition'.

'We are taking the opinion of all our members and a decision will be
taken,' he said.

Ansari, who spoke to both Yadav and Nitish Kumar Sunday, ruled out the
possibility of the party abstaining from the vote on the bill.

Nitish Kumar, who will lead the JD-U charge in campaign for Bihar
assembly elections later this year, Saturday spoke in favour of the
bill.

With more and more parties coming out in favour of the legislation,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained
its only two vocal opponents. Both parties are demanding quotas for
backward classes and minorities within 33 per cent reservation for
women. While the SP has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, the RJD has
four.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 12 members in the upper
house, has not opened its cards yet with regards to the bill.

For the bill to be passed, it has to be supported by two-thirds of
those present and voting. This figure should also be at least 50
percent of the total number of members in the house.

With an effective strength of 233, the Constitution (108th Amendment
Bill), 2008, needs support of 155 members in the Rajya Sabha if all
the members are present.

While the combined strength of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Left – three main supporters of the bill – comes to 138
in the upper house, many other parties, including the DMK, AIADMK,
Biju Janata Dal, National Conference, Nationalist Congress Party and
Shiromani Akali Dal have expressed their support for the path-breaking
legislation.

With the ruling Congress having timed the consideration of the bill
with the International Women's Day and party president Sonia Gandhi
making a strong pitch for its passage, the BJP too has joined the race
to claim credit.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who appealed to all parties to support
the bill, said the party was conscious that the ruling coalition was
in minority in the Rajya Sabha. He said the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government had first moved the bill in parliament.

The Constitution (108th Amendment Bill), 2008, provides for
reservation of one-third seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
for 15 years from the date of commencement of the Act on rotation
basis.

The proposal to provide such reservation to women has been pending for
the last 13 years due to lack of political consensus.

Posted by Vamban on Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

Latest News

•Lok Sabha Adjourned for Fourth Time
http://www.vamban.com/lok-sabha-adjourned-for-fourth-time/
•BJP Condemns SP, RJD for Tearing Up Women's Bill
http://www.vamban.com/bjp-condemns-sp-rjd-for-tearing-up-womens-bill/
•Women's Bill Moved, Torn to Shreds in Rajya Sabha
http://www.vamban.com/womens-bill-moved-torn-to-shreds-in-rajya-sabha/
•JD-U Joins SP, RJD to Protest Women's Bill
http://www.vamban.com/jd-u-joins-sp-rjd-to-protest-womens-bill/
•85 Million Women Missing in India, China: UNDP
http://www.vamban.com/85-million-women-missing-in-india-china-undp/

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

BJP to oppose any proposal for autonomy to Kashmir
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Tuesday said his party will oppose any proposal for granting autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at a function here to mark 20 years of exodus of Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley, he said a solution to the Kashmir problem
should be found within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.

"We will oppose autonomy with full force. If such a proposal comes to
Parliament, we will be against it," he said.

Gadkari termed as "dangerous" the report of Justice Saghir Ahmad - who
headed the working group on Centre-State relations - recommending
giving autonomy to the state. The report was submitted to the Jammu
and Kashmir government last month.

The BJP chief blamed the Congress for the problems in Jammu and
Kashmir. "Congress has messed up things in the state," he said, adding
that the "mistakes" should not be repeated.

The function was organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/bjp-to-oppose-any-proposal-for-autonomy-to-kashmir-13998/

Dhumal ordered tap on Virbhadra Singh's phone, CD tells
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

SHIMLA - In another twist to the corruption cases against union Steel
Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a new audio
compact disc (CD) from an unknown source was circulated here Tuesday
in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is purportedly directing the
vigilance chief to tap the phones of the couple.


Two other CDs were also released here — one audio in which Dhumal was
heard talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar
and the other video in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parliamentarian Virender Kashyap was shown accepting some cash in
regard to granting permission to an educational institute in the
state.

In the alleged conversation recorded in the first CD, Director General
of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas asked Dhumal regarding Singh and his
wife's phone tapping. At this Dhumal replied: "Do it."

Manhas then said: "Yes, we will do it, we will do it. If the CID
(Criminal Investigation Department) is doing it, its staff will leak
it." Dhumal replied: "This is right."

Dhumal and Manhas allegedly also talked about some Rs.25 crore (Rs.250
million).

However, a senior police official said there was no proof of the
authenticity of the CD. "It is released when the vigilance is almost
ready to start within a month the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh
and his wife," he said.

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009,
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh
alleges misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when
he was the chief minister of the state in 1989.

Interestingly, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released
by Singh's political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007.

Meanwhile, Dhumal refuted the allegations in the new CD. He told IANS
on phone from Delhi Tuesday: "Right now I am not in the state. I have
not seen the CD and not even heard about it. I am not in a position to
comment on it."

"The government machinery is not involved in phone tapping of Singh
and his wife. It's just a white lie," he added.

The CD that showed BJP parliamentarian Virender Kashyap talking to
someone on the issue of granting permission to an educational
institute in the state was recorded April 17, 2009 when Kashyap was
only a party activist.

In the conversation, Kashyap was insisting and telling the person
sitting opposite to him to first complete the formalities and then
seek formal permission. The CD also showed Kashyap being offered some
cash, which he hesitantly accepted.

However, Kashyap was not available for comments.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/dhumal-ordered-tap-on-virbhadra-singhs-phone-cd-tells-13989/

Prosecution against Virbhadra likely within month: Police
By IANS
January 1st, 2010

SHIMLA - Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution
against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha
Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said
here Friday.

"We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against
Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month," Director
General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.

Regarding the questionnaires sent to the couple, Manhas said: "We got
the replies to the questionnaire. Both the questionnaires have about
25 questions."

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009, by
the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau under the Prevention of
Corruption Act.

The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his official position
and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in
1989.

According to police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD
released by Singh's political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.

In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on
the phone with former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer
Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his
wife and some industrialists.

Manhas said that four of the nine people identified in the CD are
dead.

"Four are dead out of the nine accused. It is still to be decided that
who is the main accused," the police official added.

Singh has already refuted the allegations, saying the state's ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to malign him.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/01/prosecution-against-virbhadra-likely-within-month-police-11083/

Revival of Friends of BJP
March 8th, 2010

I was part of a small team from Friends of BJP that was invited to
attend the BJP National Council meet in Indore in mid-Feb. It was
quite a gathering - over 5,000 people brought together from all over
the country.

Among the announcements made was that of the revival of Friends of
BJP.

Here is what Nitin Gadkari said in his Presidential Address: "We are
also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate organisation of
the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All patriotic citizens,
especially all young professionals who look forward to BJP as an
instrument of making India a resurgent republic are welcome to join
this forum."

We will be back with more details soon. My hope is that we can help
bring about a change in India's political and policy climate in the
coming years.

3 responses so far ↓

1 Santosh // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:29 am

Rajesh,
I was one of the individuals who wanted BJP voted back to power in
2004 because of what they achieved in their last term. And I firmly
believe that BJP was pro-reforms in their term.

But seeing what India has been able to achieve in last 6 odd years
shouldn't be undermined. Ofcourse, Congress isn't the reformist that
most urban Indians want and India has managed the growth because of
sheer efficiencies of private enterprise.
For what we have achieved in last 6 years, I don't go all out against
them. Today, I don't see any reason why BJP should be supported -
There is no great leader remaining whom we can trust to take our
country forward. They don't play the role of constructive opposition
at all. They find baseless arguments in blocking/ criticizing every
Congress move.

I fail to understand what is it that you see so strongly in BJP to go
& support them. I don't to vote for a government shouts from roof-top.
I want a clear plan of what they would do & who is the team that is at
work. Unfortunately, I don't see either.

2 Alok Mittal // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:17 am

What is really needed is not revival of Friends of BJP, but revival of
BJP itself. I think Congress has won a lot of erstwhile BJP supporters
over the past 6 years; and BJP has lost a lot of supporters over the
past 2 years. There is a critical distinction between the two, and the
latter can only be addressed by the BJP leadership itself.

3 Adarsh Jain // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm

Alok and Santosh,

I think for the future of the country there should be a worthy
opposition. After Nitin Gadkari became party president, I believe BJP
is ready for transformation and play the role of constructive
opposition till next election

http://emergic.org/2010/03/08/revival-of-friends-of-bjp/

India's women quota bill triggers uproar in parliament
Foreign 2010-03-08 17:23

NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) - An attempt by India's government to pass
legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament
provoked uproar on Monday as opposition politicians forced repeated
adjournments.

The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill,
which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes
to pass in the upper house on Monday after being presented on
International Women's Day.

The upper house was adjourned twice on Monday as politicians opposing
the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction
of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate.

The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but
several socialist parties oppose it.

They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for
women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly
by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious
minority Muslims.

"We are not anti-women but we want reservations for women hailing from
minority and backward classes first," Mulayam Singh Yadav, a leader of
the pro-Muslim Samajwadi (Socialist) party said outside parliament.

Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political
groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from
Muslim and low-caste communities.

Yadav said the bill was an attempt by the Congress and the BJP to
appease the rich and the influential upper class.

The controversial proposal to reserve 33 percent of seats, first
introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women's
membership in both houses of parliament where they now occupy about
one in 10 seats.

Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the
approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house after which
it will go before the lower house where it also requires a two-thirds
majority.

Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There
are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.

"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving
towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state
legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women's leadership
summit on Saturday.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India's
most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill,
saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.

It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and
passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last
week.

Political analysts said the government was testing the waters by
introducing it in the upper house first instead of the lower house,
where most proposed legislation is sent.

Some accused the government of playing politics by seeking to appease
women by proposing the legislation but without having any realistic
chance of it passing.

Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now
hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia
Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

Panchayats -- local governing bodies in towns and villages -- already
reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move
has given women greater status in their communities. (By Rupam Jain
Nair/ AFP)

MySinchew 2010.03.08

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/36074

Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Prime Minister is holding emergency meetings with his senior
ministers to discuss the Women's Bill and the impact of Lalu Prasad
and Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing they will withdraw their support to
this government. (Read & Watch: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to
govt)

Lalu and Mulayam have said the Women's Bill is being forced upon them
by the Congress, and that it does not protect the interest of Dalit
and Muslim women.

The Rajya Sabha is meant to vote on the bill today.

For the Women's Bill, the government is not worried about the numbers
because the Opposition - the BJP and the Left, along with smaller
parties, are in favour of the bill.

However, the Finance Bill has not yet been passed. And that's what the
government is worried about.

The UPA government believes that without Lalu and Mulayam's MPs, it
can still count on 274 votes in favour of Pranab Mukherjee's budget.
The number of votes required to pass it is 273. So the government's
margin is tiny. And that's what the BJP and Left will try to exploit.
Both have already attacked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the
budget, in particular, over the hike in petrol and diesel prices. The
government's key allies including the DMK and Mamata Banerjee have
also expressed their concern over the fuel hike, and the government's
new numbers weaken its position if it finds it must negotiate with
these allies.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/why-lalu-mulayam-exit-worries-government-17380.php

Women's Bill: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Congress-led UPA government finds itself in a spot. Set to table
and get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, it now
has to contend with the threat of withdrawal of support from two
traditional opponents of the Bill - the Samajwadi Party and the RJD.

Both parties have announced they are withdrawing support to the UPA
government over the Bill. While the government does not need their
support to pass this Bill, since the BJP and the Left will vote in
favour, it will find itself on an uncomfortable, wafer-thin majority
for other legislation, like the crucial Finance Bill, without the
buffer of the 22 Samajwadi Party MPs and 4 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha.
(Read: Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government)

Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav have said they oppose the Women's
Bill because it does not protect the interests of minorities and Other
Backward Castes.

The bill reserves 33% seats for women in Parliament and in state
assemblies.

"Reservation should be for Muslims and Dalits," said Mulayam Singh
Yadav.

"The government is trying to force the bill upon us. The Congress
does not listen to anyone. The bill must bring the Asli Bharat
forward...the Congress is leaving women and Muslims behind, " said
Lalu.

The government is in a huddle right now on what next steps should be.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding meetings with senior
colleagues like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary
Affairs Minsiter PK Bansal to evolve a strategy.

Not to press ahead with the Women's Bill today will mean a big loss of
face, especially given that the Bill is close to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi's heart and the many statements that she and other
Congress leaders and ministers have already made. But the party cannot
risk Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav actually carrying out
their threat and officially withdrawing support.

Along with the BSP, the two parties have already ensured that
Parliament proceedings are anything but smooth. As Lok Sabha opened in
the morning, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh rushed to the Well of the
House.

In the Rajya Sabha too, the SP and RJD disrupted Question Hour. Here
they demanded the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report first. (Read: Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill)

Both Houses reconvened at noon only to be adjourned again.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mulayam-lalu-to-withdraw-support-to-government-17373.php

Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill

Press Trust of India, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav have announced the withdrawal of
their outside support to the UPA government over the Women's
Reservation Bill.

The government is attempting history in the making, but the
proceedings have got off to a very rocky start. There was chaos in
both the houses when they opened on Monday morning.

Rajya Sabha:

The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecendented scenes leading to an
adjournment for the third time on Monday as determined SP, RJD, LJP
and BSP members entered the well of the House, ripped off mikes and
tore up papers in an attempt to stall the Women's Reservation Bill
from being taken up for consideration.

An attempt was made to snatch the Bill from the Chairman's table which
was prevented by marshals. However, they snatched some papers from the
Secretary General's table and tore them up.

Mr Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party, Mr Sabir Ali of LJP and Mr
Gangacharan Rajput of BSP along with other party members spearheaded
the stalling tactics. Some of them then got on the reporters' table in
the well of the House.

All members of various political parties were on their feet. Seeing
these antics many looked shocked.

The ruling Congress party members, especially women, were seen making
a protective ring around Law Minister M Veerappa Moily who will move
the Bill for consideration.

Shocked over these developments, the Chairman adjourned the House till
3 pm.

Earlier, the House was adjourned twice within minutes of assembling as
members of the SP, RJD, LJP, and BSP raised slogans from the well of
the House demanding implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report.

Lok Sabha:

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the third time on Monday afternoon
when SP, RJD and JD(U) members trooped into the well protesting the
Women's Reservation Bill in its present form.

When the House, which was earlier adjourned twice on the same issue,
reassembled at 2 pm, members of these parties led by RJD chief Lalu
Prasad, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav,
stormed the well shouting slogans.

As the slogan-shouting continued, Trinamool Congress members including
its chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, were seen singing the
famous song - "We shall overcome some day".

Other Trinamool members, including Minister of State for Health Dinesh
Trivedi, chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay and cine-star turned MP
Shatabdi Roy, were heard singing the song in the House.

As the din continued, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House
till 3 pm.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/rajya-sabha-adjourned-after-uproar-over-womens-bill-17368.php

BJP too to quit JAC?

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:43:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP is contemplating quitting the Telangana political
JAC and evolve its own programme of action to rouse public opinion in
favour of separate Telangana State.

The State leadership of the party wants to strengthen the party's base
at ground level in villages. It will have `Jai Telangana' slogan in
Telangana areas and `Jai Andhra' in Andhra districts.

The party's approach to Telangana that all legislators should resign
and force a constittutional crisis has changed after it encountered
opposition within the party. Those who opposed it argued that MLAs of
neither the Congress nor the TDP resigned.

This was the reason why these elements got together and ensured the
election of Kishan Reddy as the party's State president who too
subscribed to the idea and refused to resign. In such an event, the
point that is being discussed at length is why stay in the JAC when
the party is not in a position to honour its decisions (of quitting
the Assembly).

To make this easy for Kishan Reddy's supporters, the BJP National
Committee too expressed displeasure over the BJP continuing in the JAC
and wanted it to make an honourable exit from the panel so that it
would not be misconstrued by the people.

Already, the ABVP, which has an ideological affiliation with the BJP,
is carrying on the movement for Telangana without joining the JAC and
has already made a mark. The BJP wants to toe the same line so that it
will be able to preseve its identity and strengthen its base.

The Stare party leadership has asked the district units to organise
Telangana programmes in districts only in the name of the party and
will not have anything to do with the JAC. This apart, the JAC leaders
are not on good terms with the new chief of the State unit.

Comments

PEOPLE AND STUDENTS OF T-REGION REJECTED KCR/TRS & TRAITORS IN
TELANGANA CONGRESS FOR PUBLICITY STUNTS AND RESIGNATION DRAMAS AND KCR/
TRS MP NOT RESIGNED AGAINST THEIR OWN ADVISE TO OTHERS AND KCR
ATTENDING RAJ BHAVAN DINNER EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE WITH SRI KRISHNA'S
TOR- SEPARATE-T NOT FEASIBLE HAS GONE AGAINS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
TRS/KCR WILL REALISE THIS IN BYE-ELECTION RESULTS THAT IS WHY KCR/TRS
MP NOR RESIGNED.

By JAC-T= KCR/TRS+KO-DANDA ONLY.
3/8/2010 1:19:00 PM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+too+to+quit+JAC?&artid=FPykUG9SeSM=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

BJP demands bill on bifurcation

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:42:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP State Council has demanded that the Centre
introudce a bill in Parliament for bifurcation of the State.

The council, which met here yesterday, said in its political
resolution that the constitution of the Justice BN Srikrishna
Committee was intended to prolong the issue and saw no need for the
party to make a presentation to the Srirkrishna panel since it
beleived that the committee's purpose was other than formation of two
States.

"Bifurcation of the State is the only answer to backwardness of the
two regions,'' it said and criticised other parties for their
dichotomy on the issue.

By another resolution the council expressed concern over the
deteriroration of administration which led to increase in the prices
of essential commodities as well as breakdown of law and order.

The murder of Sri Vaishnavi in Vijayawada and the hooch tragedy in
East Godavari district were indicative of the breakdown of the law and
order machienry, the council said. It alleged that the State
Government had miserably failed to come to the rescue of people
affected by the unprecedented floods in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar,
Krishna and Guntur districts.

Though the Centre annoucned Rs 1,000 crore for mitigation of the
suffering of the flood-affected people, the funds had so far not been
transferred, it pointed out.

A resoultion said that the adminsitraion was in a state of suspended
animation with Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was asked to step into
the shoes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash,
being unable to perform.

By another resolution the party demanded that the State should take
immediate steps for controlling the prices of essential commodities
which have been going through the roof and supply power for nine hours
to the farm sector to save standing crops.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+demands+bill+on+bifurcation&artid=7oMMyEgPRtw=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

Lalu declares 'war' against women's Bill
TNN, Mar 8, 2010, 05.42am IST

Women's Bill: 'Conspiracy to eliminate minorities'PATNA: RJD chief
Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared he will fight tooth and nail against
women's reservation Bill. "Yuddh hoga (There would be a war)," he
thundered and added the OBC brigade will roll up sleeves against the
move.

Lalu said BJP and Congress are making a 'historical blunder' by
issuing a whip to their MPs to vote for the Bill in its present form.
"If they (Congress and BJP) think they will get women's votes, they
are mistaken. It's a male-dominated society (where women go by what
their menfolk say while voting). If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote
for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?"
he asked at a presser and added nowhere in the world women get
reservation in legislative bodies.

Even if it has to be given, there should be quota for deprived
sections within this reservation, Lalu said and added the faces of
women belonging to minority community, backward castes, Dalits and
tribals should be visible through this reservation. "The quota should
be for those who cannot enter the legislative bodies on their own," he
said.

By introducing the Bill, the RJD leader said, the Congress is trying
to divert people's attention from main issues like price rise,
unemployment, growing regionalism and threat to national security.
"The BJP and Congress want to get votes of Muslims, Dalits and OBCs,
but they do not want to safeguard their interests," he said.

Lalu hit out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for changing tack on
the issue. "Nitish is a `bahurupiya' (a master of disguise)," Lalu
said, recalling Nitish earlier gave a note of dissent as a member of
the parliamentary committee which looked into this issue.

Also, Nitish's party colleague and JD(U) national president Sharad
Yadav once declared he would consume poison if the women's reservation
Bill in its present form was introduced. "By advising Sharad to ensure
the passage of the Bill now, Nitish has shown his real face to the
Muslims, Dalits and OBCs," Lalu said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5656141.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lalu-declares-war-against-womens-Bill/articleshow/5656141.cms

. BJP, Justice Sagheer in agreement on Kashmir Accord
Working Group Report on Centre-State Relations-V

Syed Junaid Hashmi

JAMMU, Mar 7: The historical comment of former Prime Minister late
Indira Gandhi "The clock could not be put back in this manner" is
central theme of 'some kind of restoration of autonomy' recommended by
Justice Sagheer Panel on centre-state relations and clearly, in
contrast to vehement claims of ruling coalition.

The recommendation is in agreement with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
led union cabinet's decision on Autonomy resolution of Jammu and
Kashmir on July 5, 2000. The then union cabinet while rejecting
autonomy resolution of then National Conference (NC) led government in
Jammu and Kashmir had accepted that there is a clear case for
devolution of more financial and administrative powers and functions
to the states alongside taking suitable steps to ensure harmonious
centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.

Interestingly, the union cabinet had then rejected autonomy resolution
by referring to Kashmir accord, more commonly known as Indira-Sheikh
Accord. It had said that issue of restoring constitutional situation
in Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 position had been discussed in
detail by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah with former Prime Minister
late Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. The decision had noted that agreement
signed after these negotiations had affirmed that provisions of the
Constitution of India already applied to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.

Justice (Retd) Sagheer in his report on Pages 93 and 94 has referred
to speech of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in the
parliament on February 24, 1975 in which she had remarked, "The
constitutional relationship between state of Jammu and Kashmir and the
union will continue as it has been and extension of further provisions
of constitution to the state will continue to be governed by procedure
prescribed in Article 370."

Justice Sagheer further notes, "Sheikh Abdullah was very anxious that
to start with, the constitutional relationship between the state and
the centre should be as it was in 1953 when he was in power. It was
explained to him that the clock could not be put back in this manner.
Mirza Afzal Beg pressed for transfer of provisions relating to
fundamental rights to state constitution, removal of the supervision
and control of Election Commission of India over elections to the
state legislature and the modification of Article 356 to require the
state government's concurrence before imposing president's rule in the
state."

Late Indira Gandhi while outrightly rejecting these demands had said,
"It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must
say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on
these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusion." After this,
Justice (Retd) Sagheer has referred to clause 3 and 4 of the Kashmir
Accord.
The panel while referring these two clauses has concluded that if any
provision of the constitution of India had been applied to the state
of Jammu and Kashmir without adaptations and modifications, then such
modifications are unalterable. But with respect to provisions applied
with adaptations and modifications, it was agreed that they can be
altered or repealed by an order of President under Article 370 but
each individual proposal in this behalf would be considered on its
merits;

"With a view to assuring freedom to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
have its own legislation on matters like welfare measures cultural
matters, social security, personal law and procedural laws, in a
manner suited to the special conditions in the State, it is agreed
that the State Government can review the laws made by Parliament or
extended to the State after 1953 on any matter related to the
Concurrent List and may decide which of them, in its opinion, needs
amendment or repeal. Thereafter, appropriate steps may be taken under
Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The grant of President's
assent to such legislation would be sympathetically considered,"
Justice Sagheer has noted from the Kashmir Accord as relevant to
present discourse on autonomy.

Concluding debate on autonomy, Justice Sagheer Ahmed has referred to a
Supreme Court decision in Sampat Prakash vs. State of Jammu and
Kashmir in which it was held that inspite of the dissolution of
constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional
provisions could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir with
such adaptations and modifications as the president may deem fit. It
is after these referrals that Justice Sagheer has recommended for
examining the question of autonomy in the light of Kashmir Accord.

Interestingly, the ruling coalition through 10 page recommendatory
notes of report had claimed that Justice Sagheer had recommended what
National Conference (NC) led government had proposed central
government through a resolution properly passed and vetted by more
than 60 members of state legislative assembly on June 26, 2000. The
resolution which was rejected by the then BJP led NDA government on
July 5, 2000.

[Kashmir Times]

Related news

:. Saghir reports to Omar, 24 Dec 2009
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261696873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Webmaster

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268044174&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

...and I am Sid Harth

== 2 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 8:47 am
From: chhotemianinshallah


COLUMN

Between despair and hope
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Rae Bareli court's discharge of L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya
demolition case is a mockery of justice, but the Supreme Court's
intervention in the Best Bakery matter revives hopes that the Indian
legal system might prevail in bringing the perpetrators of communal
hate crimes to book.

THE waywardness of India's police and justice delivery systems has few
parallels when it comes to punishing communal offences and hate
crimes. What began as a devious process of manipulation of the first
information reports in the Babri mosque demolition case, and the
totally illegitimate dropping of conspiracy charges against the
principal accused, turned into a grotesque parody of justice on
September 19 when the Special Court of Magistrate Vinay Kumar Singh in
Rae Bareli framed charges against seven persons, including Murli
Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and other Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leaders, but discharged Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
Advani is the man who spearheaded, planned and ideologically inspired
the raucous agitation that led to the razing of the mosque on December
6, 1992.

Precisely what charges are framed against the remaining seven will be
only known on October 10. The list of offences filed by the CBI under
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is not long: Section 147 (rioting), 149
(committing a crime), 153A and 153B (spreading communal hatred) and
505 (creating ill will). But it is clear that the indictment will not
include the all-important charge of criminal conspiracy, nor offences
under Sections 295 and 295A of the IPC (defiling places of worship and
indulging in acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any
class).

Thus, the perpetrators of one of the worst hate crimes in India's
history - who pulled down a monument which had become a symbol of
pluralism - will not even stand trial for destroying a mosque and
exploiting communal hatred, which they so clearly did.

This is bad enough. What is downright outrageous is that Advani, who
was the most important leader of the anti-Babri movement which the BJP
took over in the late 1980s, and who conducted the infamous Somnath-to-
Ayodhya rath yatra and played a direct, preponderant role in the
events leading to December 6, has been let off the hook. The
ostensible reason made public for this is the curious argument that
the CBI cited two conflicting testimonies, one of which claimed that
Advani tried to calm down the restive crowd (while the other said he
did nothing to restrain leaders like Uma Bharati and Sadhvi
Ritambhara, with whom he shared the dais who made extremely
inflammatory speeches).

Basing himself on this claimed contradiction, the Magistrate gave
Advani the "benefit of the doubt". Strangely, he cited the Supreme
Court's ruling in the Praful Kumar Samal case, that if the scales of
evidence presented against the accused during a trial are "even" then
that is a fit ground for acquittal. This conforms to the canonical
rule that a person must be considered innocent until proved guilty.

Logically, this rationale can come into effect only at the conclusion
of a trial, not before it, at the stage of framing charges. It does
not stand to reason that a person against whom there is weighty prima
facie evidence should be simply let off. The Supreme Court had said:
"If an element of grave suspicion is there and the accused has
explained the doubts then he can be discharged." Advani manifestly did
not explain away any "doubts".

The Magistrate has erred in exonerating Advani. Independent
investigations have turned up overwhelming evidence of Advani's
pivotal role in the processes and events that led to the demolition,
including the happenings of December 6. The Citizens' Tribunal on
Ayodhya, comprising Justices O. Chinappa Reddy, D.A. Desai and D.S.
Tewatia documented Advani's role at length in its Report of the
Inquiry Commission (July 1993) and in the Judgement and
Recommendations (December 1993), both published by the Tribunal (K-14
Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110016).

These show that Advani was central to the build-up to the events of
December 1992 - from numerous kar sevas, the 1990 rath yatra, and
manipulation of the State government (then under the BJP's Kalyan
Singh), to misleading the courts, and organising crucial coordination
meetings of the Sangh combine. The intention to raze the mosque was
repeatedly and unambiguously stressed during these events. The very
purpose of the rath yatra was to kindle "Hindu pride" and "get even"
with history - of "conquest and humiliation" of the Hindus by
"foreigners". The main slogans of the yatra were provocative: "there
are only two places for Muslims - Pakistan or kabristan
(graveyard))".

The Inquiry Commission recorded detailed testimony of eyewitnesses to
show that plans for December 6 were launched by the BJP-VHP-Bajrang
Dal with a lalkar saptah starting November 29. By December 2, 90,000
kar sevaks had gathered at Ayodhya. By December 3, they numbered
150,000. On December 5, Advani addressed a public meeting in Lucknow
and was to go to Varanasi, reaching Ayodhya/Faizabad on December 5.
He, however, altered his plans so as to reach Faizabad to join an all-
important closed-door meeting at Vinay Katiyar's house, where the
ultimate, detailed, nuts-and-bolts plans for December 6 were
finalised.

Among those present were the RSS' H.V. Seshadri and K.S. Sudershan,
the VHP's Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and Acharya Dharmendra, the
Shiv Sena's Moreshwar Save, and the BJP's Pramod Mahajan. Meanwhile, a
rehearsal of the demolition operation took place the same day near the
Babri mosque.

According to the Commission, on December 6, Advani arrived at the site
at the same time as Joshi (10-30 a.m.). He, among others, addressed
the kar sevaks. His speech was intemperate. Meanwhile, some kar sevaks
had breached the security cordon and were in a highly excited state.
At 11-30 a.m., Uma Bharati made a highly inflammatory speech,
including slogans "tel lagao Dabar ka, naam mitao Babar ka", "Katue
kate jayenge, Ram-Ram chillayenge", and so on.

At 11-45, Advani reportedly announced, "We don't need bulldozers to
pull down the mosque; [we can do it manually by removing chunks of its
wall]". The assault on the mosque began. Advani then ensured that the
demolition would continue and be completed without the intervention of
Central paramilitary forces stationed nearby. At 3-15 p.m., he urged
kar sevaks "to block all entry points to Ayodhya to prevent Central
forces from entering, and warned the armed forces not to touch the kar
sevaks." The eight accused were present at the site for a full seven
hours and made no gesture to distance themselves from the destructive
and illegal actions of the day.

The December 6 events were videographed and photographed by numerous
journalists, by Indian and foreign TV channels and, above all, by the
Intelligence Bureau, which reportedly has nine hours of tapes.
(Curiously, the CBI did not present all of these to the special
court).

Yet, the Sangh Parivar has launched a disinformation campaign which
claims that Advani did his best to restrain the kar sevaks and shed
tears at the demolition! It is relevant to ask if these were tears of
sorrow or of joy: Advani has consistently described the anti-Babri
agitation as a "national" movement for Hindu self-assertion, which
finally removed what he called the "ocular" insult in the form of the
mosque.

The disinformation and evasion of responsibility speaks of monumental
cowardice on the part of Advani & Co. They revelled in the
destruction, and hugged one another in exultation and mutual
congratulation.

The BJP rode to political power at the Centre on the anti-Babri Masjid
movement. In all honesty, its leaders must face trial and declare
either that they stand by their role or that they regret and repent it
and apologise. They cannot both take credit for the act and attribute
its planning and execution to mysterious, unknown and unknowable
forces - as Sangh ideologue K.R. Malkani once did, by blaming the
CIA.

There was a clearly identifiable human agency behind December 6: the
BJP-VHP-RSS-Bajrang Dal-Shiv Sena's top leadership, including Advani
and Joshi. But cowardice is a Sangh characteristic. Following Gandhi's
assassination, the RSS was banned. Thousands of its members quickly
stopped participating in its activities and claimed they were never
its members.

The Rae Bareli order is odious. But Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided not to appeal against it - on the
grounds that "I am a firm believer in the judiciary and of the view
that the court verdict on Ayodhya should be acceptable to all ... I
welcome the court's decision and have nothing more to say ... " Amar
Singh has gone even further to say that the government cannot appeal
against it. This strengthens the suspicions of a secret collusive deal
between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav has
decided to accept the BJP's Kesarinath Tripathi as Speaker and not to
poach on the party's MLAs. This makes the whole matter all the more
sordid. It sets back hopes of a just trial and further shakes the
public's confidence in India's justice delivery system.

IN contrast to this comes the Supreme Court's intervention in the Best
Bakery case. Through two hearings on September 12 and 19, the court
effectively began piloting and guiding the Gujarat government in its
handling of the consequences of a "fast-track" special court's
judgment exonerating all the accused for the burning of 14 Muslims.
While questioning Gujarat's Chief Secretary and Director-General of
Police directly, Chief Justice V.N. Khare obtained an assurance that
Gujarat's Advocate-General would now take full charge of the matter.
He would redraft the appeal against the "fast-track" court verdict.

The Supreme Court tried to establish three things: the Best Bakery
investigation was faulty because 37 of the 43 witnesses turned
hostile; there was miscarriage of justice; and there is a case for re-
trial of the accused outside Gujarat. The Gujarat government did admit
that there was miscarriage of justice and there is a case for re-trial
(although that should not be outside Gujarat). It also claimed the
investigation was not faulty. However, the Supreme Court asked it to
file an affidavit on October 9 to say on what lines its appeal would
be drafted. This suggests close supervision or stewardship of the
process of litigation.

Welcome as this intervention is, the Court needs to go beyond the Best
Bakery case and look at the horrendous crimes committed during the
Gujarat pogrom in their totality. Crimes Against Humanity, the report
of the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal, comprising eminent jurists and
scholars, concluded, after examining 2,094 statements and 1,500
witnesses, that the pogrom that lasted several weeks amounted to
genocide in the strict sense of the term. The pattern of violence
shows: selective targeting of Muslims, inhuman forms of brutality,
military precision and planning, and use of Hindu religious symbols.
This was planned, sustained and prolonged through hate speech,
intimidation and terror by the RSS, the BJP and the VHP-Bajrang Dal,
with the complicity and participation of policemen and bureaucrats,
encouraged by Narendra Modi.

It is clear that Muslims were targeted not because they did this or
that act, but simply because they were Muslims. The killer mobs'
declared intention, as revealed by their own slogans, was to
liquidate, mentally harm, humiliate and subjugate Muslims and "destroy
them", "wipe them out from Gujarat", and cleanse the state of Islam.
The physical violence directed against Muslims, the calculated
destruction of the economic basis of their survival, and sexual
assaults against Muslim women as an instrument of terror, all point to
genocide.

Article II of the International Convention on Genocide, 1948 defines
genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group" like: "(a) killing [its] members; (b) causing [them]
serious bodily or mental harm; (c) deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions ... calculated to bring about its physical
destruction... ; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; (e) forcibly transferring [its] children ... to
another group."

The Gujarat pogrom unambiguously fits the definition. As a signatory
to the Convention, India is obliged to punish the perpetrators of
genocide through a competent court. This demands a special independent
National Tribunal for hate crimes and genocide. This alone can meet
the ends of justice.

For this to happen, we must see the numerous cases of violence not as
discrete acts, but in their totality as genocide. This sui generis
process of litigation will need special agencies for investigation and
prosecution as well as victim protection. It would be a historic
tragedy if the Indian state once again fails to bring the perpetrators
of hate crimes to book.

Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2020/stories/20031010005312500.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 16 :: No. 04 :: Feb. 13 - 26, 1999

COVER STORY
A bitter aftermath

The pattern set in the aftermath of the Staines killing shows that
there are enough voices in positions of authority willing to justify
heinous crimes committed in the name of religion.

SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN

SENSITIVITY to public opinion was at a premium in the aftermath of the
grisly murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his
two young boys by a lynch mob in Orissa on January 23. Union Home
Minister L.K. Advani put on record his strong condemnation of the
event, as did Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, the latter
describing it as a "crime against humanity". But for each such
concession to the demands of rectitude, there was a gesture that
tended to work to the contrary purpose. One such act was Advani's
preemptive exculpation of the Bajrang Dal - his claim that he had
authoritative information that the organisation was not involved in
the crime. Another was BJP president Kushabhau Thakre's assertion that
Christian missionaries were inviting trouble through their activities.
He said: "I appeal to the missionaries that they are sitting on a
stack of hay. They better be careful."

Thakre's remarks conformed to a pattern of morally dubious conduct by
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organisations
after the Staines murder. In what could only be construed as a gross
act of dishonouring the dead, Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice-president
Giriraj Kishore asserted that the work of Graham Staines amidst
leprosy sufferers was a facade, since there were no such people within
a wide radius of where he lived and worked. As an intervention in an
emotionally fraught situation, this was only slightly less coarse than
that of Hindu Jagran Manch's Orissa unit president Subhash Chouhan. He
said that Graham Staines was killed because he was engaged in
proselytisation. The pattern set in the aftermath of the killing was
very clear. Adherents to the RSS worldview who happen to be in the
Government felt obliged to issue deprecatory noises. But those outside
the Government felt few such restraints.

EASTERN PRESS AGENCY
Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines with wife
Glade and children Philip, Esther and Timothy, in a picture from the
family album.

A three-member team of Cabinet Ministers visited the site of the
murder as part of the Government's crisis management strategy. Prior
to his departure to the spot, Union Minister for Steel and Mines
Naveen Patnaik made it clear that he looked at the event through the
miasma of his antagonism to the Orissa unit of the Congress(I).
Defence Minister George Fernandes and Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi chose a strategy of prudence in advance
of their visit - the former because he is a key member of the BJP-led
Government's crisis management effort and the latter because of his
well-advertised proximity to hardline elements in the RSS.

The ministerial trio spent one hour at the scene of the crime. On its
return to Delhi, the team issued a statement which ascribed
responsibility for the crime to an "international conspiracy" by
"forces which would like this Government to go". If this effectively
ruled out the culpability of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates, the
team also urged that a judicial commission of inquiry be constituted
to look into the murder in order to uncover the conspiracy.

Shortly afterwards the Government announced, on the advice of the
Chief Justice of India, that a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court,
Justice D.P. Wadhwa, had been appointed as a one-man commission of
inquiry into the Staines killing. Union Minister for Information and
Broadcasting and Cabinet spokesman Pramod Mahajan said that the
inquiry report would be completed by April, so that it could be placed
in Parliament in its next session.

The Director-General for Investigations in the National Human Rights
Commission, D.R. Karthikeyan, visited the scene of the crime. His
report is expected to be submitted by the middle of February, though
with the appointment of the judicial commission it could become an
input for the broader inquiry. Certain suggestions that he made in the
context of the local police investigation, such as entrusting it to
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the State police and
putting an officer of the rank of Superintendent in charge of it, have
been accepted.

A two-member team from the National Commission on Minorities
comprising James Massey and N. Neminath also went to the site. Its
report is also expected to be an important input into the inquiries of
the judicial commission.

AP
During their visit to Manoharpur village in Orissa a few days after
the murder of Graham Stewart Staines and his sons, members of the
Cabinet team, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Human Resource
Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister for Steel and
Mines Naveen Patnaik, make inquiries.

IN the midst of these exertions, the ambivalence of official
utterances continues to cause disquiet. It is well known that the
Bajrang Dal - as in the case of most organisations in the RSS
constellation - does not maintain membership rolls. Established in
1984, just when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was beginning to take
shape in the strategies of the RSS, the Bajrang Dal honed its
agitational and inflammatory skills in the lethal campaign to bring
down the mosque in Ayodhya. The slogans it crafted as part of this
campaign still ring with menace and were often chanted by the riotous
mobs which took a heavy toll of human life during the six years
leading up to the demolition.

Many modern legal systems have a category of offence known as "hate
speech". Slogans and declamations that tend to engender a sense of
antipathy towards any group of people are an offence in themselves.
And if they are issued in close temporal or spatial connection with
actual incidents of violence against these groups, a direct
association is drawn. The onus is then on those who raise the
inflammatory slogans to prove that there is no connection with the
actual act of violence.

By this reasonable benchmark, the BJP spokesmen who have, at every
juncture since the cycle of anti-Christian violence began, exerted
themselves in the cause of strife rather than harmony bear a share of
the blame for the Staines killing. And their conspicuous lack of
remorse after the event has certainly contributed to the sustenance of
an atmosphere of violence. This has been most recently exemplified in
the alleged gang-rape of a Catholic nun on February 3 in Mayurbhanj
district in Orissa. Heinous crimes have been justified by the supposed
sense of rage at the incursions of alien religions into what is deemed
to be Hindu territory. For the BJP leaders who today represent
governmental authority, this has concurrently become an alibi for a
complete abdication of responsibility.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1604/16040220.htm

Volume 24 - Issue 08 :: Apr. 21-May. 04, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COLUMN

Politics of intimidation
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to browbeat the Election
Commission and its critics on the anti-Muslim CD issue.

SUBIR ROY

BJP State president Kesri Nath Tripathi with senior leader Lalji
Tandon in Lucknow on March 30.

NO Indian political formation can even remotely match the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) when it comes to violating norms of political
decency, defying the law, and pursuing an outrageously divisive and
sectarian agenda. The latest instance is its release on April 3 of a
viciously anti-Muslim compact disc (CD) entitled Bharat ki Pukar (the
call of India) as part of its campaign material for the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections.

The BJP has disowned the CD and feigned ignorance of how it got to be
commissioned, written, approved and released — without sincerely
apologising for it. Worse, it has tried to turn the tables on a
constitutional authority, the Election Commission, as well as its
political opponents. It has also used threats and intimidation to
resist reasonable pressure to play by the ground rules of electoral
politics.

Even more disgracefully for the Indian political system, the BJP has
for all practical purposes got away with its offensive conduct. As
this is being written, during the third round of polling in the seven-
phase U.P. elections, it seems highly unlikely that the BJP will be
made to pay politically for its defiance of the prohibition against
using hate speech to win votes, itself a crime against democracy.

The Election Commission issued the BJP a notice asking the party to
explain why it should not be punished under the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 and its Model Code of Conduct, which was in force
when the CD was released. But the BJP, true to type, launched a
counter-offensive and tried to divert attention from this central
issue by demanding that Naveen Chawla, one of the Election
Commissioners, recuse himself from hearing its case. It took this
secondary issue to the Supreme Court on April 13, which has deferred
its hearing to May 8.

Regrettably, the BJP has thus succeeded in getting any resolution of
the issues raised by the CD postponed until it ceases to matter for
the all-important election campaign in U.P.

Now, it can hardly be disputed that the CD is flagrantly anti-Muslim.
It perversely portrays all Muslims as anti-Hindu and anti-national.
They are depicted as duplicitous devils: they trick Hindus into
selling them cows by pretending they will look after them, only to
butcher them in a gory way. They oppress their own women and turn them
into mere reproductive machines - so as to change India's demographic
balance.

The CD shows Muslim men abducting innocent Hindu girls and eloping
with them - only to convert them forcibly. (The effect of this was
reinforced in real life by the systematic hounding of mixed couples
from Bhopal and elsewhere, and by orchestrated "protests" against
their marriage, including a typical Hindutva-style attack on a Star
News studio in Mumbai.)

The CD was clearly calculated to incite hatred against a religious
community, divide citizens, and provoke a militant reaction - probably
with a view to triggering a Hindu-communal backlash. There is nothing
vague or unambiguous of its purpose: it is to win votes in U.P., where
the BJP faces a double-or-nothing prospect.

It simply will not do for the BJP to pretend that the CD was
unauthorised and produced by a junior-level "worker" without prior
approval by the party's top leaders, including Lalji Tandon and State
unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi. According to Virendra Singh,
director of the Bulandshehr-based Fakira Films, which produced the CD,
the State BJP leadership was consulted "at every stage of the writing
of the CD" and whenever the script was "modified... and fine-tuned...
" This stands to reason. Withdrawing the CD cannot mitigate the
original offence because the disc is in circulation and has been
viewed by large numbers of people - in excerpts aired on television,
as well as original copies.

V.V. KRISHNAN

The controversial CD.

Prima facie, there is an irrefutable case against the BJP for
violating the election law in a depraved manner and for offending
Sections of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to spreading hatred
against a particular group or using appeals to religious identity and
which prohibit and punish the use of inflammatory communal material.

The Election Commission was not only right to issue a notice to the
BJP, it was duty-bound to act against it. Logically, such action can
take many forms: publicly reprimanding the BJP, imposing a hefty fine,
and derecognising it at least so far as the use of the lotus symbol is
concerned. The E.C. is not merely meant to disqualify a candidate in
retrospect for communal propaganda. Article 324 of the Constitution
gives it a broad mandate, which includes preventing, precluding and
punishing the use of such propaganda during elections.

The "retrospective" argument just does not stand up to scrutiny. The
E.C.'s core job is to do all it can to prohibit effectively the use of
unfair electoral practices. That is why it is empowered to requisition
police and paramilitary forces, transfer and appoint civil servants,
and set rules for the conduct of the electoral process in its minutest
details.

Implicit in, and central to, the E.C.'s function as a statutory
authority is preventive and pre-emptive action so as to guard the
sanctity of elections. To use an analogy, its principal task is not to
punish arsonists but to prevent fires, which vitiate the selection of
the people's representatives - a process vital and indispensable to
democracy. The E.C. would be perfectly within its powers to demand an
explicit, binding commitment from any political party that it will not
use communal means of canvassing electoral support, a breach of which
would automatically entail disqualification and derecognition.

The case for doing so is especially strong because only last December,
the BJP officially released a CD similar to the April avatar. This was
done during its National Council meeting in Lucknow, where the CD
featured as part of the press kit. The BJP fully owns and stands by
this CD. It cannot claim innocence about its cousin/derivative.

It has since produced equally obnoxious advertisements questioning the
patriotic intentions of Muslims through the caption: Kya inka irada
Pak hai? (Are their intentions pure). Several of its top leaders,
including its chief ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh, have publicly
defended their content as "truthful".

The plain truth is that the BJP has tried to browbeat its opponents -
by raising a diversionary issue and by resorting to the melodramatic
(but mercifully aborted) tactic of courting arrest and launching a
self-righteous protest agitation against the E.C.'s notice. (It is
another matter that it also put up a dummy candidate in Tandon's
constituency - his own son - in case the U.P. BJP's topmost leader
faces punitive action.)

This is not the first time that the BJP has resorted to bluff and
bluster, by threatening a "mass agitation", by pretending that any
E.C. action against it would amount to an "electoral emergency", and
by creating a climate of fear. This is a familiar tactic. It takes
recourse to majoritarianism and arouses concern that should a Hindutva
force be even brought to book, the consequences in the form of
disruption of order would be unacceptable.

The BJP did exactly this after the Babri Masjid was demolished in
December 1992, when it prevailed upon the Centre to allow the patently
illegal makeshift Ram-Lala temple built on its rubble to remain.
Indeed, even before that ghastly episode, our courts were reluctant to
take pre-emptive action except of a tokenist variety against it. So
was the government, which retreated each time the BJP adopted an
aggressive posture.

Here too, the fear of a "majoritarian backlash" trumped all
considerations of constitutional propriety, defence of secularism and
plain legality. Since December 1992, no government has dared to assert
the law of the land. Nor have the demolition's planners and
perpetrators been brought to book.

A similar fear gripped the Establishment after the Gujarat pogrom. The
Centre failed to dismiss the BJP-ruled State government although it
had caused, and continued to preside over, a total breakdown of all
constitutional order: even High Court judges and senior police
officers had to flee their homes in fear. The Opposition too failed to
mount enough pressure on the Centre to impose President's Rule, for
which there has never been, and could not have been, a fitter case.

Worse, elections were allowed to be held while a whole community had
been terrorised, democratic governance had collapsed, and free and
fair canvassing, polling and exercise of rational choices had become
impossible — given the continuing harassment and intimidation of
Muslims, inflamed Hindu-communal sentiments, the BJP-VHP's (Vishwa
Hindu Parishad) goonda raj, and the prevalence of a generalised
climate of fear.

All that the E.C.'s initial and salutary intervention in Gujarat
resulted in was postponement of the elections by a few months - when
the obvious remedy was President's Rule, followed by full return to
normalcy and systematic prosecution of the pogrom's perpetrators. The
Supreme Court's off-the-cuff pronouncements indicating its opposition
to deferring elections did not help.

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami flanked by Election
Commissioners S.Y. Quraishi and Naveen Chawla, in New Delhi.

The Establishment, in effect, has repeatedly permitted the BJP to hold
and exercise a veto over vital political processes, exercise of police
and prosecution powers, and the running of the administration in
crisis situations such that it would be suborned by the forces of
Hindu communalism.

This does not argue that the Indian government/Establishment has
turned actively communal over the years, only that it has made
deplorable compromises with Hindu communalists or passively accepted
that they deserve to be treated differently from other communalists,
as well as secularists. It is both noteworthy and shameful that the
worst abuses of freedom and the most ferocious attacks on democracy,
secularism and the rule of law in India's recent history have occurred
in situations where Hindu communalism was ascendant or rampant.

Similarly, the Establishment has allowed the BJP and its associates
virtual veto power on a number of policies, especially those
pertaining to religion and politics, to Kashmir, to relations with
Pakistan and other neighbours, and to defence and national security.
BJP leaders have arrogantly begun to assert such "primacy". Three
years ago, L.K. Advani claimed: "The BJP alone can find solutions to
our problems with Pakistan because Hindus will never think whatever we
have done is a sell-out."

The underlying assumption seems to be that by virtue of being
majoritarian or Hindu-communal, the BJP or the Sangh Parivar is a more
authentic representative of Indian opinion than other political
currents or parties. Nothing could be more false. Looked at
historically, the BJP has been a minority current in Indian politics
until the 1990s. Even at its peak, it has never commanded more than a
quarter of the national vote.

Even more important, the assumption is dangerously misguided and
unbecoming of a society and state that aspires to be secular by
drawing a line of basic demarcation between religion and politics. It
simply cannot accord primacy to a particular religious group by virtue
of its large numbers.

This situation must be remedied. That can only happen when progressive
political opinion and civil society pressure is mounted on the
Establishment so that it stands up to the bullying tactics of the
majoritarian communalists. One must hope that the E.C. will set a
positive example in the CD case.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2408/stories/20070504002810800.htm

Volume 17 - Issue 13, June 24 - July 07, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COMMUNALISM

An assault on Christians

Emboldened by the weak response of governments to attacks against
Christian places of worship, the affiliates of the Sangh Parivar
unleash a new wave of terror against the community.

PARVATHI MENON
in Bangalore

EVER since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance
government assumed power at the Centre, there has been a low-intensity
war against Christians in India, especially nuns and priests, by
groups and organisations loyal to the Sangh Par ivar. A wave of
attacks against Christian evangelists and places of worship through
1998 culminated in the murder of the Australian missionary Graham
Staines and his two sons on January 23, 1999. Dara Singh, a Hindutva
fanatic with links to the Sangh Par ivar, has been arrested in that
connection. A second wave of terror against Christian missionaries,
that extends now to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh, has culminated this June in a series of bomb blasts in
churches in Ka rnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

SHERWIN CRASTO/AP
During a peace march in Mumbai on June 17, Christian priests carry a
portrait of Brother George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in
Mathura.

The bombs that went off in churches in the towns of Vasco in Goa, Wadi
in Karnataka, and Ongole and Tadepalligudem in Andhra Pradesh, point
to a qualitatively new phase in the campaign of organised violence
against Christians in the country. Although the identity of the forces
behind the blasts is yet to be established, the nature of the attacks,
their target and timing, point the finger of suspicion at the Sangh
Parivar. In fact, the month of May alone saw two bomb attacks in
Andhra Pradesh; the first in Machlipatnam where 30 persons were
injured in a bomb blast at a prayer meeting on May 21, and another in
Vikarabad where an explosive device planted in a church was
fortunately defused in time. The simultaneous bomb blasts in the four
towns suggest th at the perpetrators have been emboldened by what has
been seen as a weak and non-serious state response to the terror
campaign so far.

At 6 a.m. on June 8, a bomb exploded on the precincts of the St. Ann
Catholic Church in the industrial town of Wadi in Gulbarga, shattering
glass panes. A second blast occurred at 9 a.m. after the police had
reached the spot, surveyed the area and recove red residual material
of the earlier blast. When a car parked in the church precincts was
moved, a tin box was found protruding from the ground. But it exploded
before the bomb disposal squad could defuse it. One person was injured
in the blast. Wadi has a Christian population of about 80 families.

Around the same time a blast at the St. Andrews Church in Vasco in
south Goa shattered windowpanes and twisted grills out of shape. At
8-15 a.m. that day, the Gewett Memorial Baptist Church in Ongole was
the scene of a bomb blast which because it took pl ace after the
morning service, only injured three persons. A bomb went off at the
Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West Godavari
district, around the same time.

The police have already established certain significant facts with
regard to the blasts. "We are now certain that the same group of
conspirators were behind all the three blasts," C. Dinakaran, Director-
General of Police, Karnataka, told Frontline . In all the cases, he
said, the timing device and the detonators used were of the same type.
While in Andhra Pradesh the explosive had a plastic casing, in Goa and
Karnataka the explosives were encased in tin. The bombs were placed,
in all the cases, ne ar the gates or windows of the church. Gelatine,
an explosive commonly used for blasting in the stone quarries and
cement factories of Gulbarga in Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh was the
raw material used. "The other significant fact is that all the towns
have railway stations and we suspect that this may have determined the
choice of place. The conspirators possibly took trains from one place
to another," said Dinakaran.

K. RAMESH BABU
Inside the Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West
Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which was damaged in a bomb blast
on June 8.

THE serial blast mark a new phase in the continuing two-year-long
violence against the Christian community in the country. The fact of a
conspiracy is now clearly established. This points not only to careful
and coordinated planning, but also to new leve ls and strategies of
planned violence suggestive of a deadly seriousness of purpose. No
longer need mobs be mobilised in the destruction of places of
Christian worship as in the past. The terrorism of the bomb gives the
criminal a degree of invisibility, and widens the range of attack. The
serial bombs were in the nature of a message of intimidation, not just
to those who work for Christian organisations but to Church
congregations, from prayer meetings to Sunday school gatherings. With
the perpetrators of the crime distanced from the scene of the crime,
it is much easier for a compliant state machinery to give them
protection. The fear of indiscriminate strikes anywhere and at any
time has already created a sense of panic amongst Christians. After
all , ifa bomb can be planted in a town as innocuous as Wadi, it could
happen anywhere in the country.

"I read in all this a pattern of violence. These were similar
explosive devices that were used, " Fr. Dr.H.R. Donald De Souza,
deputy secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India
told Frontline. "We suspect an organised movement b y fundamentalist
groups who have been emboldened by the inaction of the government," he
added.

The serial blasts give the lie to the theory of 'secular violence'
that the BJP and the government it heads have put out regarding the
recent attacks on minorities in different parts of the country.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the government held t hat the
innumerable acts of violence against members of the Christian
community, in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and elsewhere, was not communally
motivated but were incidents of "dacoity and loot" by "criminal
gangs".

According to the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR),
there have been 35 recorded anti-Christian crimes between January and
June this year. The most recent of these was the murder of Brother
George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in the Paulus Memorial
School in Navada, Mathura, in U.P. on June 7. Within days of this
incident, a group of nuns were attacked in Mathura by a couple of
scooter-borne assailants. In the case of George Kuzhikandam, U.P.
Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta ins isted that money was the motive
behind the murder. "The BJP and the State government reach conclusions
even before the police start investigation," John Dayal, national
convener of the UCFHR said. "Why would a gang of thugs choose to kill
a poor priest i n his school during the holidays ? Or attack nuns who
run a convent school that charges the lowest fees in the area?" Dayal
said that the U.P. Police had promised to post police units at
Christian institutions but these were soon withdrawn. "A police out
post was stationed at the nuns' ashram in Agra. They proved more of a
nuisance as they insisted on being fed and looked after, and were in
any case taken off duty a few days later!" The U.P. government's stand
on the attacks received support from an unexpected quarter. The
National Minorities Commission (NMC) sent an investigative team to the
Agra-Mathura region and its report upheld the official view that the
cases of physical viol ence and murder were committed by anti-social
elements. "The NMC report was prepared by nominees of the present
government. So it is not surprising that they arrived at the
conclusion they did,"said Fr. Donald De Souza. "A group of Christian
parliamentar ians led by P.C. Thomas conducted another enquiry and on
the basis of the same evidence wholly disagreed with the NMC report,"
he added.

THE BJP responded to the serial blasts even before the government did.
While the Home Ministry "waited for reports from the States," the BJP
announced that the blasts were the handiwork of Pakistan's Inter-
Services Intelligence (ISI), which, it said, is bent on fomenting
hatred between Hindus and Christians in the country. Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee had no information to give as to what action the
State governments had taken when a delegation from the UCFHR called on
him three days after the bl ast. By then police investigations could
not establish any ISI involvement.

K. RAMESH BABU
The facade of the church.

Preliminary investigations into the blasts appear to discount the
theory of ISI involvement. "We cannot rule out anything," said DGP
Dinakaran. "But if an organisation as well-funded as the ISI is
involved, we expect they would use more sophisticated bom bs. Why must
they depend on gelatine and not the more expensive and deadly RDX
(research department explosive)?"

Christian leaders attach importance to the proliferation of hate-
literature that has provided the fuel for the attacks, and which also
provides evidence, for a law enforcing agency that wishes to use such
evidence, of who is behind the violence. Hate-lit erature is freely
printed and distributed in States where the Sangh Parivar is active,
and in States where the BJP is in government or is an ally of the
government, as in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Most hate-pamphlets do
not carry the name of an organis ation that has an address. For
example, there are pamphlets signed by the 'Hindu Jagaran Manch,
Kashi', or by 'Supporters of Dara Singh, the God Who Descended from
Heaven'. While some of the books are directly incendiary, others come
in the garb of work s of historical 'research', and yet others are
books/pamphlets on how to harass Christian missionaries in order to
prevent them from proselytising. For example, a booklet published in
Gujarat suggests that one way to prevent missionaries from working is
to foist false cases on them so that they are always tied up in the
courts.

These are faceless, addressless, front organisations of the Sangh
Parivar. If the law enforcing mechanism is slow in apprehending the
culprits in an attack of communally motivated violence, it is even
slower in tracing and taking action against the print ers and peddlers
of hate-literature. The environment in all the three States where the
serial blasts occurred has been vitiated by the activities of the
Sangh Parivar. "We are alarmed at the statements of important people
in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamseva k Sangh) and the BJP, such as B.K.
Modi and Ashok Singhal, who have been talking of the need to build a
pan Buddhist-Hindu alliance against Christianity and Islam in South
Asia," said Dayal. "The RSS chief speaks of an "Epochal War". What
does all this m ean?" he asked. The NDA government has already swept
the uncomfortable issue of the serial blasts, which they were briefly
confronted with, under the carpet. A passing worry presented itself
when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu was reported to
have tol d a delegation of Christian leaders that he would even
consider withdrawing support to the BJP-led government if the rights
of the minorities were not protected. But that concern too was
dispelled when the Telugu Desam Party leader denied that he had sai d
anything of the sort.

To the Christians in the country, the targets of a sustained two-year-
long cycle of violence, there is little room for comfort. And for
assurances there are few positive measures that have been taken for
their protection.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1713/17130210.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 26 :: Dec. 19, 1998 - Jan. 01, 1999

COLUMN
RSS and Christians

The Sangh Parivar's violent hatred against Christianity is deep-rooted
and decades old, as is the case with its animosity against several
other communities.

A. G. NOORANI

ON December 4, 1998, nearly 23 million Christians across the country
observed a protest day demanding that the governments at the Centre
and in the States check the growing violence against members of the
community. A letter of protest, drawn up by the United Christians'
Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR), said: "Since January 1998 there has
been more violence against the Christian community than in all the 50
years of the country's Independence. Nuns have been raped, priests
executed, Bibles burnt, churches demolished, educational institutions
destroyed and religious people harassed." This is persecution in the
strict dictionary meaning of the word "pursue with enmity and ill-
treatment". Mabel Rebello of the Congress(I) told the Rajya Sabha that
day that "50 per cent of these (incidents) have occurred in Gujarat
where the BJP is in power".

On October 8, Gujarat's Director-General of Police, C.P. Singh,
confirmed in an interview to Teesta Setalvad, co-editor of Communalism
Combat (October 1998): "One thing was clear in the pattern of
incidents. It was the activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and
Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their own hands, which posed
a serious danger to peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the
minorities were after these organisations had whipped up local
passions of conversions (by Christian missionaries) and allegedly
forced inter-religious marriages... our investigations revealed that
in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."

Two disturbing features of the campaign stand out in bold relief. One
is that the attacks mounted steeply after the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led Government assumed office in March 1998. The Archbishop of Delhi,
Alan de Lastic, said: "What I have noticed is that ever since this
Government came to power at the Centre, the attacks on Christians and
Christian missionaries have increased" (Sunday, November 22). The
other is the Government's wilful refusal to condemn them. Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks on December 5 were virtually
forced out of him. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has been false to
his oath of office ("do right to all manner of people in accordance
with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or
ill-will"). He said in Baroda on August 2 (The Hindu, August 3):
"There is no law and order problem in Gujarat." Three days later the
DGP said, according to The Hindustan Times (August 6), that "the VHP
and the Bajrang Dal were taking the law into their own hands." He also
said that incidents of communal violence had increased manifold over
the last few months; recently the crime rate in the State had
increased by as much as 9.6 per cent. On an average, 39 crimes of
serious nature like murder, rape and dacoity were reported in the
State every day." A member of the investigation team sent by the
Minorities Commission revealed: "After initial reluctance, the
officials named VHP and Bajrang Dal allegedly involved in the mob
attacks on Christians and Muslims" (The Indian Express, August 12).
Advani's certificate of good conduct speaks for itself.

Christians did not rush to register their protest, as they did on
December 4, but for long kept pleading for succour. On October 1, the
national secretary of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), John Dayal,
pointedly remarked: "The AICU is surprised that Union Government and
members of the ruling coalition, including the BJP, have not come out
categorically in denouncing the violence against Christians."

The Bajrang Dal has threatened Christian-run educational institutions
in Karnataka with dire consequences if they did not "Hinduise" them.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Rajendra Singh declared at an RSS
camp in Meerut on November 22: "Muslims and Christians will have to
accept Hindu culture as their own if Hindus are to treat them as
Indians" (an Agence France Presse: report in The Asian Age; November
23). The UCFHR bitterly complained in an open letter published on
November 19: "The state has failed to do its duty in protecting the
life, dignity and property of the victims. At many places, it seems as
if the Centre and the State governments have tacitly supported the
communal groups. How is it otherwise that the State governments have
not taken any action against the virulent and anti-national statements
of the VHP, RSS, Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal?" (emphasis added,
throughout).

While the Sangh Parivar's animosity towards Muslims is well-known, its
attitude towards Christians has taken many people by surprise. But,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Giriraj Kishore said in
Chandigarh on November 25: "Today the Christians constitute a greater
threat than the collective threat from separatist Muslim elements."
Describing G. S. Tohra, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, as a "separatist", he said, "all minorities including
Muslims and Christians must accept that their ancestors were Hindus."
Ergo, they must all return to the Hindu fold.

Violence in speech inevitably inspires violent acts. As the Jaganmohan
Reddy Commission that went into the Ahmedabad riots (1969) noted, once
communal tension is created in a city, all that is needed is "only a
match to set on fire and a fan to fan the city ablaze." Riots erupt
over trifling incidents only because the atmosphere has been fouled
up. Hence, the need for "a proper appreciation of the communal
atmosphere in a State, in a town or in any particular area," the
Commission stressed. Those who spread hate are the real perpetrators
of violence. The ones who wield the weapon are their mindless agents.

We have tended to ignore a fact that brooks no neglect - the real
cause of the communal riots is the rise of the Sangh Parivar. There
was communal peace even in the early years after Partition. A Home
Ministry review presented to the National Integration Council in 1968
noted: "From 1954 to 1960, there was a clear and consistent downward
trend, 1960 being a remarkably good year with only 26 communal
incidents in the whole country. This trend was sharply reversed in
1961. "That was when riots erupted in Jabalpur - thanks to the Jan
Sangh, the BJP's ancestor. Communal violence has not "looked back"
since.

Justice P. Venugopal, a former Judge of the Madras High Court, who
inquired into Hindu-Christian clashes in Kanyakumari district in March
1982, noted: "The RSS adopts a militant and aggressive attitude and
sets itself as the champion of what it considers to be the rights of
Hindus against minorities. It has taken upon itself the task to teach
the minority their place and if they are not willing to learn their
place, teach them a lesson. The RSS has given respectability to
communalism and communal riots and demoralise administration (sic).
The RSS methodology for provoking communal violence is: (a) rousing
communal feelings in the majority community by the propaganda that
Christians are not loyal citizens of this country..." Report after
report has indicted the RSS specifically or its affiliates (Ahmedabad
1969; Bhiwandi 1970; Tellicherry 1971; Jamshedpur 1981; and Mumbai
1993).

VIOLENCE is an integral part of the RSS credo. "It should be used as a
surgeon's knife... to cure the society... Sometimes to protect non-
violence itself violence becomes necessary," RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar
said in 1952. (Spotlights: Guruji Answers, pages 110 and 188). In his
fine work India as a Secular State, Donald Eugene Smith recalled the
desecration of a church in Bihar in 1955 and the almost total
destruction in 1957 of the Gass Memorial Centre at Raipur.

V.D. Savarkar wrote repeatedly in his book Hindutva (1923): "Hindutva
is different from Hinduism." For once, he was right. Hinduism is a
great religion, it is ancient. Hindutva is an ideology of hate. It is
recent. He grouped Muslims and Christians together as ones who do not
share "the tie of the common homage we pay to our great civilisation -
our Hindu culture." He added: "Christian and Mohammedan communities
who were but very recently Hindus... cannot be recognised as Hindus as
since their adoption of the new cult they had ceased to own Hindu
civilisation (Sanskriti) as a whole... For though Hindusthan to them
is Fatherland, as to any other Hindu, yet it is not to them a Holyland
too. Their holyland is far off in Arabia or Palestine."

They are not the only offenders: "Look at the Jews; neither centuries
of prosperity nor sense of gratitude for the shelter they found can
make them more attached or even equally attached to the several
countries they inhabit."

Golwalkar revealed on May 15, 1963 that his first book We or Our
Nationhood Defined was based on Savarkar's brother Babarao's book in
Marathi on the same theme, Rashtra Mimamsa. Golwalkar's second book,
Bunch of Thoughts, praised the book Hindutva and amplified its
ideology. The BJP has used it as a political weapon with dangerous
consequences. Chapter XII of Bunch of Thoughts is devoted to three
"Internal Threats" - Muslims, Christians and the Communists. Of the
first two he wrote: "Together with the change in their faith, gone are
the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Nor does it end there.
They have also developed a feeling of identification with the enemies
of this land. They look to some foreign lands as their holy places."
They are asked to return to the Hindu fold.

Not that that will be of much help. "For a Hindu, he gets the first
sanskar when he is still in his mother's womb... We are, therefore,
born as Hindus. About the others, they are born to this world as
simple unnamed human beings and later on, either circumcised or
baptised, they become Muslims or Christians." The hatred is
unconcealed. They have no right to proselytise. Hindus alone have it,
for, "returning to one's ancestral faith is not conversion at all, it
is merely home-coming."

Bunch of Thoughts first appeared in 1966 but the good work has been
stepped up since. To the three "internal threats", a fourth is added -
"Nehruism" - and among the perils we face is "Macaulayism". In Delhi
functions an outfit, Voice of India, which proclaims: "We are not
general booksellers and handle only books listed in this catalogue.
Please do not ask for other books." It is an outfit with a mission.
For the catalogue has an "appeal" which reads thus: "Hindu society and
culture are faced with a crisis. There is a united front of entrenched
alien forces - Islam, Christianity, Communism, Nehruism - to disrupt
and discredit the perennial values of the Indian ethos. All who care
for India need to know what is happening, and what is to be done if a
major tragedy is to be averted. Voice of India aims at providing an
ideological defence of Hindu society and culture, through a series of
publications."

SOME people were surprised by Advani's assertion at a seminar on
November 6 at Sarnath that "the Buddha did not announce any new
religion. He was only restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals
of the Indo-Aryan civilisation." The Buddha, he added, derived his
teaching from the Bhagvad Gita and was an avatar of Vishnu. Rebuttals
from Buddhists were swift and sharp (see "Hindutva's fallacies and
fantasies", Frontline, December 4, 1998).

However, no one familiar with the stuff churned out by this factory,
for over four decades, would have been surprised. Its literature is
intolerant of any cultural and religious diversity. It fosters a siege
mentality among Hindus and speaks disparagingly of all others - not
excluding Sikhs and Jews. That is not all. A Hindu who does not share
its bigotry is attacked as being "anti-Hindu". Its literature
represents the spirit, outlook and ethos of the Sangh Parivar. The
writings cited below reveal a revolting virulence. Its moving spirit
is one Sita Ram Goel.

The Parivar's organ Organiser only recently (October 18, 1998)
published a paper he had written in 1983. He wrote: "The English-
educated Hindu elite which controls the commanding heights in
government, educational institutions and mass media has failed the
test either because it has become indifferent to Hindu society, as a
result of having imbibed the current cosmopolitan culture, or because
it has been trained to look at Hindu society through eyes which are
not of its own ancestral culture and, as a result, has become
sceptical about, if not actually hostile to, the merits of Hindu
society. This desperate situation has been made more difficult by a
degenerate politics through which vote-hungry, sloganised, short-
sighted and nominally Hindu politicians weaken Hindu society by
dividing it on the basis of caste, sect, language and region, disarm
Hindu society by sanctimonious and one-sided appeals in the name of
traditional Hindu tolerance, strengthen alienated and aggressive
communities by supporting their separatist demands in the name of
secularism." His intolerance brings all within the sway of his
indictment, bar the Parivar itself.

TO return to Advani's notions on Buddhism, a pamphlet entitled
"Buddhism vis-a-vis Hinduism" published 40 years ago by Ram Swarup for
the outfit asserts: "Buddha, his spiritual experiences and teachings,
formed part of a Hindu tradition... A good Buddhist has perforce to be
a good Hindu too." He went on to attack "foreign" religions. "The
indigenous religions of the countries of the two Americas have been
completely overwhelmed. In the African sub-continent (sic) the local
religions are under a systematic attack from Islamic and Christian
ideologies." The Parivar takes a dim view of the United States.

Golwalkar was asked in July 1967: "What is your opinion about present-
day America?" There was lot to comment about - racial conflict,
Vietnam policy, and so on. All he could say was: "Do you not yourself
see that the American youth is fast dissipating himself in all kinds
of sensual indulgence?" Simplistic, sweeping, defamatory judgment
comes easily to the tribe.

Ram Swarup's tract Hinduism vis-a-vis Christianity and Islam continued
his refrain about "native" faiths. "What is happening in India is also
happening elsewhere. In America even the vestiges of once (sic), a
rich spiritual culture of the Indians, is no more." He developed the
theme in its sequel Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1992). "The
two ideologies have been active and systematic persecutors of pagan
nations, cultures and religions... We have spoken here with sympathy
and respect not only of pagan Americas and Africa but also of the
pagan past of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iran, Syria and Arabia." V.S.
Naipaul is in good company with the Sangh Parivar. Unlike him, it
indicts Christianity as well as Islam on this score.

"Hinduism can help all peoples seeking religious self-renewal, for it
preserves in some way their old Gods and religions, it preserves in
its various layers religious traditions and intuitions they have lost.
Many countries now under Christianity and Islam had once great
religions; they also had great Gods who adequately fulfilled their
spiritual and ethical needs... during the long period of neglect, they
lost the knowledge which could revive those Gods, Hinduism can help
them with this knowledge. In its simplest aspect, Europeans can best
study their old pre-Christian religion by studying Hinduism."

Ram Swarup goes on to quote approvingly: "Gore Vidal says that from a
'barbaric Bronze Age text known as Old Testament, three anti-human
religions have evolved - Judaism, Christianity and Islam'; he also
calls them 'sky-god religions'."

Ram Swarup damns all three religions as "great persecutors". The Hindu
response of old was wrong. He writes:

"First, they tried to 'reform' themselves and be like their rulers...
One God, a revealed Book and prophets.... The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya
Samaj, and the Akalis also claimed monotheism and iconoclasm ... in
the case of the Akalis, the new look has also become the basis of a
new separatist-militant politics....

"The second way the Hindus adopted was that of 'synthesis'. The
synthesizers claimed that all religions preach the same thing. They
found in the Bible and the Quran all the truths of the Upanishads and
vice versa. They culled passages from various scriptures to prove
their point... It is by such methods that they proved that the Bible
and the Quran were no different from the Upanishads...."

The wrath wells up as he proceeds and delivers a message which
explains why the country has had to undergo what it has all these
years, especially since 1990: "India became politically free in 1947,
but it is ruled by anti-Hindu Hindus. The old mental slavery continues
and it has yet to win its cultural and intellectual independence.
India is entering into the second phase of its freedom struggle; the
struggle for regaining its Hindu identity. The new struggle is as
difficult as the old one. Hindus are disorganised, self-alienated,
morally and ideologically disarmed. They lack leadership; the Hindu
elites have become illiterate about their spiritual heritage and
history and indifferent and even hostile towards their religion...
India's higher education, its academia and media are in the hands of a
Hindu-hating elite."

Note what Ram Swarup has to say of the caste system:

"Once when Hinduism was strong, castes represented a natural and
healthy diversity, but now in its present state of weakness these are
used for its dismemberment. Old vested interests joined by new ones
have come together to make use of the caste factor in a big way in
order to keep Hindus down.

"Hindus have been kept down too long. Everyone including the victims
think that it is the natural order of things. Therefore, now when the
Hindu society is showing some signs of stir, there is a great
consternation. Already a cry has gone out of Hindu fundamentalism, we
must expect more of it in future." The readers have been warned. But
India will not be the only country to be saved. "America is awaiting
to be rediscovered in a characteristically Hindu way, not the
Christian way".

THIS represents a worse-than-narrow world-view. It is redolent of the
bigotry of medieval times. This book was published in 1992. His
earlier pamphlet, "Cultural Self-Alienation and Some Problems Hinduism
Faces", also characterised "castes and denominations" as expressing a
"natural and healthy diversity". The ignorance is astounding. "To
Marx, the British conquest of India was a blessing." Hinduism faces
attacks "both from inside and outside. While the forces of self-
alienation are increasing within society, external enemies have
intensified their attack.... Communism, Islam, Christianity have
powerful international links... their World-Centres. Commu-nists have
their Comintern working overtly or covertly." By 1987, Ram Swarup
ought to have known that the Comintern was dissolved on May 22, 1943
and that the "Islamic International, a kind of Muslim Vatican, Rabitah
al'-alam al-Iscaniya" (Muslim World League) is a Saudi-sponsored non-
governmental organisation (1962) which counts for little in India.
Hindus, by comparison, are at a disadvantage, he moans. "They do not
even have a government of their own." Socially, they are falling prey
to "vulgarity"; that is, "gambling, drinking, vulgar film music...
Cinemas (sic) are becoming great moral and social pollutants."


ANU PUSHKARNA
The Christian missionary centre at Nawapara in Jhabua district,
Madhya Pradesh, where four nuns were gangraped on September 23.

So, combat these and go over to the offensive and "look at Islam,
Christianity and Communism... from the Hindu angle." Sikhs are not
spared. Ram Swarup adopts a dual approach in Hindu-Sikh Relationship
(1985). He woos them as "the members of Hindu society" and denounces
them for thinking that "they were different". Base motives are freely
attributed: "Thanks to the Green Revolution and various other factors,
the Sikhs have become relatively more rich and prosperous. No wonder,
they have begun to find that the Hindu bond is not good enough for
them and they seek a new identity readily available to them in their
names and outer symbols. This is an understandable human frailty."

He defends the storming of the Golden Temple. It "became an arsenal, a
fort, a sanctuary for criminals. This grave situation called for
necessary action which caused some unavoidable damage to the
building." There followed "protest meetings, resolutions", which he
deprecates. "The whole thing created wide-spread resentment all over
India which burst into a most unwholesome violence when Mrs. Indira
Gandhi was assassinated. The befoggers have again got busy and they
explain the whole tragedy in terms of collusion between the
politicians and the police. But this conspiracy theory cannot explain
the range and the virulence of the tragedy. A growing resentment at
the arrogant Akali politics is the main cause of this fearful
happening."

This is of a piece with the Organiser's defence of Mahatma Gandhi's
assassination in its editorial (January 11, 1970) - "turned the
people's wrath on himself." Its editor then, K.R. Malkani, is now vice-
president of the BJP.

SITA RAM GOEL does not lag behind. His pamphlet "Hindu Society under
Siege" (1981) paints a frightening future: "The death of Hindu society
is no longer an eventuality which cannot be envisaged. This great
society is now besieged by the same dark and deadly forces which have
overwhelmed and obliterated many ancient societies. Suffering from a
loss of its elan, it has become a house divided within itself... Hindu
society is in mortal danger as never before."

One is reminded of the loonies of California, the minutemen who lived
in dread of a Soviet conquest of the U.S. The familiar ghosts of old
are revived - "Islamism", "Christianism" and a new one to keep them
company, "Macaulay-ism" (the educated Hindu who rejects the Parivar's
voodoo credo and the mumbo-jumbo of its shrill rhetoric).

"Ideologically, Communism in India is, in several respects, a sort of
extension of Macaulayism, a residue of British rule. That is why
Communism is strongest today in those areas where Macaulayism had
spread its widest spell." In no other parts of the country, though,
are Indian languages and culture more highly respected than in West
Bengal and Kerala. "Macaulayism is wedded to Secularism and Democracy.
It has to find out for itself as to who are the enemies of Secularism
and Democracy and who their best friends. This can be done only by
looking beyond the United Front of Islamism, Communism and
Christianism."

In the U.S., the minutemen belonged to the lunatic fringe. In India,
the Parivar's ideology is espoused by the party in power, even if it
be through dubious alliances. Scruples are not the Parivar's
strongpoint. On April 4, 1980, L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee endorsed
a formulation in the National Executive of the Janata Party which
pledged its members to accept "unconditionally and strive to preserve
the composite culture and secular state established in our country."
After splitting the Janata Party both rejected the concept of India's
"composite culture." On April 8, 1998, at the BJP's Agra session, its
then president, Advani, denounced the concept of composite culture -
just as the Jan Sangh had done in December 1969.

HARSH NARAIN was a Visiting Professor at Aligarh Muslim University and
Reader at the North-Eastern Hill University. His Myths of Composite
Cultural and Equality of Religions (1990) reveals the unspoken
thoughts of the Parivar; the sub-text beneath the avowed text.

"Mere permanent settlement in a country does not entitle a plunderer
to be looked upon as indigenous. It must first be seen whose interests
he is out to serve. What is his attitude towards Indians? Take an
example. European settlers entered America and ruined the original
inhabitants, whom they named 'Red Indians'. To expect the remaining
Red Indians to regard their European-born rulers as equally indigenous
would be a cruel joke beyond their understanding.

"Islam was out to deal a death blow to the equilibrium, exuberance,
and cosmopolitan character of Indian humanity, later designated as
Hindu culture in juxtaposition to Indian culture."

To him, the Taj and the Qutub Minar are specimens exclusively of
Muslim, not Indian, sculpture. For, he holds: "The Muslims have been
religiously indifferent to, if not contemptuous of, Indian sculpture.
Thanks to the taste of the Sufis, the Muslims took some fancy to
Indian music. The main gamut of Indian literature has also been
untinged with Muslim literature and historic-cultural allusions...
Urdu language and literature, the much-vaunted symbols or vehicles of
composite culture, are not the result of intermingling of Hinduism and
Islam but reflected the Muslim image in Indian garb... nor have the
Hindu heroes and servants been fortunate enough to be honoured by the
Muslim community."

This can only be deliberate falsehood, since he flaunts familiarity
with Urdu. The much-maligned Iqbal wrote whole poems in praise of the
Buddha, Ram, Guru Nanak, and Swami Ram Tirtha. He was an admirer of
the Sanskrit poet, Bhartruhari, and had drunk deep at the fount of the
Gita and the Upanishads. Another great poet, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a
confirmed leftist, wrote nostalgically of the soil of Mathura and in
praise of Krishna. He was also an ardent admirer of Bal Gangadhar
Tilak. But this is understandable of one who stoops to libel one of
the greatest mystics and martyrs of all time, Mansur al-Hallaj. He was
beheaded and his life forms the subject of the feat of scholarship,
Louis Massignon's four-volume The Passion of al-Hallaj. He is accused
of converting to Islam "the Dudwalas and Pinjaris of Gujarat." No
authority is cited in support of the charge.

Harsh Narain holds that while "a sizable section of the Sufis had been
comparatively free from the proverbial emphasis on coercion ... the
role of Sufi tradition in bridging the gulf between Islam and Hinduism
or laying the foundations of a composite culture has been greatly
exaggerated."

All this and more only in order to expose "the mad propaganda of
composite culture" and to prove that "Muslim culture cannot be said to
be an integral part of Indian culture and must be regarded as an
anticulture or counter culture in our body politic." This is no
different from the RSS chief's demand (November 22, 1998) that the
minorities Hinduise themselves.

The author turns his attention to Jainism ("failed to develop any
cultural identity of its own") and Buddhism ("basically a life-
negating religion, having little interest in social order, strictly
speaking"). Conclusion? "Our national culture, Indian culture, is a
unity describable as Aryan culture, Hindu culture... Indian culture is
Hindu culture... Muslim and Christian cultures are counter-cultures."
And Parsi culture is "something like" a sub-culture.

So "Hindu culture alone deserves the credit of recognition as the
national culture (abhimanin) of this country, as the culture owning
and possessing this great nation, along with other Indian-born
cultures like Buddhist and Jain cultures as its sub-cultures; Muslim
and Christian cultures being in the nature of tenant-cultures. The
distinction of master-possessor-owner culture and tenant-parasitic
culture has its own significance." One can guess what he is hinting
at.

Sita Ram Goel writes in the same vein. His ardour is reflected in his
three books Catholic Ashrams, Papacy and History of Hindu-Christian
Encounters (304-1996). His preface to the second edition (1996) of the
book on Hindu-Christian encounters explains a lot: "The Sangh Parivar,
which had turned cold towards Hindu causes over the years, was
startled by the rout of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1984
elections, and decided to renew its Hindu character. The
Ramajanmabhumi Movement was the result. The Movement was aimed at
arresting Islamic aggression. Christianity or its missions were hardly
mentioned. Nevertheless, it was Christianity which showed the greatest
concern at this new Hindu stir, and started crying 'wolf'. Its media
power in the West raised a storm, saying that Hindus were out to
destroy the minorities in India and impose a Nazi regime. The storm is
still raging and no one knows when it will subside, if at all." Thus
"the storm" was unleashed for reasons of power through election
victories.

Goel's writings alone prove that the Parivar's ire against Christians
is decades old. In an article published in March 1983 he had asserted
that the ancient Hindu precept sarva dharma samabhava (all religions
are equal) should not be applied to Christians or Muslims.

IT is with some hesitation that one turns to Goel's book Jesus Christ:
An Artifice for Aggression (1994); so wantonly offensive it is. The
focus now is not on the missionaries, or politics, or history. The
target is the faith itself; Christianity as a religion. Why? Because
hitherto "we Hindus have remained occupied with the behaviour patterns
of Muslims and Christians and not with the belief systems which create
those behaviour patterns. We object to Christian missions, but refuse
to discuss Christianity and its God, Jesus. We object to Islamic
terrorisms, but refuse to have a look at Islamic and its prophet,
Muhammad. I see no sense or logic in this Hindu habit."

Is there any other country in the world where such theses are written
for such a purpose? One wonders. "Now, I could see why the history of
Christianity had been what it had been. The source of the poison was
in the Jesus of the gospels."

The Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is attacked wantonly. There
are chapters on Jesus of history, of fiction and of faith. The thesis?
He did not exist in history. "The quantum of crimes committed by
Muhammad's Islam was only slightly smaller than that of the crimes
committed by the Christianity of the Jesus Christ... The parallel
between Jesus and Hitler was seen as still more striking. The Nazi
creed, as laid down by Hitler, did not sound much different from the
Christian creed as preached by Jesus in the gospels."

Goel is dismayed to find that Jesus Christ "should continue to retain
his hallow" (sic) in India. "Christianity is accepted as a religion
not only by the westernised Hindu elite but also by Hindu saints,
scholars, and political platforms."

Jesus Christ has been "praised to the skies, particularly by Mahatma
Gandhi." But, "it is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolises no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more
than an artifice for legitimising wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture. The West where he flourished for long, has
discarded him as junk. There is no reason why Hindus should buy him.
He is the type of junk that cannot be re-cycled. He can only poison
the environment."

THE virulence of the language reveals the depths of the hatred. This
is what Indians are up against - a powerful hate group, enjoying the
patronage of many politicians in power and in the administration,
which is out to wipe out all traces not only of secularism and
democracy but of religious tolerance, religious and cultural diversity
and, indeed, of decency itself from India.

It shall not come to pass. The answer lies not in forging a united
front of the minorities; it lies in a renewal of the secular ideal in
our politics and in the nation at large.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1526/15261230.htm

Volume 19 - Issue 09, Apr. 27 - May 12, 2002
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

Plumbing new depths

No Indian Prime Minister has justified a communal pogrom the way
Vajpayee has. The BJP's Goa conclave marks the lowest point in
Hindutva's hardline evolution, underlining the need to punish the BJP
politically.

ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE'S public address at the April 12 BJP National
Executive meeting in Goa has rudely convulsed the secular conscience
of India's citizens. Many were jolted out of the complacent
assumption, promoted by sections of the media, that Vajpayee is some
kind of "moderate" or "liberal" - "the right man in the wrong party" -
a leader "secular" at heart, whose political "compulsions" regrettably
drive him from time to time to compromise with Hindutva. Yet others
attributed the tone and tenor of his speech to his interaction with
the party's young "hardliners" immediately before the Goa meeting,
such as Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and M. Venkaiah Naidu, or to the
temporary "influence" of L.K. Advani, which made him reverse the
stance he adopted during his April 4 Gujarat visit.

The significance of Vajpayee's address goes much beyond his personal
"unmasking". His adoption of a virulent communal posture - which looks
at Indian society in terms of a division between Hindus and Others,
and accords social and political primacy to the majority community -
is shocking, but not really surprising. Vajpayee has never claimed to
be secular in the sense of separating religion from politics, or even
to have cut his umbilical cord to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Several public statements can be readily cited, which indicate
Vajpayee's ideological-political inclinations: for instance, "the
Sangh is my soul" (1995), "I will always remain a
swayamsevak" (September 2000), the Ram temple agitation is a "national
movement", not a sectarian-parochial one (December 2000), and his
Uttar Pradesh election speech in February 2002, in which he chided
Muslims for not voting for the BJP, but also warned them it could come
to power without their support. These are not aberrations. Nor is his
annual obeisance to the Sangh in the form of guru dakshina. Vajpayee
is as dedicated to Hindutva or "cultural nationalism" as any RSS
pracharak.

The true significance of Vajpayee's disquisition in Goa lies in its
relationship to the BJP's recent rightward evolution, and secondly, in
the new low political depths it plumbs. Never before has a Prime
Minister of India, of whatever persuasion, descended to making a hate-
speech against Muslims or Christians, castigating them as "outsiders".
Never before were our religious minorities humiliated by a Prime
Minister who would want them to feel grateful for being "allowed to
pray" - that is, for exercising their fundamental constitutional
right.

Never before has an Indian Prime Minister used such aggressive body
language to justify the Gujarat pogrom by citing the "who-cast-the-
first-stone" argument. Vajpayee blamed the victims of India's worst
communal pogrom for their own suffering. No other Prime Minister has
so blatantly undermined public confidence in the rule of law and in
the possibility of minimal justice for all in this society.

We now know, from numerous independent media accounts, and from
several highly credible and sensitive reports*, that the Godhra
killing of 59 Hindus was not, causally, "the first stone". The post-
February 27 carnage in Gujarat, which has claimed upwards of 850
lives, would probably have occurred even if the Godhra incident had
not. The conditions were ripe for the massacre of Muslims in that
"Hindutva laboratory" State. Elaborate preparations had been under way
for weeks before the massacre, in particular after kar sevaks were
dispatched daily to Ayodhya following the stepping up of the temple
campaign.

For instance, according to sources in Vadodara, lakhs of anti-Muslim
leaflets were illegally printed on slow treadle machines - which must
have taken months. Bombs and trishuls were stockpiled over a period of
weeks. The gap, exceeding 24 hours, between the "trigger event" and
the anti-Muslim violence - in contrast to, say, the immediate reaction
in Delhi to Indira Gandhi's assassinatio - only confirms the
organised, unspontaneous, planned nature of the pogrom.

Reconstruction of the Godhra incident, for example in the Citizens'
Forum report, suggests that it was a spontaneous, rather than an
elaborately planned, over-reaction to the daily harassment of local
Ghanchi Muslims (oil-pressers by occupation) by communally charged kar
sevaks returning from Ayodhya. Had there been serious preparation for
the attack on the Sabarmati Express, scheduled to reach Godhra at 2-55
a.m., there would have been a large crowd on the railway platform at
dawn. There was not.

When the train rolled in five hours late, there were only a handful of
vendors, porters and passengers on the platform. An altercation broke
out between the kar sevaks and Muslim tea vendors. It was only when a
rumour spread that young Sophia Khan had been dragged into coach S-6
that a crowd gathered near Signal Fadia, a basti known for communal
tension and criminal activities.

Seven weeks on, the government has failed to provide credible evidence
linking the Godhra episode to a "conspiracy" involving Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence or even an organised group in Gujarat or
elsewhere. Nor can it explain why towns such as Ratlam, which are
physically far closer to Godhra, and which have a similar composition
of Hindus, Muslims and Adivasis, did not register any "retaliatory"
violence, while distant Ahmedabad did.

The reasons are self-evidently Gujarat-specific and political. They
have to do with the Narendra Modi government's conscious decision to
support the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's February 28 bandh call and the
authorities' decision to transport the bodies of the Godhra victims by
train to Ahmedabad in a ceremonial manner calculated to inflame
passions. It is impossible to separate the post-February 27 violence
either from the Modi government or Gujarat's communalised context.

The fact that Vajpayee stooped to endorse Modi's "action-reaction"
logic to justify violent retribution upon a falsely constructed
collective culprit (Muslims) speaks of an utterly debased mind. The
logic of such revenge is ultimately the logic of "getting even" with
history, of Nazism, of barbarism. That is now unfolding before our
eyes.

Clearly, the BJP has decided to embrace a virulent form of Hindutva,
one that bases itself on a contemporary version of the "Two-Nation"
theory. Its disgraceful defence of Modi, its coercive tactics in the
NDA, its prolonged refusal to discuss Gujarat under Rule 184 in the
Lok Sabha, and its wholly unapologetic, brazen, attitude towards the
continuing climate of fear, intimidation and terror in Gujarat all
confirm this. The very fact that the BJP seriously threatened to hold
mid-term Assembly elections in Gujarat in a vitiated atmosphere, and
used it as a bargaining chip in negotiating with its allies, testifies
to its cynicism.

The consequences of this stance are already apparent. Thus, BJP
spokesman V.K. Malhotra made a revoltingly aggressive statement
likening the Congress to the pre-Partition Muslim League - merely
because the Congress expressed concern at the butchery of Muslims
(although not to the exclusion of concern for Hindus too). And one
cannot fail to note Modi's deviousness in transferring honest police
officers who tried to maintain a semblance of impartiality, or his
gross insensitivity to traumatised Muslim children in thrusting
examinations on them at centres located in areas where Muslims were
butchered.

Gujarat is a fit case for compelling the State government to abide by
the Constitution under Article 355 and for imposing President's Rule
under Article 356. True, Article 356 has been repeatedly misused to
dismiss Opposition governments. The demand for its use is being voiced
by forces with an extremely dubious record. But there could be no
fitter case than Gujarat to which the following description from the
Constitution applies: "a situation has arisen in which the government
of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of
the Constitution."

The constitutional machinery patently broke down in Gujarat on
February 28 when scores of citizens were massacred with the full
complicity of the state, and when it could not even protect a guardian
of the constitutional order, a High Court Judge, who happened to be a
Muslim.

It is precisely for such contingencies that President's Rule was
envisaged. The Gujarat situation cannot get normalised with Modi's
replacement alone. If hardcore sanghis like Goverdhan Zadaphia or
Ashok Bhatt were to take over, it could worsen. It is essential, but
not enough, that Modi be sacked. The whole government must be
dismissed and Gujarat placed under President's Rule with advisers of
impeccable integrity and experience, recommended by Parliament as a
whole.

It will take months for Gujarat to recuperate and achieve normalcy in
any real sense. Such normalcy must include reconciliation between
estranged neighbours and communities, full physical, psychological and
economic rehabilitation, and restoration of public confidence in the
impartiality of the government as regards different religious groups.

The danger of half-hearted reconciliation should be obvious. If the
one lakh Muslims who are in relief camps - and three or four times as
many, whose livelihoods have been affected - are forced to fend for
themselves without state and community assistance, they will probably
leave Gujarat altogether, or create "safe" ghettos for themselves. The
greater the ghettoisation, the greater the mutual estrangement of
religious groups, the lesser their social interaction - and the
greater the scope for conflict.

That is the last thing Gujarat needs. Indeed, it would be a recipe for
another communal pogrom. That is precisely what Hindutva craves most.
If the BJP succeeds in its game plan in Gujarat, by whipping up anti-
Muslim hysteria, it will replicate the same trick nationally - if
necessary, by staging another Godhra. If the Nazis could stage the
Reichstag fire, the BJP can create a Godhra-II, through agents
provocateurs.

These comparisons are not far-fetched. In foundational premises of its
ideology and politics, the BJP shares a great deal with the Italian
fascists, the German Nazis and the Taliban. They all reject the
emancipatory heritage of the Enlightenment. They privilege tradition
(itself ill-defined and distorted) over modernity. They are profoundly
intolerant of difference. They hate democracy and equality. And they
do not believe in just and fair means to achieve just ends. They are
prone to despotic methods and barbaric violence.

It will take a lot of effort to fight a force like the BJP-RSS-VHP. It
has already captured a number of institutions and key positions in
government and civil society. It has a dedicated, if fanatical, cadre.
Even in the short run, it will not be possible to isolate the Hindutva
forces unless the perpetrators of the Gujarat violence are severely
punished for their grave crimes, along the lines described in the
previous Frontline column (issue of April 26), and unless the BJP is
politically punished, that is, made to pay a heavy price through
systematic boycott and isolation.

One wishes this would happen both nationally, in the National
Democratic Alliance, and in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is about to
form a government with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Regrettably, the BSP
leadership seems to be bent on using its Dalit base as virtual common-
fodder for Hindutva - for dubious, at best petty, short-term gains.

Fighting Hindutva will be a long haul. But the struggle would not even
have been joined unless the Opposition mounts relentless pressure on
the NDA, both inside and outside Parliament, through dharnas, rallies,
public meetings and mass mobilisation. The People's Front should
consider launching a relay dharna in Gujarat's major cities.

The Opposition will do well to join hands with citizens' groups such
as SAHMAT, Aman Ekta Manch, People for Secularism and the Citizens'
Initiative (Ahmedabad), which have done a great deal to highlight the
Gujarat issue and collect donations for the victims' relief. For
instance, SAHMAT mobilised artists to donate their paintings and
raised Rs.5.5 lakhs through their sale.

One thing is clear: it will be a crying shame if the BJP is allowed to
go unpunished for its grievous assault on India's secular-democratic-
constitutional order, and on the foundations of this plural, diverse,
multi-cultural society.

*Citizens' Forum: Gujarat Carnage 2002, by an independent fact-finding
mission composed of S.P. Shukla, K.S. Subramanian, Achin Vanaik, and
Kamal Mitra Chenoy; State-Sponsored Carnage in Gujarat, Report of a
CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation; The Survivors Speak, by a Women's Panel
sponsored by Citizen's Initiative, Ahmedabad; Ethnic Cleansing in
Ahmedabad, by SAHMAT; and A Report on the Gujarat Carnage, prepared by
the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1909/19091280.htm

Undermining India

Sitting here in our village home, keeping in touch with the world
through the Internet, the newspapers and magazines like yours, we ask
ourselves, how many fires can we fight? And yet it appears that there
is really no option except to keep fighting them and to stand up for
what we see as the values and beliefs which are intrinsic to the
foundations on which this civilisation (if indeed we can use that term
any longer) is based.

We have been reading the comprehensive coverage in your magazine of
the ghastly and inhuman murder of members of the Staines family in
Manoharpur and the hard-hitting articles on the politics of hate
("Undermining India", February 12). We have also read (on the
Internet) the highly slanted report of the murders (from Rashtradeep -
Orissa) with its not so oblique insinuations that Staines and his
family deserved what they got. What a coincidence that the Santhals
and the Kolhas apparently lost their patience 34 years after Graham
Staines came to work and live in Keonjhar and decided to attack him
when there is a BJP Government at the Centre, and the Sangh Parivar
has targeted Christians as the new enemies! It is hard to believe that
the so- called educated people hold these views and, more sinister,
use their power and technology to propagate these views in the most
dangerous fashion on the Internet from their comfortable spaces in
American universities. It is also interesting that the fact that
millions of dollars are sent by non-resident Indians to support
fascist activities in the name of Hindutva is not questioned or
attacked.

If only we can learn from history, we would see that we are moving
inexorably towards fascism - and the silence of the majority can only
hasten this process.

We too are Hindus, comfortable in the freedom of thought that it
provides, and because of this we can also look at our own tradition
critically and see and understand all the warts and distortions that
it accommodates. But what is propagated in the name of Hinduism is a
far cry from the philosphy to which we subscribe. Had we been born
Dalits or tribal people, or experienced oppression and discrimination
in the name of religion, we too might have opted for Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism or any faith which promised us a better deal and the
hope of social justice and dignity. Certainly, India's Constitution
guarantees each of us that freedom.

In all the polemics and passion that we see around us, one hears
little, if any, questioning or critiquing of the built-in inequities
of Hinduism - only the shrill and fearful howls of the advocates of
Hindutva with its distorted and dangerous ideology of linking religion
with nationalism and patriotism. If we believe that it is the spirit
of inquiry and search for truth that is the hallmark of both science
and religion, then let us stop blaming others and begin looking
inwards in the real quest for self-knowledge and encourage our people
to bring about the changes within, rather than demonising other
faiths, other denominations. But the politics of hate is so much
easier to practise than the quest for truth. It has always been
convenient to mobilise mobs - be it against masjids or mandirs,
Dalits, tribal people, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, 'Madrasis',
'Bangladeshis', 'Pakistanis'. We continue to rely on fanning the
flames of hatred for 'the other', to exercise power instead of coming
to grips with the real issues of this country - poverty, education,
employment and all-pervasive inequality. The issue is not one of
conversions or Christianity, but of how to exploit people who have no
identity or no hope of getting a space under the sun, as the foot
soldiers in the service of the armies of destruction and mayhem who
can terrorise, garner votes when needed, and ensure political power at
all costs. Ultimately, it is through economic policy decisions and the
right kind of education in our classrooms that we can hope to build
the kind of India that our Constitution has promised. For now, we can
only ask and hope that the right-thinking majority of people in this
land, regardless of their religious affiliations, will speak up before
it is too late.

Admiral Ramu Ramdas
(former Chief of the Naval Staff)
Lalita Ramdas
Bhaimala, Maharashtra

* * *

Your crusade against the diabolical designs of the Sangh Parivar is
commendable.

The riots in Suratkal, the persecution of Christians in Gujarat, and
the outrage against a missionary in Orissa expose the Parivar's game
plan. When the Babri Masjid was demolished, people in authority
remained passive spectators. They remain so when the minorities are
attacked. As long as the minorities have insufficient representation
in the police force and secular values are not instilled in the
guardians of law, there is no hope.

The biggest irony is that L.K. Advani, one of the accused in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, has become the Home Minister of this country.
A.B. Vajpayee has proved to be the weakest Prime Minister of India.
During his visit to Gujarat, instead of assuaging the hurt feelings of
Christians, he suggested a national debate on conversions. With this
he dropped his mask of moderation.

Ubedulla
Mysore

* * *

It was with a sense of dismay and shame that one watched the Home
Minister making a humiliating trip to Mumbai to pacify the Shiv Sena's
"paper tiger". It is a pity that the BJP Government with all the power
at its command could not counter the threat to a visiting cricket
team. The Shiv Sena's attack on the BCCI's office or threats to
release poisonous snakes into the playground only proved its
cowardice. If India is to progress, the culture of violence and
terrorism should give way to goodwill, harmony and peace.

Dr. A.K. Tharien
Oddanchatram, Tamil Nadu

* * *

January 23, the day Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were
burnt alive, was the blackest day in the history of our country. One
is at a loss to understand why such a harrowing punishment was meted
out to the missionary who had served leprosy patients in India since
1965.

Why does the Prime Minister hesitate to take stringent action against
Bal Thackeray, at whose instigation the cricket pitch at the
Ferozeshah Kotla stadium was damaged and the BCCI office in Mumbai was
ransacked? Is the Sena chief so indispensable?

Mani Natarajan
Chennai

* * *

It was a unique and informative Cover Story. The need of the hour is
unity, integrity and peaceful coexistence of various communities. We
should uphold our secular values and fulfil the hopes and aspirations
of every citizen.

Shaik Rafeeq Ahamed
Rayachoty, Andhra Pradesh

* * *

The expectation that the experience of heading a government in a
modern democracy will soften Hindu fundamentalists, has been belied.
With the assumption of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
process of undermining India started. The aim is to throw the country
back into an era when power, wealth and education were concentrated in
the hands of people who belonged to the upper strata of society. But
we have come a long way. A government which owes allegiance to the
Constitution has to go by the principles enshrined in the
Constitution.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Vellore, Tamil Nadu

Arundhati Roy

Indian culture is rich and vibrant and Dalits' contribution to it is
no less than that of any other section of our society. Unless this
aspect is researched and brought out, Dalits will not get the kind of
respect they deserve. In this context, Arundhati Roy's proposal to the
Dalit Sahitya Akademi on the publication of the Malayalam translation
of her novel was really pathbreaking ("In solidarity", February 12).

Dhiraj Kumar
Delhi

Role of bureaucrats

I read with great interest A.G. Noorani's article on Admiral Bhagwat's
case in your February 12 issue. As usual Noorani's article is very
scholarly and unbiased and would serve as reference material. I would,
however, like to point out two references made to me in the article.

First, Noorani should have mentioned that I had also said in my letter
to The Times of India that "he will therefore have to look for another
Cabinet Secretary". This would have clarified that my intention was
that I would rather vacate the post of Cabinet Secretary than sign the
notification.

Secondly, the reference to the 1989 general elections. I do not know
the basis on which it is mentioned that "and that the announcements in
that behalf should be made by the Commission forthwith and before 2.00
p.m. on that date, in any case". This was not my belief at all. In an
article I wrote on T.N. Seshan, published in November 1994, I have
said that "I can only write about late Peri Shastri because I knew him
well. It required a lot of courage to stand up to a strong Prime
Minister like Rajiv Gandhi who decided to appoint two Election
Commissioners obviously to control Peri Shastri. Seshan may say that
he was not consulted here but he went out of his way to force the Law
Ministry to issue the notification urgently. When Rajiv Gandhi decided
to announce the general elections, an urgent Cabinet meeting was held
when the Cabinet approved the proposal. Seshan as Cabinet Secretary
should have been sent to Peri Shastri to convey the decision, but
Rajiv Gandhi said, 'let us not send the bull into the China shop. Let
Deshmukh go and settle it in his own quiet way.' I accordingly went
across after sending a message to Peri Shastri. When I entered his
room, I found him agitated, saying that he would not be dictated to by
the Government in fixing the dates for the elections. There was a
sharp exchange between us and tempers rose. I then decided to keep
quiet and let Peri Shastri blow off steam. When he quietened down I
convinced him that the Government was right in suggesting the dates as
it had to make various administrative arrangements. Ultimately, the
notification was issued accordingly."

This should make it clear that I was not the "civil servant who was
sent as an errand boy". My brief was to persuade Peri Shastri to agree
to the Government's suggestion. It should also be added that at that
time I was not a serving civil servant but was re-employed to hold the
post in the Prime Minister's Office.

B.G. Deshmukh
Mumbai

A.G. Noorani writes:

I was not called upon to mention, as B.G. Deshmukh insists, that he
had asked the President "to look for another Cabinet Secretary". His
intimation to President Zail Singh that he would not notify any order
dismissing Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 as Prime Minister, was wrong enough.
It was not his place to do so; least of all ask the President "to look
for" a substitute especially since the office is in the bounty of the
Prime Minister.

As for the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the words in quotes are taken
from Justice P.B. Sawant's judgment in the case brought by one of the
two Election Commissioners whom Rajiv Gandhi appointed to overrule
Peri Shastri, the CEC (S.S. Dhanoa vs Union of India & Ors. (1991) 3
Supreme Court Cases 567 at pages 581-582, para 22).

Deshmukh confirms my comment. It was based on Justice Sawant's
reference to his mission as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
It is pointless to shift the blame to T.N. Seshan, then Cabinet
Secretary, when he himself carried out an order he knew to be illegal
and politically immoral. On his own showing, there was "a sharp
exchange" between him and the CEC Peri Shastri and "tempers rose".

This would not have happened unless a zealous Deshmukh had tried to
force the upright Peri Shastri to accept the election dates
peremptorily urged by Rajiv Gandhi. He relented because the two
Election Commissioners had been appointed to overrule him. "The bull
in the China shop" could hardly have performed worse than Deshmukh
himself did at the meeting. Significantly, Deshmukh has not a word of
criticism of the man who sent him, Rajiv Gandhi. His Cabinet's
decision was palpably illegal and politically immoral.

Judging by his own account, Deshmukh was far worse than the "civil
servant who was sent as an errand boy". Both Seshan and Deshmukh
carried out an illegal order with competitive enthusiasm. Servitors
while in service, lecturers on retirement. The Constitution makes the
CEC an umpire between the ruling party and the others. It is his
prerogative to fix the dates. Two of the foremost civil servants of
the day tried to suborn him.

Ban all Senas

The twin massacres by the Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district are a
testament to V.D. Savarkar's call to "'militarise Hinduism". As the
blood of 12 Dalits (from Khoja Narayanpur, February 10) and of 23
Dalits (Shankarbigha, January 25) flows in central Bihar, the Sangh
(more like, Jang) Parivar offers its regret from one side of its
mouth, while it is gleeful on the other.

The Progressive Forum of India (PFI) condemns the Ranvir Sena for its
violence as well as the Jang Parivar (notably the BJP) and the
erstwhile Bihar Government for their studied negligence.

The Ranvir Sena, like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra three decades
earlier, was set up in 1994 to counter the growth of Left
organisations in central Bihar. From the first, the organisation was
prone to violence. Before its formation, landlords (many of whom are
Bhumihars) formed private militias that massacred, for instance, seven
Dalits in Sawanbigha village in Jehanabad in 1991. In December 1997,
the Ranvir Sena killed over 60 people in Lakshmanpur-Bathe, again in
Jehanabad. Further, on January 9, 1999, a Ranvir Sena leader announced
that his fascist band planned to conduct a massacre larger than that
in Lakshmanpur in the near future. Neither the State Government nor
the Jang Parivar did anything against him. Progressive forces in Bihar
and elsewhere underscored the danger, but nothing was done. In fact,
The Times of India reported that Vinod Sharma (Ranvir Sena) travelled
with a police officer to Arwal at the time of the massacre. The PFI
condemns this nexus between the landlord militia, the Jang Parivar and
the institutions of the state.

The Ranvir Sena has been set up to undermine popular movements. It
resorts to violence and to authoritarian acts against the oppressed.
The PFI offers its support to those who feel the strong arm of such
organisations and we call upon all progressive people to condemn and
challenge such fascist bands.

Vijay Prashad
(for the Progressive Forum for India)
received on e-mail

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1605/16051120.htm

Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

ANALYSIS

HOW ADVANI WENT SCOT-FREE

A.G. NOORANI

The Rae Bareli court judgment in the Ayodhya case discharging Deputy
Prime Minister L.K. Advani is against the weight of the entire
evidence and violates the law as declared by the Supreme Court.

VINO JOHN

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.

THE Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna
Advani's discharge in the Ayodhya case on September 19, 2003, was no
"honourable acquittal" after a full trial on the merits. It was a
gross miscarriage of justice, which precludes a proper trial. A
perusal of the English translation of the 130-page judgment in Hindi
by Vinod Kumar Singh, Special Judicial Magistrate, Rae Bareli, reveals
that the grounds for his discharge could well apply also to other
accused such as Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Uma Bharati. Conversely, the grounds on which charges
will be framed against them apply also to Advani. The judgment is
utterly unconvincing in the distinction it draws between him and the
other accused, including Ashok Singhal, V.H. Dalmiya, Giriraj Kishore,
Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara.

The judgment is against the weight of the entire evidence and violates
the law as declared by the Supreme Court. The reasoning is laboured to
a degree. It must be emphasised that what the Magistrate pronounced
was an order of discharge at the stage of framing the charge not an
acquittal on merits after a trial. A discharge does not bar another
prosecution, an acquittal does.

In the face of such a judgment the behaviour of the Central Bureau of
Investigation, the prosecuting agency, was true to form. It did not
move the High Court for quashing the order. The prescribed period of
limitation is three months. The CBI bestirred itself ostentatiously
thereafter in view of public censure. Rajnish Sharma reported in The
Hindustan Times (December 31, 2003) that "CBI sources claim that the
agency's top-brass still differ on whether to move the High Court or
not. Initially, it was decided that the CBI should not go in for an
appeal against Advani. However, faced with mounting criticism for
having failed to appeal against the lower court order, the opinion
seems to have changed.

RAMESH SHARMA

Murli Manohar Joshi.

"While announcing its decision, even the Rae Bareli court had strongly
criticised the agency's role as it felt the CBI had deliberately
weakened the case against Advani. Agency sources now claim that once
the courts reopen, they will file a petition explaining the reasons
for the delay."

IT is necessary to recall the background in order to appreciate the
judgment. The CBI had filed a charge-sheet in court against Advani and
other accused, on October 5, 1993, charging them with conspiring to
demolish the mosque. Two courts found that a prima facie case on this
charge did exist - Special Judicial Magistrate Mahipal Sirohi on
August 27, 1994, while committing the accused to the Sessions Court,
and the Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow, Jugdish Prasad Srivastava,
on September 9, 1997, while framing the charges.

The Sessions Judge concluded that "in the present case a criminal
conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of Ramjanmabhoomi/Babri
Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990 and
was completed on 6.12.1992". Advani and others hatched criminal
conspiracies "to demolish the disputed premises on different times at
different places". A prima facie case was found to charge Bal
Thackeray, Advani and others, including Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma
Bharati, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Advani and his colleagues, Joshi and Uma Bharati, faced two charges in
two courts - delivering inflammatory speeches on December 6, 1992,
prior to the demolition, and hatching a conspiracy to demolish the
mosque from 1990. Immediately after the mosque was demolished, two
first information reports were filed in the same police station. One
was filed at 5-15 p.m. against "lakhs of unknown kar sevaks" for
offences committed at 12-15 p.m.; mainly the demolition. Spread of
communal hate was one of them. Very properly, conspiracy was not
alleged since the facts were not known then and no particular person
was cited either. This was Crime No. 197 (demolition).

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Uma Bharati.

The next FIR, filed only 10 minutes later, was Crime No. 198
(speeches) against eight named persons - Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharati,
Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, V.H. Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar and
Ritambara. It alleged that they had delivered communally inflammatory
speeches at 10 a.m. prior to the demolition (Section 153A IPC). This
charge was common to both FIRs. FIR 198 (speeches) said also that
"during the speeches of these leaders, repeated indications (sic:
"incitement") were given to demolish the mosque. As a result, lakhs of
kar sevaks attacked and pulled down the disputed structure". The
leaders were named because their identities were known. Conspiracy was
properly not alleged in either FIR because it requires a long probe.
There were 47 other FIRs for offences against the media.

After the imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, the
demolition case (197) was assigned to the CBI while the State police
dealt with the speeches case (198). Both were parts of the same
transaction and were linked inseparably. Eventually, the CBI was
assigned the speeches case as well. It, therefore, submitted a
composite, damning charge-sheet in court on October 5, 1993. But there
was a technical flaw in the assignment of the cases to courts, which
was pointed out by Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court
on February 12, 2001. He struck down as invalid the reference of Case
198 (speeches) to the Lucknow court from the Rae Bareli court. His
judgment of February 12, 2001, upheld everything else, including the
joint charge-sheet. He thrice said that the defect was "curable" by
another notification after consulting the High Court. Obviously,
justice required that the two cases, 197 (demolition) and 198
(speeches), be tried together in one court.

Neither the Rajnath Singh government nor the succeeding Mayawati
regime had any intention of "curing the defect". Nor has Mulayam Singh
Yadav's government now. The High Court issued a notification on
September 28, 2002, assigning Case No.198 (speeches) to the Rae Bareli
court. On November 29, the Supreme Court upheld it, holding that no
one had a right to insist on a particular venue. It overlooked the
background, the mala fides and the obvious miscarriage of justice. A
review petition has been filed against this order. (vide the writer's
article, `Reprimand for delay', Frontline, March 30, 2001).

To be precise, Justice Bhalla upheld: 1) the Sessions Judge's order of
September 9, 1997, framing the charges in Case No. 197 (demolition);
2) the validity of Vijai Verma's appointment as Special Judge and his
cognisance of all cases (save No.198); 3) the notification of the
Special Court in Lucknow; 4) the CBI's investigation; and 5) the
consolidated charge-sheet of October 5, 1993. Even if the one
concerning the speeches of December 6, 1992, is dropped, the
conspiracy case survives.

C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Ashok Singhal.

But let alone a notification to cure the defect and ensure trial of
both the connected cases in one court, in the interests of sheer
justice, the course which the two cases took subsequently in different
courts was, to say the least, surprising. The High Court's ruling was
set at naught by the Sessions Judge at Lucknow, Srikant Shukla, on May
4, 2001, which he had no right to do. Justice Bhalla had merely struck
down the transfer of the speeches case (198) from Rae Bareli to
Lucknow. Shukla went beyond it and dropped even the conspiracy charge
in Case No.197(demolition) before him. The reasoning was tortuous. He
confined FIR 197 (demolition) to kar sevaks alone; ignored the
conspiracy charges and exonerated the leaders. They were held
accountable only in FIR 198 (speeches) - which he could not try. He
wrote: "Two distinct cases were registered which are different. In the
first FIR were kar sevaks who pulled down the structure... and in the
other FIR are conspirators/abettors who instigated the kar sevaks.
This way, the State has considered both the cases different and
separate and has treated them so."

This was in flat contradiction to Justice Bhalla's judgment. What
Shukla did was to transpose the conspiracy charge, which properly
belonged to the demolition case (197) which he was trying, to the
speeches case (198), which he could not try. Having done so, he
dropped proceedings on the conspiracy charge against the eight accused
leaders who also figured in the speeches case and 13 others besides
who did not. Thrown back at the Rae Bareli court like a shuttle cock,
the conspiracy charge was buried there by the CBI two years later in
its charge-sheet of May 30, 2003. On September 1, the apex court
issued notices to Advani and other accused on a petition challenging
this omission. The CBI had curiously moved the High Court on June 19,
2001, against Shukla's order. On August 6, 2003, Justice N.K. Mehrotra
ordered stay of proceedings in the Lucknow court till September 24.

But the conspiracy charge cannot vanish so easily. It covers events
since 1990. Abetment by incitement occurred on December 6, 1992.
Shukla's reference to "conspirators/abettors who instigated" truncates
the conspiracy charge - and drops it. The CBI's joint charge-sheet of
October 5, 1993, explicitly said: "Investigations revealed that on
5.12.1992, a secret meeting was held at the residence of Shri Vinay
Katiyar which was attended by S/Shri L.K. Advani, Pawan Pandey, etc.
Wherein a final decision to demolish the disputed structure was
taken." Sessions Judge J.P. Srivastava's order of September 9, 1997
also mentioned this very date. He traced the beginning of the
conspiracy to 1990, how it picked up speed in 1991 and the stages
leading to its culmination with the demolition of the mosque. In each
stage Advani's role was narrated in detail. "Conspiracy is planned
secretly," he remarked. It cannot be limited to the public speeches on
December 6, as Shukla did. The High Court upheld the validity of the
conspiracy charge.

TWO recent disclosures support the charge. It has been revealed that
on October 1, 1993, the Home Ministry itself sanctioned the CBI's
charge. It mentioned an interesting detail: "In pursuance of the
criminal conspiracy", Pramod Mahajan and Ashok Singhal met Bal
Thackeray on November 21, 1992, and secured the Sena's participation
in the "kar seva". On June 7, 2003, five of the accused alleged
instigation by the leaders. R.N. Das, one of the priests at the site
where the idols were placed inside the mosque before its demolition,
told the media: "I was a witness in a meeting held by Advani and
others... on December 5 night" - and spilled the beans. Justice Bhalla
remarked: "According to the prosecution, the accused persons are
either rich, influential or politically strong." He recalled the
Supreme Court's remarks in the case of the former Chief Minister of
Karnataka, S. Bangarappa: "The slow motion becomes much slower motion
when politically powerful or rich and influential persons figures as
accused."

The demolition case (197) was thus put out of the way. All that the
leaders faced was the speeches case (198) alone. On May 30, 2003, the
CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the Rae Bareli court trying
the speeches case. On July 5, the CBI's advocate, S.S. Gandhi, opened
the case and cited statements by witnesses testifying to inflammatory
speeches and to instigation of the kar sevaks to demolish the mosque.
He said he would produce audio and videocassettes as evidence. On July
30, astonishingly, the CBI said that "the video cassettes did not show
them giving any speech". Special Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar Singh
delivered judgment on September 19, 2003, in this case.

He begins by reproducing the FIR in case No. 198 which is revealing:
"I, Sub Inspector Ganga Prasad Tewari, in-charge of the police post
Ramjanmabhoomi, police station Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, was engaged
today, on 06.12.92, in maintenance of peace and order during the kar
seva organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Checking duty near the
disputed Ram Chabutara and Sheshavatar Mandir, I reached the meeting
place in Ram Katha Kunj at about 10 a.m. where the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad General Secretary Shri Ashok Singhal, Joint Secretary Shri
Giriraj Kishore, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi,
Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and BJP M.P. from Faizabad and Bajrang Dal
convenor Shri Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara, etc. all
the speakers were seated on the dais. The above mentioned speakers
were inciting the kar sevaks by their incendiary speeches; their
slogan was `Ek dhakkar aur do, Babri Masjid tod do,' and destroy this
khandahar (rubble) that is symbolic of the Mughal age slavery. Incited
by their incendiary speeches, the kar sevaks were now and then raising
slogans - "Jab katue kaate jaayenge, tab Ram Ram chillayenge; and
Ramlala, hum aayenge, Mandir yahin banayenge." The intention to
destroy the mosque was again and again indicated (in) these leaders'
speeches. As a consequence, lakhs of kar sevaks broke through the
barricades and destroyed the disputed structure, which has hurt the
national unity seriously. The said event was seen, apart from the
police and administration officials and employees, by the audience and
journalists. Therefore, the report must be entertained and necessary
action taken."

The secret meeting of December 5 was followed by the speeches on
December 6 which incited the demolition. The rest followed as planned.
The judgment recites statements by eyewitnesses on the leaders'
speeches, before the Babri mosque was demolished, as recorded by the
police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, four video
cassettes, three audio cassettes, photographs and news reports. It is
well settled that at the stage of framing the charges all that the
court has to consider is whether a prima facie case is made out. It is
not to enter into a trial on the merits. Section 227 of CrPC says that
if the Judge considers "that there is not sufficient ground for
proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused", as
distinct from an acquittal which can follow only after a trial on the
merits of the charges.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that "even a very strong suspicion
founded upon material before the Magistrate, which leads him to form a
presumptive opinion as to the existence of the factual ingredients
constituting the offence alleged, may justify the framing of charge".
Nor is the court bound to consider evidence produced by the accused.
It has to consider whether the prosecution case, if unrebutted,
establishes a case in law. That is what a prima facie case means in
law.

KAMAL NARANG

Sadhvi Ritambara.

The sole issue before the Magistrate, therefore, was whether the
police statements produced before him by the prosecution established
such a case. Thirty-odd such statements are reproduced in the
judgment; some contradict others. The contradiction is to be resolved
only in the trial proper; not while framing the charges unless, of
course, the ones against the accused are manifestly untrue or absurd.
In this case, they were not.

Consider the very first two statements which the judgment quotes:
"Shri Ram Kripal Das, disciple of Mahant late Bharat Das, PS
Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, has made, in the main, the following
statement under Section 161 CrPC: "On 6.12.1992 I remained near my
temple the whole day. Through my door and the windows inside, sounds
coming from the Ram Katha Kunj and words (like) Sheshavatar Mandir,
vivadit dhancha (disputed structure) vivadit chabutara (disputed
platform) can be heard. That day, a crowd of kar sevaks had started to
gather since morning. The kar sevaks were raising slogans and loudly
saying: today we would not stop even if some leader tries to stop us.
We will demolish it today... On the Ram Katha Kunj side, leaders were
making speeches one by one that a temple has to be built. There was a
lot of noise. Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Murli
Manohar Joshi, etc. spoke. All the leaders were making enthusiastic
speeches. I had seen with my own eyes the above leaders going towards
the temple. When there was a hullabaloo and they were demolishing the
disputed structure, none of the leaders was preventing them. If these
leaders had told the kar sevaks not to break any dome, they would have
obeyed it, because they had called the kar sevaks to come here. Vinay
Katiyar was much active from the very beginning and was prepared to do
everything right or wrong for temple construction" (emphasis added,
throughout).

Dhanpat Ram Yadav made the following statement under Section 161 CrPC:
"On 6.12.92, I was on the roof of the Sita Rasoi (Sita's kitchen) from
early morning. That day I saw Vinay Katiyar, Lal Krishna Advani, Uma
Bharati, etc. coming in a crowd of kar sevaks. They were making
speeches that were provoking the kar sevaks, saying Mandir bana kar
jaayenge, Hindu Rashtra banayenge (we will leave after building a
temple and we will build a Hindu Rashtra). When the kar sevaks had
climbed the domes in large numbers and were demolishing them, none of
the leaders prevented anyone or told to stop. All stood silent... "
Another 10 statements were in the same vein followed by that of
Chandra Kishore Mishra who said "inflamed by the very speeches of
these leaders, the kar sevaks brought down the structure". Advani was
specifically mentioned by him as one of them.

The Additional Superintendent of Police, Faizabad, Anju Gupta was
detailed to provide security to Advani. She saw people running towards
the mosque with tools in their hands. If she could see that so, one
would think, could "the leaders". She said "Then Shri Lal Krishna
Advani asked me what was happening inside the temple. I asked the
control room and came to know that kar sevaks had entered it and were
busy demolishing the structure; then I told him the same. I also told
him that many people had got injured and were being brought near the
Ram Katha Kunj for treatment. Then Advani told me: I want to go and
tell them to come down. I conferred with S.P. Intelligence and
Commandant of the 15th Battalion who were with Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi. He said it was not proper to go into the crowd as these people
were inflamed. Shri Advani talked to his comrades and told me that he
won't go but somebody would have to be taken there. Then I sent Uma
Bharati and two others there. The crowd surrounded my jeep near Dorahi
Kuwan and did not allow us to go ahead. Then Uma Bharati and we
proceeded on foot. I saw after sometime that people had come down from
the domes. They were talking of doing the kar seva from below, not
from above. Advani told me he wanted to talk to the DM. He also told
about talking to the Chief Minister, but I pleaded helplessness. One
person, who had come with Uma Bharati, was making fun of the Supreme
Court. After some time, Advani and Joshi went to the office of Ram
Katha Kunj, and told me they were talking to the Chief Minister. I saw
fire and smoke rising at all sides in Ayodhya. Advani told me... [page
92 bottom: seems some lines are missing here]... began to distribute
sweets... . Advani came back at about six and a half. With him there
were Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal and Vinay
Katiyar etc. About the speeches from the stage, I have already told. I
remember the atmosphere became surcharged with Advani's arrival.
People were raising slogans, but I could not hear any other slogan
because of being busy with other works. Joshi had spoken earlier, he
had said whatever Narasimha Rao could say, the temple would be
constructed here. I did not see these leaders making any attempt to
prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure. Advani
was sad that people were falling from the domes and dying... on the
fall of the first, second and third domes, Uma Bharati and Ritambara
had embraced each other; sweets were also distributed. The two had
also embraced the males. Embracing Advani, Joshi and S.C. Dixit, Uma
Bharati and Ritambara were expressing their happiness. On the fall of
the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were
congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness."

Vinay Katiyar.

Renu Mittal confirmed reports in The Hindu and The Indian Express
(December 7, 1992): "L.K. Advani began to address the kar sevaks over
the mike from the protection of the Ram Katha Kunj platform. In the
rush of shouts and the milling confusion he could be overheard telling
the kar sevaks to block all entry points to Ayodhya to stop anyone
entering the town. He also announced that the kar seva that begun
today would only end once the mandir nirman was completed... . At 3-30
p.m. the left dome of the Babri Masjid was demolished. Many of the kar
sevaks were injured and some of them were buried under the falling of
the debris of the dome."

Triyugi Narayan Tewari told the police: "The RSS workers also climbed
the domes and demolished the disputed structure. Sh. Ashok Singhal,
L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya
Dharmendra, Sadhvi Ritambara were also present there and were inciting
the kar sevaks."

A few statements, about 5 or 6, averred that Advani urged the kar
sevaks to climb down; evidently for their own protection. For, some
were buried in the debris.

Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.

The Magistrate's observations on the course the case took are
significant. "This is an indisputable fact that the High Court had
before itself a combined charge-sheet in cases 197/92 (demolition) and
198/92 (speeches) and, compared to this court, the High Court was
presented with much more evidence/statements of witnesses. Apart from
it, the High Court had before it the charge under Section 120 IPC
(conspiracy), which was not included in the charge-sheet filed in this
court. After the said judgment, an order was passed by the Special
Judge (Ayodhya Prakaran), Lucknow, in which 21 accused were recognised
as accused in case 198/92 (speeches) and proceedings against them were
ordered to be stopped. These included the eight accused named in the
charge-sheet filed in this court. Thereafter, the CBI requested the
State government to rectify the said shortcoming in the notification
dated 8/10/93, but the said shortcoming was not rectified by the State
government. After that, special writ petitions were filed by Bhure Lal
and three others against the said judgment of the High Court, on which
the Supreme Court issued its judgment/order on 29/11/2002. Under the
said order of the Supreme Court, a petition has been filed by the CBI
in this court constituted under the former notification, on which the
CBI was directed to get the papers in case 198/92 (speeches) and
present in this court. The record of case 198/92 (speeches) was
received and then the CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet. At
present the case is being heard in this court under the Supreme Court
order dated 29/11/2002. Thus this court has considered the material
presented to it about this charge. Statements of some more witnesses
were considered after the CBI filed a charge-sheet and some evidence
along with it and, later, after its advance investigation."

THUS the CBI itself dropped the conspiracy charge (Section 120 IPC).
The Magistrate lists some 19 considerations for framing the charges.
Two of them read thus: (2) "If the case falls in the area of doubt, it
cannot take the place of proof at the conclusion of the hearing. But
if there is serious doubt in the initial stage and it leads the court
to think that there is ground to believe that the accused has
committed the offence, then the court is not allowed to say that
enough ground is not there for proceeding against the accused... (8)
If material has been presented before the court and that creates
serious doubt against the accused and has not been adequately
explained, it is justified for the court to frame charges and start
hearing." He violated both.

He recorded: "In the videocassettes presented to the court, no leader
is seen making a speech during the demolition of the said structure on
6/12/92. From a perusal of all the statements under Section 161 CrPC
and the available material, it appears prima facie that there were two
groups during the event - one was demolishing the disputed structure
while the other was, along with the security forces, attempting to
prevent the demolition of the disputed structure. The prosecution
witness Shri Ram Kripal Das has said in his statement, among other
things, that the kar sevaks were greatly excited and loudly telling
that (they) would not stop even if some leader tried to stop them.

AJIT KUMAR/AP

Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

"In her statement, Anju Gupta has specifically said that on 6/12/92
she was deployed for Lal Krishna Advani's security. She has also said
that the S.P. Intelligence and the Commandant of the 15th Battalion
were with Murli Manohar Joshi Ms. Anju Gupta is an IPS officer and, as
is evident from her statement, she was deployed for Lal Krishna
Advani's security. Therefore, Anju Gutpa's statement is extremely
important regarding L.K. Advani. She has said the following in her
statement: "I had seen some boys advancing towards the disputed
structure from the Kuber Tola side, with tools in their hands. Then
Shri Lal Krishna Advani asked me what was happening inside the
temple... ."

"From this statement, the prima facie conclusion emerges that at that
time L.K. Advani did not know that demolition of the disputed
structure had started. Besides, Advani's contention in Anju Gupta's
statement that `I want to go and tell them to come down' generates
another view contrary to the prima facie charge against him. In her
statement, Anju Gupta has not indicated any such contention by any
other leader. She has also said Advani had asked her what was
happening at other places and she had said she did not know. The fact
of Advani inquiring about what was happening at other places prima
facie reveals his ignorance." How does his ignorance of what was
happening at "other places" in the city prove his ignorance of what
was happening before his and everyone else's eyes - demolition of the
mosque. His reasoning is palpably wrong. First, there were no "two
groups" of leaders, implying that Advani belonged to one that tried to
pacify the mob while the rest instigated it. Who were Advani's allies
in the pacificatory effort or was he alone in this? There were in fact
two sets of statements before the court. It is not the number but the
quality that matters. Even so, the overwhelming majority explicitly
implicated Advani along with the rest as an instigator. The minority
is not only small but pathetically laboured in its apologia.

Secondly, from a mere query by Advani to Anju Gupta, Vinod Kumar Singh
jumps to the astonishing conclusion that "L.K. Advani did not know
that demolition of the disputed mosque had started." The demolition
was surely there for all to see. The query was "what was happening
inside the temple" (sic.). His concern was not to stop the demolition,
else he would not have urged barricading of the roads to prevent
Central forces from arriving. The reason for his disquiet was
different as she clearly mentioned: "Advani was sad that people were
falling from the domes and dying."

DOUGLAS E CURRAN/AFP

Kar sevaks stop the Babri Masjid five hours before the structure was
demolished on December 6, 1992.

Thirdly, the Magistrate holds that "Anju Gupta has not indicated any
such contention (sic.) by any other leader." On the strength of this
solitary statement, Advani alone is exonerated. Her statement itself
is palpably misconstrued. Lastly, the Magistrate embarked on the
evaluation of the evidence. He singles out her statement, misconstrues
it, and ignores the enormous bulk, which clubbed Advani with the rest.
This is in clear breach of the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.

The Magistrate holds: "On the basis of the material presented to the
court, and having considered the extensive possibilities and the total
impact of the evidence in the light of both sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that two views appear probable only about the prima facie
charge brought against the accused Lal Krishna Advani. One view is
that, prima facie, the crime was caused by Lal Krishna Advani to be
committed and the other view is that, prima facie, the crime was not
caused to be committed by him. After having considered the available
material and the two sides' arguments, in my opinion, suspicion but no
serious suspicion, seems to exist about the accused Lal Krishna Advani
having caused the crime to be committed under Sections 147/149/153A/
153B/505 IPC. On the contrary, having considered the available
material on record in the light of the two sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that serious suspicion exists about the crime having been
caused under Section 147/149/153A/153B/505 IPC by the other accused
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya
Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi
Ritambara, which the said accused have been unable to explain... . As
per the above discussion, as two views are possible regarding the
accused Lal Krishna Advani's offence and there exists only suspicion
(keval sandeh) that he caused the said crime to be committed,
therefore under the said ruling the accused Lal Krishna Advani
deserves to be acquitted from the charge in the case in question.

"As per the above discussion, serious suspicion (ghor sandeh) exists
that the crime was caused to be committed by the accused Dr. Murli
Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya Giriraj
Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara, which
the said accused have been unable to explain, therefore in the light
of the said ruling, a prima facie case is made against the accused Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi, and the rest."

The Magistrate, in effect, tried Advani on the merits instead of
framing charges against him since a prima facie case was disclosed
warranting a full trial. Only at the end is the accused entitled to
benefit of the doubt. The reasoning is tortuous in the extreme. The
conclusion is manifestly demonstrably wrong. Magistrate Vinod Kumar
Singh's judgment prevents Advani's trial on grounds that are
manifestly wrong. Criminal proceedings in the Ayodhya case have taken
a bizarre course. In the Sessions Court at Lucknow, the Judge Srikant
Shukla drops the conspiracy charge on May 4, 2001, in breach of the
High Court's ruling on February 12, 2001. In the Rae Bareli court the
CBI drops that charge in its "supplementary" charge-sheet on May 30,
2003. What are we coming to? The civil proceedings are as disquieting;
especially after the order for excavation by the Special Bench of the
High Court last March. As for the CBI's role the less said the
better.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130002204700.htm

Resolved Question
Hindu Hate Crimes?

Why doesn't anyone ever point out the Hindu hate crimes against
Muslims in India and Pakistan while they are talking about Religious
Extremism?
3 years ago

Additional Details
Thomas, please see answer below, thanks
3 years ago

by Thomas B Member since:
June 12, 2007
Total points:
5188 (Level 5)


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Dear Please list some.

Most Hindu attacks in India are retaliation to what the stupid Muslims
start.

Please show us a proof of Muslim oppression with facts to support your
claim.

Whatever Kalebow has stated comes from an extremist platform christian
news network. I am a Christian and still don't buy this BS spread by
the Evangelical Christian Media. Just the same I don't buy that
Muslims in Pakistan want peace.

All what Kalebow has said has supposedly happened in Burma and Sri
Lanka, he does not answer your question about India, please provide
proof of Hindu crimes against Muslims in Pakistan? are you joking.

When India and Pakistan were separated in 1947 Hindu population in
Pakistan was more than 14% today entire Pakistan is has less than 2%
minorities Pakistan is 98% Muslim State.

Where as India at Sepration had a 7% Muslim population which today is
more than 12% and 12% Muslims in India equal to the entire population
of Pakistan.

Please check your facts about ethnic cleansing then talk.
3 years ago
60% 3 Votes

Other Answers (4)

by MikeInRI Member since:
July 06, 2006
Total points:
87738 (Level 7)

Because for most people in the west they never hear about them and
lets face it Hindus are not mass killing Christians and Jews like
Muslims have been trying to do - it just does get the interest of most
in the west. Most actions taken by Hindus - although are bad - are
usually retalitory in nature which makes thems to a certain extent
seem justified to some.

Good Luck!!!
3 years ago
0% 0 Votes
3 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by Cathy
Member since:
May 09, 2007
Total points:
10890 (Level 6)

Because there comes a point in discussing Religious Extremism where
you just have to start leaving religions and incidents out--EVERY
religion has zealots that commit such crimes.
3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by wwhy
Member since:
May 03, 2007
Total points:
1734 (Level 3)

The Buddhist state of Burma openly plans to Abolish Christianity and
nobody calls them terrorists ?

The Burma Government May Move to Abolish Christianity With Buddhist
Support ?

Government officials have shut down churches in this capital city and
have disallowed the construction of new church buildings. The number
of bibles allowed for import is limited and in-country printing of
bibles and Christian literature is restricted.

"Some Buddhist monks came and started shouting, 'don't worship God
here – he has nothing to do with us,'" David said. "They said we were
trying to establish Christianity in the village and they did not want
it. The monks and others threw stones at us. They hit us like a hard
rain. Some of us were hit in the cheek, the neck and the forehead."

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/012607Bur

Report: Burma Plans to Wipe Out Christianity

A leaked secret document claims to reveal plans by the Burmese
military regime to wipe out Christianity in the southeast Asian
country.

Inside the memo were detailed instructions on how to force Christians
out of the country, according to Telegraph.

Instructions included imprisoning any person caught evangelizing,
capitalizing on the fact that Christianity is a non-violent religion.

"The Christian religion is very gentle," read the letter, according to
Telegraph, "Identify and utilize its weakness."

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has a Christian population of about four
percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Persecution against
Christians have come in the form of church burnings, forced conversion
to the state religion of Buddhism, and banning children of Christians
from school.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/200

Christian children forced to become Buddhist monks.

CHILDREN from Christian families in Burma, between the ages of five
and ten, have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist
monasteries. Once taken in, their heads have been shaved and they have
been trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_s

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ch

Buddhist Extremists Attack Christian-Run Children's Home in Sri Lanka

A 200-man mob, accompanied by extremist Buddhist monks, has attacked a
children's home, which was being run by the Dutch Reformed Church in
central Sri Lanka at the beginning of August.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation
which specialises in religious freedom, has reported that the mob
fiercely attacked the home, following which, they climbed to the roof
and planted a Buddhist flag on the roof.

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(CSW), said: "We are extremely concerned about the continuing violence
against Christians in Sri Lanka. This latest incident, in which child
care workers have been threatened, is unacceptable and we urge the Sri
Lankan authorities to bring the perpetrators of such violence to
justice."

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/bu

Hindu and Buddhists united to opose Christian evangelism

Hindu and Buddhist priests from across Asia are uniting to oppose
Christian proselytism. The 1,000 delegates to a three-day conference
in Lumbini, Nepal, discussed Pope John Paul II's recent call to
evangelize Asia. Evangelism constitutes "a war against Hindus and
Buddhists" and is a "spiritual crime," they said.

Hindus attacking Christian churches and
Reports of Christian persecution in Nepal continue

http://www.wtcf.org/www.viamission.org/n

Buddhist Cambodia Limits Christian Activities :

Cambodia's government issued a directive preventing Christians from
promoting their religion in public places, or using money or other
means to persuade people to convert, officials said Tuesday.

Cambodian Buddhists generally tolerate other religions, but last year
about 300 Buddhist villagers DESTROYED a partially built Christian
church near Phnom Penh.

Also last year, a group of Christian worshippers was caught
distributing sweets to young people in the countryside while trying to
convert them, Sun Kim Hun said. Such activities are illegal.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire

INDIA (Newsroom) – Six Christian missionaries participating in a
gospel campaign called "Love Ahmedabad" were beaten so savagely in the
state of Gujarat last week that one of the men may lose his arms and
legs.

Members of the Hyderabad-based Operation Mobilization (OM) were
distributing Bibles and religious tracts in Ahmedabad, about five
miles from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, the afternoon of May 5
when they were attacked by members of the Hindu extremist groups
Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Operation Mobilization
ships tons of Christian literature around the country. The assailants
also burned copies of the Bible and tracts.

http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/

Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus

Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the
two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur
town.

News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making
him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The
crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and
handed them over to police.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/

The violence of Buddhist extremists it's being compared to the killing
fields of Cambodia. In Sri Lanka religion has become mixed with
politics and nationalism - creating a toxic brew of hatred and fear.
They are…… forcibly trying to convert people to Buddhism and forcing
people to kneel down to declare Buddha is our god! Read about it

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=7

3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 2 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by
anser_qu... Member since:
January 22, 2007
Total points:
1489 (Level 3)

great answer Thomas...
Unfortunately these bigots that make these false calims only see
though their lens and are not mature enough to realise the facts..
3 years ago

Any my Hindu brother will accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru,
after his crime...? if s why..?.?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As4N.azjWH.QVon7PCP20wjd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072451AAYK8du
Any one accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru, after his crime...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AotF_sqWOe_Lk7tfFDNher7d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072237AAd8GeG

Christians, can you give several examples of scriptures (to add to
this) that show us how precious...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnF9GzIAaTjwzchT.UEaegHd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072220AAxqgd2

Why do religious people think that suicide is a sin?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApdmH190JzBD8onJU9H2_W3d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072151AAI7dpX

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070724133507AAtHOJI

THE OTHER HALF
From the land of hate
KALPANA SHARMA

`We have found a lot of happiness here,' said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?....
The story of 19 young Muslim women from Gujarat.

ON the surface they looked like any group of college girls. A little
conservative, perhaps, compared to their counterparts in Mumbai. But
these were not just college girls. You could tell if you looked more
closely, if you looked into their eyes, if you noticed the anxiety.

Nineteen young Muslim women from Gujarat with 19 stories to tell. All
of them unexceptionally disturbing and tragic. They were invited to
visit Mumbai by Aawaz-e-Niswan, a remarkable organisation that works
with Muslim women in Mumbai and is now extending its work to women in
other cities. The very ordinary, mostly lower middle class Muslim
women from this organisation, many of whom have been personally seared
by communal riots such as those that tore Mumbai apart in 1992-93,
decided to reach out to their sisters in Gujarat after the communal
carnage of 2002. They visited some of the worst affected areas; they
heard the stories from women who did not know how they would pick up
the threads of their lives again. And they decided that they would do
something for the younger women, many of whom expressed a
determination to continue with their education, to seek professional
qualifications and to work and be independent.

For some of the girls from Dahod, Fatehpura, Jalod and Vadodara, even
travelling in a train was a novel experience. The five from Fatehpura,
a small town bordering Rajasthan, had never seen a film in a cinema
theatre. The women from Jalod said there was a theatre in their town,
but women never went there. So one of the highpoints of their visit to
Mumbai was seeing a film in a theatre. They could not get over the
fact that as women they could do this.

Also for the first time, these women travelled around the city by
night. Mumbai by night, or any city by night, was something they could
not have imagined doing in their wildest dreams. Yet they went around
and no one looked at them strangely. They were just some among
thousands of men and women who inhabit Mumbai's public spaces till all
hours of the night.

"We have found a lot of happiness here," said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?
"The love we see on the faces here we don't see there," said another.
"We never get izzat (respect) anywhere in Gujarat," said another. It
was interesting to see how the very anonymity of a big city can mean
so much to people who live surrounded by hate.

That hate lurks around every turn, they said. Everyday they see on the
streets the perpetrators of the crimes that led to the death and
destruction of their community. "Even now if we pass by, they shout at
us, use bad language," said a primary school teacher from Godhra. "We
can see our things, our furniture, even our clothes, being used by
other people," said a student from Fatehpura. She broke down as she
spoke of how her house was burnt and looted, forcing her family to run
across the border to Rajasthan.

If there is one good thing that has come out of this evil, say many of
the girls, it is the increasing emphasis on women's education. "We
girls thought that if we had been educated, we could have taken a good
job and supported our families," said one. Families with no earning
member left did not get anything more than a meagre compensation.
This, she said, forced many parents to realise the value of education
and professional training.

So what did they want to do once they graduated? Most said they wanted
to become teachers. But at least two said they wanted to join the
police.

But the down side is that many girls never had a chance to make that
choice. With parents worried about the future of their daughters in
the immediate aftermath of the violence, many girls were married off
to men they had never met at the relief camps. It is unlikely that
these young women will have the freedom to travel to Mumbai at the
invitation of a women's group, to go to the theatre, to wander around
the city at night, to travel in trains and buses.

Life for the Muslim women of Gujarat, as was evident from the way
these 19 spoke, consists of "earlier" and "now". "Earlier", they had
Hindu friends, went to each other's homes, even celebrated each
other's festivals. "Now" this is not possible, they are even afraid to
go through Hindu areas and the question of enjoying each other's
festivals does not arise. "Even today we are told, Pakistan is yours,
go to Pakistan. The Hindus have come back to the city, the Muslims
have moved out. India has already been divided but now even our city
of Vadodara is divided into India and mini-Pakistan," said Nilofer.

Just a day before we met these women, the Supreme Court had ordered
the reopening of over 2,000 cases filed during the communal trouble of
2002 that the local police had closed. A 10-member committee has been
set up.

The process is forcing all of us to revisit the horror of those days.
The arrest of Police Sub-Inspector R.J. Patil, for instance, who
admitted that he had burnt 13 bodies of the victims of what is known
as the Ambika Society massacre, without sending specimens for forensic
analysis, is only the beginning of more gruesome details that will
emerge.

Yet, even this tentative beginning represents hope for many Muslims in
Gujarat. Said Nilofer from Vadodara, "Even if these cases are
reopened, and regardless of whether there is justice or not, at least
in front of society these people will be named." She felt that the
arrest of men like Patil was an important gesture for her traumatised
community.

E-mail the writer ksharma@thehindu.co.in

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/09/05/stories/2004090500290300.htm

No time for coffee in Copenhagen

TABISH KHAIR is not writing about the numerous lives lost in a
senseless and criminal act of violence on September 11. Instead, he
writes about the voices he has heard thereafter; a sound that has a
certain tone to it and which has set him wondering about abstract
hatred and prejudice.

THERE are moments that cleave Time into two. Everything that happens
afterwards happens in a different world. World War II was one such
moment for Europe. The suicide-hijack-crashing of four passenger
planes and the destruction of the World Trade Center is such a moment
for the world.

I will not write about the 5,000 lives lost in a senseless and
criminal act of violence. Such human loss escapes the limits of
language and representation. One can only stand silent in front of the
monuments of sorrow that tens of thousands - relatives, friends,
colleagues - will carry in their hearts for the rest of their lives.
It is a sorrow the rest of us can only share in silence.

I cannot write about silence. And I should not for, in Copenhagen, I
have been deluged with sound: the opinions of ordinary people, the
film-like coverage of the tragedy by Cable News Network (CNN), the
voices of commentators and politicians. Much of this sound had a
certain tone to it and that tone set me wondering. Is there much of a
difference between the terrorists who struck back at a group of
politicians by targeting tens of thousands of innocent people and
those voices that seem to be using the cruel act of a handful of
presumed Islamic terrorists to tarnish and blame entire populations of
Muslims and Arabs? Do not both the acts demonstrate the same type of
abstract hatred and prejudice?

But the questions never end. On the margins of time, in the split
space between worlds, one is always deluged with questions.

For example, the first Danish person who brought me news of the
tragedy said that he was against violence of any kind and added that
he would understand it if Americans decided to hit back. Why is it
that we always justify our own violence, while the violence of the
enemy is sheer sacrilege? Isn't that why there were shocking pictures
of some Palestinians celebrating: people who have become so used to
the idea of missiles being launched at their own buildings by Israeli
forces and the notion of reciprocal violence that they could not feel
the inhumanity of their celebration?

But, then, is this what we can write about: this spiral of violence
and inhumanity? Is this immense tragedy going to remain at such a
general level of discourse?

The answer seems to be "yes" if various media discussions in the West
are to be believed. But it has to be "no" if we are to salvage some
sense from the wanton destruction.

It is easy for us to sit here in our cosy sitting rooms in Copenhagen,
holding a cup of coffee, munching a biscuit, watching the tragedy
unfold almost as fluently as a film on the idiot box, and speak in
general terms. What we are doing is celebrating our own humanity, and
all human beings - even terrorists - are convinced of their own
superior humanity. Many of the most inhuman acts known to humanity
have been the consequence of such a conviction. We need to go beyond
it. We owe it to the victims of the tragedy to go beyond it.

The second person who called me with news of the tragedy was my
father: a devout Muslim doctor who has lived most of his life in a
small town in Bihar. He was shocked by the news. How could anyone do
this, he said again and again. The word he used was "anyone". I went
back to the TV and, in spite of the fact that no one knew anything
about the identities of the terrorists, I did not hear too many people
say "anyone". I heard "Muslim", "Islamic", "Middle Eastern", "Arab".

These were people who had already decided to exclude entire
populations from the circumference of their definitions of humanity.
My father's "anyone" had been reduced by many of these contributors to
"Arab" or "Muslim", even to the very type of an Arab or Muslim. I
could feel the irreligious "Muslim" in me cringe every time I heard
such discussions. I could feel my father being put in the dock.

It is so comfortable, this celebration of our own humanity. It can be
so inhuman, this celebration of our own humanity.

But what about violence?

Thomas Burnet, the late 17th century English divine, wrote that the
Roman Catholic Church persecuted prophets of Apocalyptic violence
(even though Apocalypse and the millennium were prophesied in the
Bible and, as such, should have been welcome to the church), because
it was in those days a church of privilege. Apocalyptic violence,
Burnet argued, was always the last resort of the persecuted and would
be disliked by those who "have lived always in pomp and prosperity".

Violence, in other words, is seldom a free choice. It is predicated
upon most individuals by circumstances. These individuals are usually
those who labour under an overpowering feeling of injustice and
deprivation. However senseless it might be, behind all violence lies
the rubble of shattered hopes, of real and imagined injustices, of
human desperation and, consequently, inhuman hatred. Let us not take
refuge in the easy excuse that we are against violence. For all of us,
given certain circumstances, are capable of violence or sympathy with
violence. While a thousand candles have been lit in Copenhagen for
those who died in the United States, let us also light a candle or two
for those who die - and thousands do every day, with or without
"Western" complicity - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda .... Let
us not traffic in the worth of human lives.

No, large descriptions like "violence" do not help if we stay confined
to that general level. Neither does the kind of cry for vengeance that
one heard in the voice of many Americans and Europeans. It is true
that we have to take a stand against violence. Not just violence of
one kind, we have to take a stand against all kinds of violence - the
violence of terrorists as well as the violence of State agencies,
physical violence that leads to the death of bystanders as well as
economic violence that leads to the starvation of millions in a world
that has enough to go around. More than enough.

It is time we in the West think a bit before we bite into the cake of
our affluence and drink the coffee of our civilised condemnation.

If general sentiments will not do, what, then, about the specific
lessons that we can draw from this tragedy?

One of the things that this outrage has demonstrated is the
ineffectiveness of any kind of military shield. The only shield that
can be effective is the shield of a more just world. And for the world
to be made just and equal, it not only needs some of the resources of
the affluent, it also has to be made democratic.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has made itself into the target of extremist
groups largely because it has tried to go solo or exert undue
influence in certain international quarters. The internal democracy of
the U.S. seldom gets translated into international democracy. Had
certain decisions been taken through the channels of the United
Nations (not a military alliance of the privileged, like the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)), the U.S. would have been only
one nation among many. The burden, the "blame" and the risks would
have been shared. There are advantages to democracy at the
international level, but it has to be true democracy. And the final
lesson is that of the dangers of abstract hatred and prejudice. The
act of one leader or a group cannot be blamed in a generalised way on
an entire people or country, as the terrorists seem to have done. But
this is a lesson that we should also remember every time someone uses
the dastardly act of a handful of presumed Islamic terrorists to
implicitly or explicitly blame entire populations of Muslims and
Arabs.

The crashes that reduced the World Trade Center to rubble and the two
terror-inducing plane crashes elsewhere have cleft our age into two.
On the other side of this smoking chasm of blood and bitterness, lies
another world. It can be a world in which all the mistakes of the past
- global inequality, socio-economic exploitation, lack of
international democracy, lack of national democracy and literacy in
some nations, prejudice, hatred - all these mistakes are consolidated
into a world of greater violence and suffering. Or we may, finally,
learn to work towards a world, a very different world, where we will
tackle not the consequences of senseless tragedies but the reasons for
them. A world in which we will condemn not only a certain kind of
violence, but all violence; a world in which we will love not only our
humanity, but all humanity.

In order to make this choice we have to look deep into our own hearts
before we tidy away the tea things and swap the channel in places like
Copenhagen.

People who commit hate crimes against Americans with Middle Eastern
backgrounds in the wake of the terrorist attacks will be prosecuted
"to the fullest extent of the law", according to a top Justice
Department official.

According to new federal hate crime statistics released recently:

* Hate crimes accounted for nearly 3,000 of the roughly 5.4 million
victim-related crimes examined in a study which looked at cases
reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by local police
in more than a dozen states from 1997 to 1999.

* Among the racially motivated incidents, 60 per cent targeted Blacks,
30 per cent targeted Whites and the rest targeted Asians and American
Indians. Forty-one per cent of the incidents involving religious bias
targeted Jewish people.

* Violent crime was the most serious offence in 60 per cent of the
hate crimes, typically involving intimidation or simple assault.

* More than half of the violent hate crime victims were 24 years old
or younger. Among the offenders, 31 per cent of violent offenders and
46 per cent of property offenders were under age 18.

Source: Internet

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Copenhagen
University, Denmark.)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/07/stories/13070612.htm

...and I am Sid Harth


== 3 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 12:15 pm
From: Sid Harth


Hinduization of Sikh Faith & History

Based on "Tabai Roas Jagio" by Dr. Sukhpreet Singh Udokay

Last week's announcement by the VHP of putting portraits of Guru
Gobind Singh and Sree Guru Granth Sahib in Hindu Mandirs has shocked
Sikhs worldwide. The fact is that attacks on the Sikh faith and
history have been ongoing for years in order to show Sikhs to be a
part of Hinduism.

How Did This Begin?

Brahminism has always feared the Sikh faith. The Sikh Gurus proclaimed
the equality of all humanity and rejected practices like caste, holy
threads and worship of the cow. The exploitation of simple people by
the Brahmin was eliminated. Although Hindu fundamentalists have taken
a keen interest in destroying Sikhism for centuries, this latest cycle
of Hindu attacks on Sikhism can be traced to 1993. The Sikh Liberation
Movement had been brutally crushed in Punjab and was on its final
breaths. Sikh villagers were afraid of being identified as being
practicing Sikhs and roves of young Sikh men were cutting their hair
so that they would not be harassed or killed by the police.

It was at this point that a new "Sikh" organization, the Rashtri Sikh
Sangat began to enter Sikh villages. This organization began to
distribute literature about the Sikh faith and hold meetings. Many
villagers thought that it was an attempt to revive Sikh pride, but in
fact, the literature was written to show Sikhs to be a part of
Hinduism.

Akali Dal/BJP/RSS Alliance

Badal & RSS Leaders

The "Akali" party of Punjab, while claiming to represent Sikhs, is
lead by the same old men who allowed the 1978 Amritsar massacre and
the martyrdom of Bhai Fauja Singh and 12 other fellow Singhs. They are
the same ones who let Gurbachana Narakdhari go unpunished.

The Akali party, in an alliance with the Hindu BJP began to rule
Punjab. The RSS activity in Punjab also increased. Sangh programs were
held in places like Guru Nanak Dev Stadium (Ludhiana) with the
presence of Parkash Badal and other Akali/BJP leaders. On November 16,
1997, Badal while introducing the new RSS chief sad, "I can say with
confidence that the Sangh, under the leadership of Raju Bhaiya is
working towards removing all its shortcomings. Whenever this country
has faced either internal or external danger, the Sangh and it's
workers have been on the front lines.

Today, I am feeling very lucky to be a part of this gathering."

Raju Bhaiya in his speech that day, in the presence of Badal,
declared, "All Hindus are Sikhs and Sikhs Hindus. We are all one. Some
grow hair and some don't. I say that All Hindus are Sikhs and all Sikh
are Hindus. Our principles are the same. With the help of unity, we
become very powerful…People are right when they say that Hindus have
the power to make Hindustan a leader in the world!"

An RSS Poster for Punjab

Under the watchful guidance of this unholy alliance, the RSS increased
its parchar amongst the Sikhs. It was a perfect time to move in for
the kill. The Sikhs had been beaten very badly by the Indian
government and their confidence had been shaken. The RSS would give
the Sikhs sweet poison. They shouted loudly that the RSS and all
Hindus LOVED Sikhs. They would preach that Sikhs were after all no
different than Hindus. The Sikh Gurus were true Hindus and Brahma,
Shiva and Vishnu blessed the Sikh faith. The Sikhs, they claimed,
should feel proud as the sword-arm of Hinduism.

In this way, the RSS has tried to make the Sikh masses try to take
pride in establishing a link between Sikhism and Hinduism. Once this
link becomes solid, the RSS has already devised a plan to decay the
foundations of the Sikh faith and history.

India's "Heros": Guru Nanak an equal of Indira Gandhi?

Who is the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat?

The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat (RSS) was officially formed on November 23,
1986 in Amritsar. The founder was one "Shamsher Sinh"

The express goals of the RSS are

1) To strengthen the bonds between Sikhs and Hindus to promote
National unity, awareness and patriotism.
2) To make Guru Nanak's "Hindustan Smaalsee Bola" a reality and
maintain national patriotism and unity.
3) To promote Sri Guru Bani fro Sri Guru Granth Sahib
4) To perform seva with "Sarbat Da Bhala" in mind.

The Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has 500 branches across India and publishes
the magazine "Sangat Sandesh".

Other goals of this organization are the creation of a Mandar at
Ayodhya's "Ram Janam Bhoomi" and also a Gurdwara to commemorate visits
by Guru Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh.

Every month, the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat has a function in which
occasionally Sri Guru Granth Sahib is parkash and sometimes not.
Usually the function takes place with paintings of Guru Nanak, Guru
Tegh Bahadur and Guru Gobind Singh at the front. These paintings are
accompanied by paintings of Ram and Krishna. The paintings are
garlanded with flowers.

The meeting begins with 5 readings of the Mool Mantar and then 20
minutes of keertan. After this, Sukhmani Sahib or Ram Avtar or Krishan
Avtar are read. This is followed by a singing of "Vanday Matram".

The meeting concludes with a 20 minute lecture on the history the
original RSS founder Golvarkar and discussion of the role of Sanskrit
in Sri Guru Granth Sahib or some other similar topic.

Some Quotes…

* "Instead of sacrificing humans, Guru ji sacrificed goats and started
the tradition of Punj Pyaaray. All five Pyaaras were followers of the
Hindu faith" {Dr. Himmat Sinh in Rashtra Dharam)

* "The Sikh Gurus showed faith in the Hindu faith and visited Hindu
pilgrimage sites to show this" (Rashtra Dharam, p. 31)

* "When Guru Arjan was doing the Kar Seva of Harimandeir, Vishnu
reflected and said, "Lakshmi, the Guru is my own form. There is no
difference between us. He is making my temple. Let us go and see the
building of our new temple…" (Rashtra Dharam, 90)

* "The difference between Hindus and Sikhs was the creation of the
English mind." (Rashtra Dharam, 98)

* "If today someone were to make a portrait of Guru Nanak without a
beard and turban, his life would be in danger but in fact, the
practice of keeping long hair and beards began only in the 20th
Century. (Madhu Kishvara, Hindustan Times Aug 21, 1999)

* "Guru Arjan Dev and Guru Tegh Bahadur used to pay obeisance to the
feet of the Devi" (Surindar Kumar, Jag Bani)

* "Guru Gobind Singh with the blessings of the Avtars (Brahma, Vishnu,
Shiva) created the Khalsa Panth." (Sangat Sandesh, Sept 1998)

* "Maharana Partap, the Rani of Jhansi and Guru Gobind Singh were all
great patriots" (Rashtra Dharam)

* "The Sangh [RSS] is the Khalsa" (Ravani, Dec 1997)

"Guru Mati Das Sharma"???

Bhai Mati Das jee is a famous Shahid of the Sikhs who happily faced
death by being sawn alive but did not forsake his faith. Bhatt Vehis
record the history of this Shahid and it is known that Bhai Mati Das's
grandfather, Bhai Paraga jee was a Sikh of Guru Hargobind and also
became a Shaheed in the battle of Ruhila.

Bhai Mati Das jee was of course then born into a Sikh family. The
family had been Sikh since the time of Guru Ram Das. Bhai Sati Das was
Bhai Sahib's brother. Bhai Mati Das accompanied Guru Tegh Bahadur in
his travels to Assam, Bengal and Bihar. When Guru Sahib was arrested
and brought to Delhi, Bhai Mati Das was also brought with him. When
offered the choice to forsake the Sikh faith and become a Muslim or to
face death, Bhai Mati Das happily accepted the latter and only asked
that he die while facing the Guru. Even when Bhai Sahib's body had
been cut in two, Japji Sahib could be heard from both halves.

Bhai Sati Das was also offered the choice to forsake Sikhi or death,
and accepted death. He was wrapped in cotton and burnt alive.

Hindu fundamentalist organizations, in an effort to demean Guru Tegh
Bahadur's Shaheedee, have appropriated Bhai Mati Das and Bhai Sati Das
as Hindu heros. Yearly events are held to commemorate their martyrdoms
but they are presented as Hindus who died for their faith.

Bhai Hakeekat Singh jee was a young Sikh who is recorded in Bhatt
Vehis as "Hakeekat Singh" but later was appropriated by Hindus as
their own. Just like Bhai Hakeekat Singh is now referred to as
Hakeekat Rai even by Sikhs, these groups hope Sikhs will also give up
these two Sikh Shaheeds.

Sikhs and Raam

Another fallacy being promoted by the RSS is that the Sikh Gurus were
from the family of Raam. That throughout history, Vishnu has supported
the Sikhs. No Hindu text gives the family tree of Raam, and so there
is no foundation for this claim. Giani Puran Singh gave this lie
credence by repeating it publicly when he was Jathedar of the Akal
Takhat. The only support this lie has is in a work by Kesar Singh
Chhiber that has been corrupted. It claims the link between Raam and
the Gurus but it also claims that Guru Gobind Singh worshipped Durga
and took permission to keep his kesh from her. It also claims that the
Sikh Gurus accepted Sanatan Hindu rites.

Baba Banda Singh Bahadur or Veer Banda Bairagi?

"Veer Bandai Bairagi"

One of the RSS's early targets has been Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. Baba
Banda Singh is a Sikh hero who first created a Sikh Rule in Punjab and
struck a Sikh coin. Baba Banda Singh is also a great Sikh martyr who
sacrificed his life but did not compromise his faith.

The RSS has attempted to turn this great Sikh hero, into a Hindu
Patriot. In the book "Veer Banda Bairagi" by Bhai Parmanand, Guru
Gobind Singh was a defeated man who went to Nander in sadness. There
he met the Hindu, Banda Bairagi who agreed to help Guru Sahib take
revenge for the death of his sons. Banda Baigragi had with him Rajput
warriors and a he gathered a Hindu army to punish the evil Wazir
Khan.

Guru Gobind Singh giving "Veer Bairagi" arms

The new Hindu history claims that Banda Bairagi never became a Sikh
and was an example of a pious Hindu helping his Sikh friend.

This story is of course utterly false. There was never any character
named "Banda Bairagi". Baba Banda Singh was known as Madho Das. He
became a Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh by receiving Khanday Kee Pahul.
This fact is confirmed by the oldest sources including Tavarikh-Iradat
Khan (1714) and Panj Sau Sakhi (1734). The Bhatt Vehis mention how
Guru Gobind Singh himself gave Baba Banda Singh the five kakaars and
tied a keski on his head.

Baba Banda Singh's own hukumnamas all make clear that he was a Sikh of
the Guru and call upon "srbqR Akwl purK jIE dw Kwlsw"[.

The question arises, if "Banda Bairagi" had an army of Hindu warriors,
why wouldn't he have taken revenge for the Mughal excesses at Kanshi
and Mathura? Why are none of the famous Hindus in his army recorded in
history? Why were the Faujdars of conquered areas always Sikhs? Why do
even his own family accounts (Bansavalinama) refer to him and his sons
with the name "Singh"?

It is a blatant lie by the RSS to appropriate a Sikh hero and make him
into a Hindu.

A 25-Point of Attack

The RSS has 25 points with which it hopes to attack the Sikh faith and
lead to its eventual assimilation. All 25 points are very easily
refuted but lack of education and knowledge coupled with the RSS's
organized attack make this a serious danger.

These points are already being incorporated into school text books and
taught as real history. This skewed history is already taught in many
areas.

1) Sikhs are an inseparable part of Hindu society.

2) If Hinduism is a tree, Sikhism is a fruit on that tree.

3) Gurbani is like the Ganga, it emerges from the Gangotri of the
Vedas

4) The Khalsa was crated to protect Hinduism and Hindustan

5) Japji Sahib is a summary of the Gita

6) The Failure of the 1857 "War of Independence" [in reality an
unorganized uprising by Poorbiya soldiers who 8 years earlier helped
the British conquer Punjab] was defeated only by the Sikhs

7) Banda Singh Bahadur was really Veer Banda Bairagi

8) The Sikh Gurus worshipped the cow

9) Condemning Bhai Kanh Singh Nabha and Bhai Veer Singh

10) Use examples from Trumpp and other anti-Sikh western scholars

11) The Sikh Gurus used Vedic ceremonies

12) Guru Gobind Singh worshipped the Goddess Durga

13) Guru Sahib was from the family or Ram and his devotee

14) Sikhs are from Lav-Kush

15) Baba Ram Singh was the legitimate Guru of the Sikhs

16) Create posters which challenge Sikh principles but appear to be
pro-Sikh

17) Insist on using the Bikrami calendar and share Hindu festivals

18) Call Bhai Hakeekat Singh, Hakeekat Rai and illustrate him as a
clean-
shaven Hindu

19) Claim [with no historical basis] that Guru Gobind Singh sent his
army to liberate Ram Janam Bhumi in Ayodhya from the Mughals

20) To create the Khalsa, Guru Gobind Singh seeked blessing from the
gods and goddesses and used Hindu mantras. The Kakaars were also
blessings from the gods.

21) Equate ÅÆ with "OM"

22) Call Bhai Mati Das "Guru Mati Das Sharma"

23) To do parkash of Sree Guru Granth Sahib in Mandirs and put
pictures of
Hindu Gods in Sikh Gurdwaras

24) Project Guru Gobind Singh as having taken a different ideology
from Guru Nanak and to make him into a Patriotic Hero of India

Guru Gobind Singh with Rana Partap and other Hindu "Heros"

25) Make all of Sikh history take a Hindu tint.

Small Steps to Oblivion

The RSS recognizes that Hinduism is many hundreds of years old and it
can slowly assimilate the Sikhs with time. By establishing links
between Vishnu/Raam and the Gurus, they hope that Sikhs will see these
Hindu gods as their own. With time, perhaps pictures of Raam and
Vishnu will find their way into Gurdwaras. The RSS has commissioned
paintings and posters that mix Hinduism and Sikhism and present Sikh
figures receiving blessings from Hindu gods.

Idol worship, which is taboo in Sikhism is also being slowly
introduced. Idols of Guru Gobind Singh and Guru Nanak can now be
purchased from many stores. Some Nanaksar Thaats have also installed
these idols. If idols of Sikh Gurus are acceptable, then perhaps with
time Hindu idols can be accepted. Gurdwara Manikaran is a good example
of what the RSS would like to see more common.

By putting Guru Granth Sahib in Hindu mandirs, simple Sikh villagers
will begin to go to pay obeisance regularly. With Sikhs attending
Hindu Mandirs, they will also offer worship to the Hindu gods and
goddesses there. Sikh marriages may also begin to take place in
Mandirs. Eventually, Hinduism in Punjab will be a mish/mash of Sikhism
and Hinduism and the Sikhs will lose their distinct identity. Given a
few generations, Guru Nanak will be an Avtar of Vishnu just like the
Buddha has become and the Sikhs will be eliminated.

Today, Hindu Mandirs and idols again surround Sree Darbaar Sahib in
Amritsar. In total, nine mandirs surround the Darbar Sahib complex,
with some even in the galleria. When will these small mandirs be
turned into massive buildings? When they are, what will the Sikhs have
to say?

The Sikhs today are facing dark days. The Sikh Liberation Movement has
been destroyed along with Sikh self-confidence. Hindu Fundamentalist
organizations are making deep inroads into the community and still
there is no reaction. We will be remembered as the first generation of
Sikhs to have accepted defeat and subjugation from an adversary.

Will we wake up when it is too late?

http://www.sikhlionz.com/hinduizationofsikhi.htm

INTRODUCTION TO THE POLITICAL FACTIONS IN INDIA

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)- National Volunteers Association
The RSS was founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hegdewar is the
ideological fountainhead of the modern Hindutva movement. Organized
around the concept of Shakas, a local cell formation where young men
would gather for physical and ideological training, under the tutelage
of a brother or dada, the RSS ideology as espousing the national cause
was articulated over the next decade or more. Madhav Sadashiv
Golwalkar, who was anointed head of the RSS shortly before his death
by Hegdewar, clarified the idea of the nation in his treatise "We, or
Our Nationhood Defined":

We belive that our notions today about the Nation are erroneous... It
is but proper therefore, at this stage, to understand what the Western
Scholars state as the Universal Nation idea and correct ourselves (p.
21).

Based on a racial idea of Nation Golwalkar in praise of Hitler says:

To keep up the purity of the Race and its culture, Germany shocked the
world by her purging the country of the semitic Races - the Jews...
Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for Races and
cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into
one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and
profit by (p. 35).

The above two quotes are only samples of what is a very clearly
articulated twin pronged ideology of exclusion (of other races/
religions) and supremacy (of Hindus). The RSS, cell like Shaka
formation and the discipline inculcated within are central to its
success as a fascist force. The RSS cultural and ideological work has
not stayed within the boundaries of India. In the 1980's the RSS
itself broached out. The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), an
organization modeled along RSS lines emerged in the US in the 1980's,
openly claiming allegiance to the founding principles of the RSS.

The RSS was founded in 1925 by the Maratha Brahmin Keshav Baliram
Hegdewar [ Biju ] on the Aryan Vaishnava Holy day of Vijaya Dashami
(the 10th day of the moon) when the Aryan invader Rama destroyed the
Dravidian Empire of Lanka [ Sangh ]. This was done to symbolise its
inherent anti-Sudra nature. Its organisation is highly skewed, with
the Sar Sangh Chalak (supreme dictator) at the top [ Roots ]. This
person can only be a Brahmin. It is the successor of Vivekananda and
Arya Samaj in the Neo-Brahmanist fundamentalist movement. The militia
is organised around local cells or `shakas' where weapons are
distributed to its hardcore members, who are drilled in a vigorous
program of harsh discipline. Vishnu temples serve as repositories of
weapons as well as centers of dissemination of its racist ideology of
Aryan supremacy. Its only leaders have been blue-eyed Sarasvat
Brahmins, a condition enshrined in its constitution. The Brahmin
Golwalkar, the second leader of the RSS, was trained as one of the
hardcore followers of Vivekananda.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)- Indian People's Party

This is Hindutva's parliamentary front which constantly makes efforts
to breach the secular formation through parliamentary actions -
elections, pushing for legislations of various kinds, making visible
the ideology in limited and constitutional ways within mainstream
political discourse. The BJP came into existence after the collapse of
the Janata Party which came to power after Mrs. Gandhi's Emergency in
1979. The erstwhile Hindu parliamentary party - the Jan Sangh - had
merged itself into the Janata Party in the wake of Emergency. However
to call it a parliamentary party is to ignore its actual working. The
party top leadership with few exceptions are all RSS cadre. The party
participates in joint meetings with RSS leadership often. The election
campaigns of the party are often significantly shaped and helped by
RSS cadres of the local region campaigning for the party's candidate.
In short, in more than one ways the relation between BJP and other
Hindutva organizations is quite clearly visible.Its top leaders are
all hardcore Brahminist RSS cadres. All its leaders have been Brahmins
too. Generally, RSS cadre graduate to the BJP.

VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad)- World Hindu Council

The VHP was founded on August 29, 1964 in Bombay with the clear aim of
being the activist wing, that would undertake aggressive actions in
civil society as a whole. The first general secretary of the VHP made
its goals clear as follows:
It is therefore necessary in this age of competition and conflict to
think of. and organise, the Hindu world to save itself from the evil
eyes of all three {all three being Christianity, Islam and Communism).

(From the Organiser, Diwali Special, 1964.)

The VHP has gone on to do just that - spread out as a extra-
parliamentary force throughout not just India, but the world. Its
primary functions in India are to mobilize forces for agitational and
violent purposes. It took part in the Cow Protection Movement though
out the 60's and the 70's. The entire Babri Masjid movement was
orchestrated by the VHP - steadfastly refusing to enter into any
negotiation, rejecting the right of the judicial system in
adjudicating on the issue and mobilizing often violent events with the
clear intent of polarizing society and creating a political movement
within public discourse of Hindutva - the Rath Yatras of the 1980's
and the final demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 were orchestrated
by the VHP in association with its "youth wing" the Bajrang Dal. Again
the strategy of the Hindutva combine as a whole is palpably apparent
here. BJP leaders for instance would participate in VHP sponsored
events, but when the results of such events came out - such as
violence and killings - the BJP would conveniently distance itself
temporarily from the VHP.

On the international front, the VHP's success lies in mobilizing
migrant Hindus, especially the middle class and lower middle class.
The VHP of America and its student wing the Hindu Student Council
(which is present on many US and Canadian campuses) is the most
obvious example of its international mobilization. The VHP of America
and HSC's for instance conducted the the World Vision 2000 conference
in Washington D.C in 1993, which became a rallying point for overseas
Hindus and a ground for further recruitment in the wake of what many
commentators called a "celebration" over the destruction of the mosque
in India. The VHP of America and UK primary success can be seen if not
in any other way in terms of financial clout - as it is the primary
mode of channeling dollars and pounds into Hindutva politics back in
India.

The council was established on August 29, 1964 in Bombay, Maharastra
[ Biju ] with a political objective of establishing the supremacy of
Hinduism all over the world. It obtains funds and recruits from Aryan
Hindus all across the globe, especially from the US, UK and Canada and
has grown to become the main fund-raising agency of Brahmanist
Fundamentalism. The council was instrumental in the demolition of the
holiest Islamic shrine in Oudh, the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya and has
organised several massacres of Muslims and Christians. It is in the
forefront in the call for a Hindu Rashtra, a Hindu State ethnically
cleansed of its non-Aryan populations.

Bajrang Dal- Party of Hanuman

The militant wing of the VHP, it was formed "to counter `Sikh
militancy' " during the Sikh Genocide of 1983-84 [ Bajrang ]. Created
with the objective of the eradication of Sikhs which it has termed
"Muslims in disguise", its cadres fought alongside Congress-backed
Hindutva militias during the massacre of 200,000 Sikhs under Indira
Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Recruits carry a " knife-like trident to be
slung across the shoulder - an answer to the Sikh kirpan
" [ Bajrang ]. It has subsequently expanded its targets to include
Muslims and Christians as well.

Ranvir Sena- Army of Ranvir

The militia was founded in 1994 by `the merger of several upper-caste
private armies such as the Savarna Liberation front and the Sunlight
Sena' [ Rama ] in order to combat Maoist Dalit organisations. It is
essentially the Brahmin private army of Bihar. Enjoying clandestine
Government support, the organisation is devoted to anti-Dalit
terrorism and the preservation of the Vedic apartheid system. Its
militiamen are known to be heavily armed with the most modern weaponry
which is financed by the VHP, and the Sena has openly claimed
responsibility for numerous massacres of landless Dalit Blacks and
mass rapes of Dalit women. Human Rights Watch estimates the private
army has been responsible for more than 400 deaths [ HRW ].

Shiv Sena- Shiva's Army

The Shiva Sena arose as a movement amongst Congress members. It
intitially unleashed a `physical annihilation' of Communists (who were
mainly Black) and against Dalits, and organised the mass murder of
Bombay's once-influential Black South Indian communities
(`lungiwallahs') and Gujaratis [ Roots ]. Subsequently, it engaged in
the mass murder of 3000 Muslims [ Sri ]

ABVP- Indian Universities Council

This front comprises students of Hindu religious schools (vidyalayas).
It has expanded its base by infiltration into `secular' universities.
Its higher-ranking cadres are well-equipped with weaponry; they often
organise communal campus disturbances against Christians, Muslims,
Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. Most of its members graduate to become
hardcore RSS and VHP militants.

Bharatiya Jan Sangh- Indic Race Party

Founded in October 1951 with the Bengal Brahmin Shyama Prasad
Mookerjee as its president, who had resigned from the allied `soft'
Brahminist Congress in Apil 1950 [ Chandra ] was president until he
died in 1953. Its cadres were carefully chosen indoctrinated
activists. The second president, the Brahmin Mauli Chandra Sharma
resigned in 1954 to protest against RSS domination of the party. It
strove for an `Akhand Bharat' [ Chandra ] ethnically cleansed of its
Muslim, Christian and Black Sudroid Populations.

Hindu Mahasabha- Great Congress of Hindus

The Sabha began as `an extremist wing of the Congress Party' [ Perry ]
and was founded by the Maratha Brahmin Vinayak Damodar Sarvarkar.
Influenced by `German racism' [ Letter ] Sarvarkar sought to establish
a racially pure Hindu state ethnically cleansed of its non-Hindu
populations. Sarvarkar's followers were involved in the brutal
assasinations of of Sir Wyllie [ Sarvar ].

HSC (Hindu Students Council)- World Hindu Council

The `student wing' of the VHP [ Biju ]. It conducted the the World
Vision 2000 conference in Washington D.C in 1993 which was a
celebration over the destruction of Babri Masjid and the attendant
genocide of 5,000 Muslims [ Biju ]. It is involved in setting up
hardcore Hindutva websites across the internet, spewing hatred against
Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS)- Hindu Volunteers Association

The HSS was formed in the US in the 1980s, ` openly claiming
allegiance to the founding principles of the RSS' [ Biju ], in order
to organise Hindu terrorists in America.

Arya Samaj- Society of Aryans

Founded by Dayanand Sarasvat (born 12 Feb 1824) [ Rao ] Swami Dayanand
established the Arya Samaj in 1875. The Dayanand Anglo Vaidic schools
(DAVs) are its propaganda wing, designed to raise a generation of
brainwashed militants. Most of its students go on to become hardcore
RSS and ABVP members. The Arya Samaj is the fountain of the Hindutva
movement : `The rise of Hindu nationalism can be traced to the Arya
Samaj in the late nineteenth century' [ Perry ]. Dayananad Sarasvati
was a bigoted anti-Islamist. This is what he had to say regarding
Islam :

" Such teachings deserve to be utterly discarded. Such a book
[ Quran ], such a prophet [ Mohammed ] and such a religion [ Islam ]
do nothing but harm. The world would be better off without them. Wise
men would do well to discard a religion so absurd and accept the Vedic
faith which is absolutely free from error." [Polemics], [ Sarasvati, p.
633 ]

The raison-d'etre of the Arya Samaj was anti-Islamism and anti-
Sikhism :

" Both of the early leaders of the militant Aryas, Pandit Lekh Ram and
Lala Munshi Ram [in 1917 he became Swami Shraddhananda], died at the
hands of Muslim assassins as a direct result of their involvement in
communal activities -- polemics and conversions. Lekh Ram was killed
in 1897 due to hostile exchanges with the Ahmadiya sect of Qadian.
Shraddhanand was murdered in 1926 due to his shuddhi activities in
Delhi and the United Provinces." [ Polemics ]

Ram Rajya Parishad

Council of the Kingdom of Ram

Formed with the explicit purpose of re-establishing Ram-Rajya (the
Empire of Ram), its goal was the elimination of Sudroid Blacks
(Dalits, Dravidians, Adivasis, Kolarians) and to establish a racially
pure Aryan nation on the lines of Ram-Rajya. Jan Sangh, the Hindu
Mahasabha and the Ram Rajya Parishad was 10 seats with 6.4 per cent of
the votes. [ Chandra ] By 1967 it had disappeared.

Hindu hardliners have grown more vocal

Its founders felt the need to present Hinduism in a rigorous though
simplified form which would be comparable to most other world
religions. The superiority of other faiths was believed to stem from
their being far less diffuse and more uniform than Hinduism.

VHP is a hardline Hindu outfit with unmistakably close ties to its
parent organisation, the extremist RSS, whose objective to 'Hinduise'
the Indian nation it shares.

Central to the RSS ideology has been the belief that real national
unity and progress will come only when India is 'purged' of non-
Hindus, or, when members of other communities subordinate themselves
'willingly' to 'Hindu superiority.'

Linked groups

The VHP has tended to tone down the rhetoric of Hindu supremacy and
even make an occasional distinction between fellow (Muslim) citizens
of the present and (Muslim) 'marauders' of the past.

But the ambition of establishing a resurgent Hinduism by inculcating
what some historians call a carefully constructed common 'Hindu
spirit' is very much central to the VHP.

VHP extreme leaders Rallying for Nationalism in North India

The temple project enjoys a lot of support

This is also something it shares with the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), which currently leads the Indian Government at the centre.

Earlier known as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), the BJP was
established in 1951 as a political wing of the RSS to counter rising
public revulsion after the revered independence figure Mahatma Gandhi
was assassinated by a former RSS member.

Some commentators say the party came close to obliteration in the
1960s with the Congress led by the charismatic and secular Jawaharlal
Nehru, leaving little room for hardline communal politics.

But a political emergency announced by Nehru's daughter, Indira
Gandhi, in 1975 enabled the BJS leaders, Atal Behari Vajpayee and LK
Advani among them, to gain near stardom after serving brief prison
sentences.

Many women have joined the hardliners' campaign,

But it didn't really emerge as a political presence until the early
1980s. A series of events in that decade including the mass conversion
of lower-caste Hindus to Islam pushed the BJP's close affiliate, the
VHP, to the forefront.

Historians say the VHP-led Hindu right considered the mass conversion
of "dalits" or lower-caste Hindus to Islam to be an unforgivable
insult.

The dalits, for centuries beholden to the upper castes, outraged Hindu
hardliners by daring to convert at all, and moreover, convert to
Islam.

The VHP saw this as a serious threat to its notion of Hinduism.

Despite murders of Dalit-Muslim converts, the leader of the VHP still
claims the VHP are 'peaceful'

It proceeded to whip up Hindu support for a re-defined communal force,
organising a series of religious meetings, cross-country marches and
processions through the 1980s.

This phase coincided with the launch of an electoral strategy by the
BJP to corner and hold on to the "Hindu" vote.

Temple controversy

Following the success of their campaign, senior VHP leaders announced
at a religious meeting in 1984 their programme to "liberate" a site in
Ayodhya from an ancient mosque to make way for a temple to the Hindu
god Ram.

Some 'moderate' Hindu leaders support the VHP

Analysts say this announcement heralded a turning point in the history
of the Hindu nationalist movement.

The VHP has since then claimed that the site belongs rightfully to
Hindu worshippers who believe that the mosque stood on the birthplace
of the god, Lord Ram.

Although the claim does not stand up to substantial archaeological or
historical scrutiny, the VHP and BJP are seen to have made possible
the creation of a shared Hindu symbol that cuts through most divisions
in Hindu society.

Sue Tao

http://www.sikhlionz.com/vhprssbjp.htm

Hindutva: The Web of Fascism in India

'Militant Hinduism' is a term that existed prior to the assassination
of Mahatma Gandhi by a former Rastriya Swayemsevak Sangh (RSS) member
but only became widely known after this incident. While the Indian
masses were battling their colonial rulers, the British, certain
groups amongst them were focusing on a perceived internal conflict.
Claiming to be the custodians of Hindu Nationalism, members of the RSS
(National Volunteer Corps) were organizing an ideological movement to
cleanse their society of foreign entities, specifically the Muslims
and any minorities that did not pledge allegiance to Hinduism. After
the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi the ruling Congress political
party banned the RSS. During this time period a report documenting the
ideology and structure of the RSS was circulated within the Congress
membership. This report labeled the RSS as a "purely Maharashtrian
Brahmin organization." [a]

It noted that the RSS was involved in "secret and violent methods
which promote Fascism," while disregarding the constitution and the
law. In order to understand this ideology we must understand its
roots, specifically Brahminism.

Brahmins are the apex of the hierarchical caste system predominant in
Indian Hindu society. This system classifies people into four groups
with the Brahmins at the throne and the untouchables, or Dalits, at
the bottom. Women are not given any recognition in this system, while
equating them to mere animals and property of man. This system is in
place to secure power for the few in order to socially, religiously
and politically oppress the masses of Hindu society. What we are
witnessing is Brahminism attempting to spread its wings and control
non-Hindu minority groups as well.

The objective of the RSS, a communal militant organization, is to
Hinduize India and rid it of any foreign elements. However, according
to Madhavrao Sadasivrao Golwalkar (a past leader of the RSS), foreign
elements may coexist within the Hindu Nation provided they, "adopt the
Hindu culture and language, learn to respect and hold in reverence the
Hindu religion, entertain no idea but the glorification of the Hindu
race and culture … they must not only give up their attitude of
intolerance and ungratefulness towards this land and its age-old
traditions, but must also cultivate the positive attitude of love and
devotion instead; in one word, they must cease to be foreigners or may
stay in the country wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation claiming
nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment,
not even citizen's rights." An analysis of this ideology reveals three
major ingredients which are required for its success: a homogenized
Hindu community based on Brahmanical scriptural prescriptions;
subordination, if not elimination, of the members of other
denominations; and the creation of an aggressive Hindu community.

While Adolf Hitlers' fascist regime committed genocide supported by
the ideology of race purity, the RSS and its affiliates have adopted a
similar philosophy with the exception that they are pursuing religious
purity. As noted by Aijaz Ahmad, unlike Hitler, "for whom the crossing
over from one race to another was simply impossible, Savarkar (past
Hindu Mahasabha leader and much-respected personality in RSS circles)
does offer to non-Hindu "races" an alternative, namely that they can
re-join this mainstream if they convert to Hinduism and bring up their
children as Hindus." [b]

Founded in 1925, the RSS adopted the German and Italian fascist
government model to further its agenda. The agenda was implemented by
an intricate structure of subsidiary groups, which infiltrated all
parts of the social fabric, including education, politics, labor
unions and economics. Amongst their affiliates, the most important and
influential were the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Shiv Sena, and their
political party the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which was formed when
the original Jan Sangh party was disbanded to merge with a larger
political formation in 1977. Today these groups are collectively
referred to as the 'Sang Parivar.' The foundation of the Sang Parivar
remains the predominantly upper-caste (Brahmins) trade-professionals
while the henchmen are the lower middle-class youth. Italian scholar,
Marzia Casolari who draws parallels between Hindutva and the fascist
ideology of Italy, exposes the Sang Parivar's doctrine of separatism
and supremacy.
Marzia researched numerous publications issued during the early years
of the RSS and found that there existed evidence of direct contact
between leaders of the RSS and the Italian fascist government and also
the German representatives in India at the time. She notes that B. S.
Moonje's (founder of the parent of the RSS) trip to Italy in 1931
during which he met Mussolini, was more than just a politically
motivated visit.

The highlight of the visit was the meeting with Mussolini. An
interesting account of the trip and the meeting is given in Moonje's
diary, and takes thirteen pages. The Indian leader was in Rome from 15
to 24 March 1931. On 19 March, in Rome, he visited, among others, the
Military College, the Central Military School of Physical Education,
the Fascist Academy of Physical Education, and, most important, the
Balilla and Avanguardisti organizations. These two organizations,
which he describes in more than two pages of his diary, were the
keystone of the fascist system of indoctrination - rather than
education - of the youths. Their structure is strikingly similar to
that of the RSS. They recruited boys from the age of six, up to
eighteen: the youths had to attend weekly meetings, where they
practiced physical exercises, received paramilitary training and
performed drills and parades.

The RSS publications at the time, primarily the 'Kesari,' regularly
published editorials and articles about Italy, fascism and Mussolini.
Vinayak D. Savarkar (a.k.a. Veer Savarkar), president of the Hindu
Mahasabha, a subsidiary of the Sang Parivar, pronounced in front of
about 20,000 people in Poona on 1 August 1938 that, "India's foreign
policy must not depend on "isms". Germany has every right to resort to
Nazism and Italy to Fascism and events have justified that those isms
and forms of Governments were imperative and beneficial to them under
the conditions that obtained there." It was normal procedure for the
Sang Parivar to compare the Jewish problem in Germany to the Muslim
problem in India thus embedding the idea of the 'internal enemy' into
the Hindu masses who were willing to listen. The Sang Parivar's top
priority was to infiltrate all sections of the social and political
structure of the Indian Government because they understood that the
rise of fascism in Germany and Italy occurred through a combination of
street violence (carefully orchestrated by the upper echelons and
implemented with great mass support), deep infiltration into the
police, bureaucracy and army, and the connivance of political
leaders." Sumit Sarkar wrote, after the 1992 communal riots in Mumbai,
that "the triumph of Hindutva, 'hard' or 'soft', implies for Muslims
and other minority groups…a second-class citizenship at best, constant
fear of riots amounting to genocide, a consequent strengthening of the
most conservative and fundamentalist groups within such
communities." [c]

Partha Banerjee, who has had first hand experience with the Sang
Parivar for fifteen years of her life, notes that "the Hindu
fundamentalist RSS-BJP-VHP and the Shiv Sena are no different from
radical Muslim groups such as the Jamat-e-Islami or the Taliban." In
their attacks towards the Christian missionaries, the Sang Parivar
influenced the minds of their followers by using violent propaganda.
[d]

"Jesus is junk. It is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolizes no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more
than an artifice for legitimizing wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture." [Sita Ram Goel. 1994. Jesus Christ-An
Artifice of Aggression. Voice of India, New Delhi. Prominent leader
and theorist of RSS]

Ms. Banerjee, who is writing a book about her experience, has
witnessed Sang Parivar activists climb the political ladder within the
BJP to become high-level politicians, influencing homeland and foreign
policies. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the current Prime Minister, is a life-
long RSS member. BJP's political ally Shiv Sena (SS) and its
dictatorial leader Bal Thackeray have been openly supportive of social
aspects of society that are racist and oppressive. Mr. Thackeray has
gone so far as to say that democracy is not for India and what Indians
need is a "benign dictatorship."

Mr.Golwalkar's book "We or Our Nationhood Defined" published in 1938
was a testament to the ideology the Sang Privar upholds. His
comparison of the Hindutva ideology with the fascist agenda of Germany
is alarming. An excerpt is provided below.

German race pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up the
purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her
purging the country of the Semitic races-the Jews. Race pride at its
highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh
impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to
the root, to be assimilated into one united whole-a good lesson for us
in Hindusthan (i.e., the land of Hindus) to learn and profit by.
In order to implement its agenda, the Sang Parivar requires massive
financial support and this it receives from various covert charity
groups, which are dispersed throughout India and the diaspora.
According to Ms. Banerjee, financial support for the Sang Parivar's
activities comes from various charitable groups some of whom collect
under the banner of eradicating poverty and social upliftment.
However, these funds are funneled to support the activities of the
Sang Parivar.
Money is also reportedly pumped in and out by other organizations such
as the Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP), VHP of America, and the Hindu
Student Council or HSC of America. Traditionally conservative, but
apolitical Hindu temples in USA and Europe are now targeted by the
Sangh in order to mobilize second-generation Indian-American youth
through organization of VHP-sponsored Hindu summer camps and various
religious conventions of HSC. Under the guise of cultural education, a
whole generation is being indoctrinated to be blind, separatists, and
bigots. Many Indian immigrants, ignorant of the relationship of the
VHP and HSC with BJP and RSS, are being used to further the fascist-
like sociopolitical agenda of the Sangh Parivar.
In the 1990s the Sang Parivar invented the 'Ram Janam Bhoomi' platform
to build a Hindu temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
This caused severe communal rioting during 1992 in Mumbai killing
thousands of innocent Muslims and Hindus. Their contention was that
the mosque, known as Babri Masjid (after the Islamic ruler Babar) was
built upon the ruins of a Hindu temple that was supposedly demolished
by "Muslim" invaders. This temple, the Sangh says, was built to mark
the holy birthplace of Rama, the God king. The Sangh contends that a
temple with pillars had indeed been there since the eleventh century.
However, even a devoted pro-BJP Belgian columnist, Koenraad Elst, in
his book argues:

"When that building (the temple) was destroyed, we do not know
precisely, there are no descriptions of the event extant anywhere.
Mohammed Ghori's armies arrived there in 1194, and they may have
destroyed it. It may have been rebuilt afterwards, or it may only have
been destroyed by later Muslim lieutenants. So it is possible that
when Mir Baqi, Babar's lieutenant, arrived there in 1528, he found a
heap of rubble, or an already aging mosque, rather than a magnificent
Hindu temple."
Other archeologists plainly assert that there has not been a single
piece of evidence for the existence of a temple of brick, stone or
both. This entire episode was clearly politically motivated being that
Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), where the incident occurred, has the largest
number of parliamentary seats and is important enough to sway the
outcome of the elections for one party or another. The result was
favorable for the BJP. They managed to form a short-lived coalition
government in U.P. in 1995, paving the way for a big win in the 1996
elections.

The anti-Pakistan sentiment, which reigns high on the BJP agenda, is
nothing new. Its predecessor the Jan Sangh was also anti-Pakistan.
According to Bipan Chandra, former Professor of History at Jawaharlal
Nehru University in New Delhi, the "Jan Sangh was strongly anti-
Pakistan." According to one of its resolutions passed at the end of
1960s, Pakistan's ``aim is to sustain the faith of Indian Muslims with
the ultimate objective of establishing Muslim domination over the rest
of India as well." Now with the BJP having significant influence in
the Indian polity with a member of RSS as Prime Minister, the anti-
Pakistan card is being played repeatedly with everything from everyday
crime to communal rioting being blamed on Pakistan along with the
militant excursions into Indian Kashmir. The massacre of innocent Sikh
Kashmiris during former US President Bill Clinton's visit to India,
which was initially blamed on Islamic militants supported by Pakistan,
has been exposed as an Indian Government plot by Amnesty International
and various other independent human rights groups. The related DNA
scandal, which exposed the governments plot to frame certain
individuals related to the massacre was spoiled when it was discovered
that the men had been dead prior to the incident.

While attempting to understand the psyche of the Sang Parivar, one
must not disregard its external influence, the bond with fascism made
by its founders, with the objective to convert the average citizen
into a soldier. Savarkar introduced the roadmap for the Sang Parivar
during a speech he made on August 1, 1938. While referring to the
situation in Germany and Italy he said:

Germany has every right to resort to Nazism and Italy to Fascism and
events have justified that those isms and forms of Governments were
imperative and beneficial to them under the conditions that obtained
there. Bolshevism might have suited Russia and Democracy as it is
obtained in Briton (sic) to the British people.
Marzia Casolari noted that the "continuous reference to German racial
policy and the comparison of the Jewish problem in Germany with the
Muslim question in India reveals the evolution of the concept of
'internal enemy' along explicitly fascist lines." This concept is now
coming to fruition with the state sponsored communal violence, which
is being unleashed sporadically with precision. The henchmen of the
RSS and VHP are provided lists of Muslim homes and shops from
government offices that are controlled by BJP politicians. Human
rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty
International (AI), have documented this fact during their
investigations of various violent communal outbreaks. One interesting
fact about these outbreaks is that they are unquestionably labeled as
'riots,' which would imply violent public disorder or unrest. However,
fatality figures show that a specific minority community is targeted
and suffers a disproportionately larger number of losses. Victims who
are protecting themselves and their families and property generally
cause fatalities on the other side and this is to be expected. Some
examples of pogroms, carried out by government sponsored hoodlums
armed with knives, kerosene, axes and lists of homes and business of
the targeted community, are the killings of innocent Sikhs after the
death of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in November of 1984, and the
murders of innocent Muslims in Gujarat in March of 2002 after the
Godra incident. Some trends of violence that have emerged from these
incidents are indicative of the zeal of the Sang Parivar and its
followers to humiliate and coerce a group into submission or eradicate
them.

The Indian society holds a woman's honor at a high stature, not so
much for the well being of the woman but more for the public standing
of the family she represents. Thus in order to demean a group the
tactic of sexual violence (including gang rape) against the women folk
is employed. The HRW report notes that, "tragically consistent with
the longstanding pattern of attacks on minorities and Dalits (or so-
called untouchables) in India, and with previous episodes of large-
scale communal violence in India, scores of Muslim girls and women
were brutally raped in Gujarat before being mutilated and burnt to
death." The report further states, that "testimonies collected by the
Citizens' Initiative, a coalition of over twenty-five NGOs, and
submitted to the National Human Rights Commission are replete with
incidents of gang rapes of Muslim girls and women." Another trend
which was noted during the anti-Sikh pogroms and also recently during
the communal violence in Gujarat is the burning of evidence. Victims
of rape and other atrocities are burned beyond recognition. The
assailants carry cans of kerosene with them for this purpose and also
to destroy property.

The report on the Gujarat incident issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW
April 2002 Vol. 14, No. 3(C)) cites evidence supporting the conclusion
that "groups most directly responsible for violence against Muslims in
Gujarat include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal, the ruling
BJP, and the umbrella organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(National Volunteer Corps, RSS), all of whom collectively form the
sangh parivar (or "family" of Hindu nationalist groups)." The report
talks about the formation of the RSS, and states that its agenda is to
"propagate a militant form of Hindu nationalism which it promotes as
the sole basis for national identity in India." It also notes that the
Chief Minister of Gujarat during these events, Narendra Modi, is a
former RSS volunteer.

The United States Immigration and Nationality Act defines terrorist
activity to mean: any such activity which is unlawful under the laws
of the place where it is committed (reference Section 212 (a)(3)(B) of
the US Immigration and Nationality Act), clearly, the actions and
ideology of the RSS and its affiliates befit the definition of
terrorist activity as defined above. They commit unlawful acts of
violence against civilian communities. Such acts are considered
unlawful in India and would also be considered unlawful in the United
States. However, rarely are the assailants brought to justice in India
because the ruling polity is either a political branch of the rogue
organizations or seeks to benefit from such communal violence with
respect to politics. This was evident in the recent, post-Gujarat
communal violence, elections in which the culpable Chief Minister,
Narendra Modi, won another term based on a platform of communal
violence and Hindutva. HRW notes that violence against Christians
increased after the BJP came to power in 1998 and then a significant
escalation was noted in "the months preceding national parliamentary
elections in September and October 1999." (Politics by other means,
1999).

The Sang Parivar and its henchmen use conventional weapons (in some
instances use of chemical weapons has also been reported) and sexual
violence to spread fear and further their objectives. Destruction of
personal and business property and religious institutions is also
conducted to displace minority communities and prevent their return.
These terrorist activities are funded by donations collected by
organizations, which pose as social reform groups working for the
betterment of Indian Society. These groups convince Indians in the
diaspora, most of whom are unsuspecting, that they should provide
financial assistance for the upliftment of their poor brethren back in
India. One of the most respectable US based charitable groups linked
to the Sang Parivar is the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF).
While on the surface the IDRF claims to be a non-sectarian, non-
political charity that funds development and relief work in India, the
reality is quite the contrary. A report (Foreign Exchange of Hate) by
South Asia Citizens Web (SACW), based in France, documents the links
between the IDRF, a Maryland, US based charity, and certain violent
and sectarian Hindu supremacist organizations in India. The report
cites evidence that the IDRFs tax exempt certificate, form 1023, lists
nine organizations, which it supports in India, and all nine are
clearly identified by Sangh Parivar literature and websites as member
organizations.

[a] - National Archives of India (NAI), New Delhi, Sardar Patel
Correspondence, microfilm, reel n.3, undated document entitled "A Note
on the RSS".
[b] - The politics of hate by Aijaz Ahmad.
[c] - The Fascism of the Sangh Parivar by Sumit Sarkar.
[d] - In the Belly of the Beast - The Hindu Supremacist RSS and BJP of
India - An Insider's Story by Partha Banerjee.
References:

1. India - Politics By Other Means: Attacks Against Christians in
India. October 1999 Vol. 11, No. 6 (C).
2. The Foreign Exchange of Hate - IDRF and the American Funding of
Hindutva. © 2002, Sabrang Communications & Publishing Pvt. Ltd,
Mumbai, India, and The South Asia Citizens Web, France.
3. Hindutva's foreign tie-up in the 1930s: Archival evidence by Marzia
Casolari.
4. Towards a Hindu nation by KN Panikkar.
5. Jan Sangh: The BJP's Predecessor by Bipan Chandra.
6. RSS forays into Punjab by Praveen Swami.
7. US congressional record: Hon. Dan Burton of Indiana in the House of
Representatives, Tuesday, May 14, 2002.
8. India: Hate speeches on the violence in Gujarat must be stopped -
AI Index: ASA 20/019/2002 (Public) News Service No: 183, 16 October
2002.
9. India - Religious violence reaches unacceptable levels - AI Index:
ASA 20/03/99 25 JANUARY 1999.

Fifty Five years of Indian independence.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 15, 2002

On August 15, India celebrates 54 years of independence from British
rule. India's independence is also popularly known as the partition
period. But what was truly partitioned? The partition, which created
Hindustan and Pakistan, parted Punjab, the homeland of the Sikhs. The
events preceding this period were critical for the Sikhs as they were
in a position to secure autonomy for their homeland. This, however,
did not materialize due to reasons stemming from the socio-political
atmosphere of the time. The dominant political party, Congress,
assured the Sikhs that the constitution would not be ratified until it
satisfied their concerns regarding the autonomy of Punjab, the
sovereignty of the Sikh religion, and the security of the Sikh
Identity.

Prevalent leaders of the era, such as Mohan Dass Karam Chand Gandhi
and Jawahar Lal Nehru conceded various resolutions to assure the Sikhs
that their rights would be safeguarded in the new land. After
receiving such seemingly concrete and solemn promises from the
Congress leaders, the Sikhs decided to proceed alongside India and did
not pursue a separate nation. Today an individual with even a mediocre
knowledge of the events, which have transpired amongst the Sikhs and
their so-called keepers, between 1947 and today, will declare that the
Sikhs were betrayed.
More than 52,000 Sikh political prisoners are rotting in Indian jails
without charge or trial. Many have been in illegal custody since 1984.
Over 50,000 Sikhs have been arrested, tortured, and murdered by the
Indian police and security forces, then declared "unidentified" and
secretly cremated. General Narinder Singh has said, "Punjab is a
police state." U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has said that for
Sikhs, Kashmiri Muslims, and other minorities "India might as well be
Nazi Germany." . Indian security forces have murdered over 250,000
Sikhs since 1984, according to figures reported in The Politics of
Genocide by Inderjit Singh Jaijee. The U.S. State Department reported
in 1994 that the Indian government paid out over 41,000 cash bounties
to police officers for killing Sikhs. Since Christmas 1998, a wave of
violence against Christians has seen priests murdered, nuns being
raped, churches being burned, Christian schools and prayer halls
destroyed, and no one has been punished for these acts.

Militant Hindu fundamentalists allied with the pro-Fascist RSS, the
parent organization of the ruling BJP, burned missionary Graham
Staines and
his two young sons to death. Recent news reports of DNA sample
tampering have confirmed that in March 2000 the Indian government
massacred 35 innocent Sikhs in Chithisinghpora to further their
haphazard campaign against the struggle for autonomy in the Kashmir
region (The Times of India, March 06, 2002 - J&K fudges DNA samples to
cover up killings). Amnesty International has also stated that the
evidence in the Chithisinghpora massacre points to the Indian State
(Amnesty International - Summary of Report - ASA 20/24/00 June 2000 ).
The Indian Government continues to use violent methods to quell
peaceful political activism, a right of an individual living in a
democratic state (18 hurt in Malout firing, Chander Parkash ,Tribune
News Service).

When independent Human Rights organizations have attempted to
investigate human rights violation in India they have been denied
access in order to veil the terror campaigns wielded by India on its
minorities. This was the case post 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom and recently
after the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujrat (BBC South Asia News,
Tuesday, 23 July, 2002). U.S. Congressman Joe Pitts has condemned the
atrocities committed by Hindu extremists in Gujarat, India, against
Muslims and other minority groups (House of Representatives - June 18,
2002). Human Rights Watch has indicted Indian officials for the Gujrat
genocide. The Indian polity is aligned with fascist terrorist
organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the
Rashtriya Swayemsevak Sang (RSS) responsible for the oppression of non-
Hindus who refuse to assimilate into the ideology of Hindutva. These
groups have clearly stated that until minorities in India learn to
earn the goodwill of the Hindu majority by accepting Hinduism as the
umbrella religion they will continue to be persecuted (Hindustan
Times, March 28, 2002). Christians have also been victims of VHP and
RSS aggression in Gujrat (No season of goodwill for India's Christians
- BBC News, December 28, 1998).

On August 15, 2002, India celebrates 55 years of independence while
its minority citizens; the Sikhs, the Christians, the Muslims and the
Dalits observe 55 years of repression and state-sponsored carnage.

Latest book release

Lawyers for human rights international release new book
Genesis of State Terrorism in Punjab

http://www.sikhlionz.com/hindutva.htm

Shivsena

The Nation of Our Dreams
Balasaheb Thackeray's vision

(Mr. Bal Thackeray, writing in a sponsored feature in the Indian
Express, Mumbai on
October 11, 1998)

This is a Hindu nation. Here it is. Just as it was. And just as it
will be. Always, and forever....

After 300 long years, the saffron flies again over Maharashtra. The
saffron. The symbol of sacrifice. Prepare to welcome the saffron.
The march has begun, never to stop. Shiv Sainiks will carry the flag
to the East, to the West, to the North and to the South. Everywhere.
We will cross the Sahyadris. And we will breach the Himalayas. We will
paint the ramparts of the Red Fort in saffron. We must fulfil
Chhatrapati Maharaj's dram. We must build the Hindustan of our dreams.
It is a historic task we have set out to accomplish. So help us God.
Everywhere in the country people are turning to the Shiv Sena.
Anywhere you find a sense of insecurity among the Hindus, you will
also
find the Shiv Sena. For the endangered and the insecure, for the
deprived and the depraved (sic), the Shiv Sena is the only hope. The
Shiv Sena can never betray the trust reposed by the hopeless millions.
The Shiv Sena is not just a political party. It is a tree growing
huge,striking its roots into the soil of this land, spreading its vast
branches to protect and preserve Hindustan....

It is our Hindustan we have to build. We have to create a Hindustan
for Hindus. We have to create a country where Hindus are respected.
The country where Hindutva will shine in all its glory. A country
where
the anti-Hindu shall bow before the will of the Hindu. That is the
country we have to build.....

Look at our country. Our laws. Our rules. A whole long list of
don'ts meant only for Hindus. And who are the ones who are empowered?
The Mussalmans.

How long are we to tolerate this? How long are we to stand by and
watch these antics in the name of religion? How long will those in
power fool us? How long can we pretend not to see what goes on in the
name of concession to the so-called minorities?...

Let us have a little laugh over our peculiar brand of secularism. The
microphones blare at us spreading the word of Allah a good five times
a
day. But no Hindu can dare to play cymbals or beat the prayer drums
while he passes the house of Allah.

Secularism in our context is but an opportunistic impartiality, which
was never intended to be, and therefore never will. It's just another
coinage and convenience, a piece of useful jargon. But the intent is
deadly.

Look under the cover of this impartiality, and you will find an unholy
incest between purpose and intent.

Opportunism is the prophylactic (sic), but the demon will surely be
born.

Someday, someday very soon, when the purpose and the intent stand at
cross-purposes, the membrane will be torn. And the bastard will be
conceived. The monster will be born. And our land will be cursed.
Look at the population. The growth in Hindu population is gradually
slowing down. But the Mussalman is on a rampage. From 30 million to
130 million! As if he was born only to breed. Somehow, oh, somehow,
can we somehow convince them that they are citizens of this country;
tell them that their identity is not in danger; their existence is not
in danger.

I do not call the Mussalman a traitor. But unfortunately for them,
their leadership is treacherous. The undoing of the Mussalmans in this
subcontinent is the lack of proper leadership. They have not had a
single good leader. Neither before, nor after the partition. Leaders
of the stature of Maulana Azad and Hamid Dalwai failed to pass on
their
doctrines.

And what we are left with are the likes of Shahbuddin, Bukhari and
Banatwala. Tragicomic?.....

As I see it, there are only two sects of peoples in our country. One
has sworn allegiance to the country. The other is clearly against the
country.

And as far as I can see it, there has never been any other
sect.....For
being an Indian, it is not only important to abide by our laws, but it
is also important to live as we do, to accept our culture and to
respect
our traditions. And not only that, one must accept that Hinduism has
by
far the largest following in this country. This must be remembered.
Always.

Those who refuse to accept this have no right to live in this country.
Those who have all their lives spoken ill of Hindutva are not going to
be spared. Embrace this country in its entirety, as Hindustan. Else
leave.

Triumphant Tiger
Deccan Herald - Jan 23 1999

Though Sena Chief Bal Thackeray suspended the agitation launched
against the Indo-Pak cricket series, he has succeeded in establishing
himself as a parallel power centre.

The head office of the Board of Cricket Control in India is on the
first floor of Stadium House (Brabourne Stadium) situated oa busy road
in the central business district. The broad pavements are also crowded
with pedestrians and hawkers. There are shops below the office, busy
with customers. A narrow staircase where there is just enough room for
one person to climb, leads from the pavement to the upper offices. At
2.30 in the afternoon on Monday, about 40 to 50 persons armed with
hockey sticks, rods and cricket stumps entered and attacked the place
without anybody noticing it. They must have queued up outside on the
pavement to make their way in. They entered the office, damaged the
property and broke trophies which our cricketers had won with great
effort.

They also attacked Sharad Diwadkar, a former cricketer and officer in-
charge of the organisation whose vice-president is Manohar Joshi, the
chief minister of the state and Sena leader. Though the attackers were
Sena men, Joshi did not resign from the post he holds in the BCCI. Nor
did he assure of any action against the vandals. Nevertheless, Sena
leader Udhhav Thackeray declared that his party would take out a
morcha to the Police Commissioner`s office to protest the arrest of
''innocents.``

Now let us turn to Sena Chief Bal Thackeray. In 1991 the pitch of
Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was damaged by his men to oppose the Indo-
Pak cricket match. This time he reiterated his resolve to disrupt the
present series on November 20 last year. He also declared that he
would dump the BJP on this issue and came down heavily on his long-
time friend and Defence Minister George Fernandes for criticising that
''Thackeray says something in the morning and forgets it by evening.``
But finally he proved Fernandes right as he suspended his agitation
after Union Home Minister L K Advani persuaded him on January 21. But
the Sena chief did achieve what he was eyeing for. He established
himself as a parallel power centre since the Union Government had to
secure clearance from him for the Indo-Pak cricket series.

Volte face

Union Home Minister L K Advani, who is being projected as an ''iron
man`` by the BJP, came down to Mumbai with a request to the extra-
constitutional authority that the Indo-Pak cricket series be allowed
to take place. Till the BJP came to power, Thackeray`s extra-
constitutional authority was confined to Maharashtra only, thanks to
the successive Congress governments. Now it has extended to New Delhi,
Chennai and other places outside the state.

The people of Maharashtra are well aware of Thackeray`s history of
making a volte face on various issues. During the Emergency he was on
his knees before the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. He also
backtracked from holding a meeting to force the state government for
scrapping its decision of renaming of the Marathwada University after
Dr B R Ambedkar. He did not even visit Aurangabad, as the police told
him flatly that he would be arrested if he entered the city. The Tiger
is very much
scared of being ensnared in a jail. But the successive Congress
governments did not dare touch him, for various reasons, injecting
life into the paper tiger.

The key of the large following that Thackeray is enjoying lies in the
fact that no government, police or court has touched him so far.

But after the four-year saffron rule, the Thackeray empire is
crumbling under its own weight. The trend was visible in the 1998 Lok
Sabha elections also as the saffron combine faced a near rout. It also
continued in subsequent Assembly by-polls and Zilla Parishad elections
in four districts.

Criticism

Two leading Marathi dailies - Maharashtra Times and Loksatta - hardly
spared a word to criticise Thackeray`s stand this time. Kumar Ketkar,
editor of Maharashtra Times even lambasted cricketers, Bollywood stars
and other eminent personalities including Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh
Bachhan and Sunil Gawaskar for crawling before Thackeray. Arun
Tikekar, editor of Loksatta dissected the ''psuedo- nationalism`` of
Thackeray. In the opinion poll conducted by Lokprabha, a Marathi
weekly
of the Express Group which has over a lakh circulation, majority of
people have voted against Thackeray`s stand. Senior leaders at the BJP
office claim that Advani threatened Thackeray that his party would
snap ties with the Sena which would bring down the state government
headed by the Sena leader.

The Union home minister reportedly cautioned the Sena chief of ISI
design to disrupt the Indo- Pak cricket series under the garb of the
Sena men, taking advantage of Thackeray`s resolve and statements.

This theory hardly holds any water as invariably the BJP leaders are
the first to issue statements about continuance of the alliance even
as the Sena men act notoriously as directed by their chief.

The only plausible explanation is that the BJP came under severe
attack from its allies - J Jayalalitha, Mamata Banerjee, Chandrababu
Naidu and Samata Party - and the only option left for the BJP is to
sacrifice the Maharashtra government and face the elections, according
to Kumar Ketkar.

''And therefore the Sena chief did not have any option but to stage a
complete volte face,`` he said.

Nikhil Wagle, editor of Apla Mahanagar, a popular Marathi eveninger,
while talking to Deccan Herald said after the 1998 Lok Sabha
elections, the Sena chief is whipping up the Hindutva fever to divert
people`s attention from the failure of his government on all fronts.

''He did not touch issues like price rise but asked his sainiks to
disrupt Gulam Ali`s concert, imposed a ban on the censor cleared film
Fire and so on,`` he pointed out adding that the Sena chief did not
want the BJP to be the only saffron party to placate the Hindutva
agency.

Sunil Tambe in Mumbai


KING OF MUMBAI

Source: Economist, 2/3/96, Vol. 338 Issue 7951, p28, 7/9p, 1bw

Abstract: Reports on the power and leadership of Bal Thackeray, who
leads India's Shiv Sena party which dominates the state government of
Maharashtra. Thackeray's announcement of changing the name Bombay to
Mumbai; India's central government accepting this change; Thackeray's
background and personality; His reputation as a Hindu chauvinist; Talk
of India becoming `Hindustan' if Thackeray has anything to say about
it.

MUMBAI

SOME people laughed when the state government of Maharashtra, India's
most prosperous state, announced that it was changing the name of the
city of Bombay to Mumbai. But India's central government has accepted
the change and last month the venerable Times of India also made the
shift. Reluctantly, putting courtesy before convention, The Economist
will too.

The man responsible for the change is Bal Thackeray, who leads the
Shiv Sena party, which dominates the Maharashtra government. Mr
Thackeray seems to have other name changes in mind. He likes to talk
about "Hindustan" rather than India--a habit which illustrates exactly
why many Indians fear him. As India's leading Hindu chauvinist and a
scourge of Muslims, he threatens the country's tradition of tolerance
and secularism.

Mr Thackeray's latest campaign is aimed at the one religion all
Indians have in common--cricket--and specifically at the cricket World
Cup, which will be staged jointly by India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
later this month. If Pakistan's team reaches the semi-finals, it will
have to play in India. Mr Thackeray has sworn it will not: "I will not
allow them to step on my motherland," he says. "We will damage the
pitch . . . The coach carrying them will not drive on the road from
the airport . . . They will not step into the stadium."

Mr Thackeray may not be able to make good his threats. The Pakistanis
will not be playing in Mumbai and have obtained official assurances
from India that their players will be safe. But his posturing will add
to his spiky reputation. He has even achieved international notoriety,
courtesy of Salman Rushdie, who has managed to enrage Hindu
chauvinists with a thinly disguised and unflattering portrait of Mr
Thackeray in "The Moor's Last Sigh", his most recent novel. Fear of
violence has led to the book being withdrawn in Mumbai.

A former newspaper cartoonist, Mr Thack eray is a Jekyll-and-Hyde
character. Visitors find a mild man, proud of his age--69 last month.
He says he used to enjoy drawing the "strong nose" of Indira Gandhi, a
former prime minister, and would like now to get to grips with the
sombre jowls of Narasimha Rao, the present prime minister. He holds no
official post, but controls the coalition from a closely guarded house
in a middle-class Mum bai suburb where he is building a dynasty,
grooming a son and a nephew as Shiv Sena leaders. Manohar Joshi, the
party's deputy leader, is Maharashtra's chief minister, but he has
little real power and openly admits the authority of "Mr Remote
Control".

Mr Remote Control (currently resting with a bad heart) has been more
restrained than many had feared. When his party came unexpectedly to
power in March, as part of a coalition with the Bharatiya Janata
Party, he talked about chasing non-Maharashtrans out of the state.
That was not a credible policy, so he has broadened his attentions to
Hindu fundamentalism. He insists that he does not want Muslims
expelled from India, and that his real ire is aimed at Pakistan and at
those Indian Muslims he sees as loyal to Pakistan. Businessmen credit
the coalition with running a relatively effective government that is
less corrupt (so far) than its predecessor, run by the Congress
party.

But Mr Thackerary is showing signs of reverting to rabble-rousing type
over the cricket tournament and other matters. Last week Maharashtra's
state government caused a storm by closing a three-year-old official
inquiry into communal riots that the Shiv Sena helped to incite. It
has also replaced the state's top civil servant who opposed some of Mr
Thackeray's plans.

The state government has extricated itself from the shambles it caused
by scrapping--then renegotiating--a power project with En ron, an
American company. But it remains equivocal about foreign investment.
Mr Thackeray says he welcomes foreigners, but wants to protect Indian
industries. "Don't come to kill our products, but if you have anything
new, then we welcome it," he says. That leaves plenty of room for a
xenophobic campaign in April's general election, in which, he hopes,
Shiv Sena will expand across the country.

In more violent moods Mr Thackeray prods and provokes with a
cartoonist's sense of the outrageous. He has even praised Hitler. He
condemns the Holocaust, but says he admires Hitler for having "the
charisma to cause a big earthquake for the whole world". He would like
India "to imbibe that militant spirit". Cricketers and Muslims take
note.

http://www.sikhlionz.com/shivsena.htm

BJP: IN INDIRA GANDHI'S FOOTSTEPS
Hindustan Times News Service

After years of marriage, goes the joke, husbands and wives end up
looking like each other. To that hoary old saw, let me add another
one: after years of opposing each other, Indian political parties
begin to sound like each other.

Take the BJP. For as long as I can remember — and even when it was
called the Jana Sangh — its leaders always told us that there was no
greater evil than the Congress. After the Emergency, they added a new
twist: there was no greater dictator than Indira Gandhi, and no
nastier dynasty than the Gandhis.

This is interesting. Because, over the last three months I have been
rubbing my eyes in disbelief each time I see BJP leaders on TV. The
reason is simple: they sound exactly like the Gandhis.

Let's take the points of similarity, one by one.

The Foreign Hand: Whenever anything went wrong, Indira Gandhi had a
simple explanation — it was the foreign hand. Her government was doing
its best but what could it do? India was under threat from foreign
powers who were meddling in our affairs.

Mrs Gandhi never actually identified the foreign hand, but most of the
time, she meant America. So Congressmen (even under Rajiv) took to
blaming the CIA for every campaign against them (Bofors? Oh, that was
a CIA plot to destabilise India, etc etc) and for nearly every failure
to control law and order.

The BJP has adopted the same strategy. Except that everything is now
blamed on Pakistan. And rather than the CIA, it is the ISI that is
responsible for each of the government's failures.

All law and order problems are attributed to terrorism and all
terrorism to the ISI. Any critics of the parivar are dismissed as
either unwilling dupes of the ISI or proper ISI agents.

Why did we need to rally around Indira Gandhi? Because the CIA was
destabilising India. Why do we need to rally around this government?
Because the ISI wants to destabilise India.

Given what we now know of the CIA's covert activities, it seems
entirely probable that it was active in India during Mrs. Gandhi's
reign. And similarly, there's no doubt that the ISI has targeted
India.

But to blame everything on foreign agents? To go on and on about the
foreign hand to explain away your own failures?

That's what this crowd has in common with Mrs. Gandhi.

Identifying 'Terrorist Communities': In 1984, the Congress released an
ad campaign that sought to play subliminally on Hindu fears of Sikh
terrorism. In the years of Bluestar and Mrs Gandhi's assassination —
not to mention the Delhi riots — the ads had a huge impact. Such
headlines as "Will the Country's Border Be Moved To Your Doorstep" and
copy that asked, "Should you be afraid to ride in a taxi driven by a
member of a particular community?" directly addressed (or aroused,
depending on your perspective) Hindu insecurities and fears about
Sikhs and the threat of terrorism.

The strategy worked: the Congress won by a landslide.

These days, the BJP is doing much the same sort of thing. It is
attempting to play on Hindu fears of Pakistani/jehadi terrorism. The
constant references to Mian Musharraf, the suggestion that we should
hold Indian Muslims responsible for Pakistan's actions, and even the
view that enough Muslims did not condemn Godhra all recall the
atmosphere of 1984. Then too we heard how enough Sikhs did not speak
out against Bhindranwale, about how there was no Sikh condemnation of
Indira Gandhi's assassins ("the only reason Sikhs were massacred" went
the apology, "was because they did not grieve for Mrs Gandhi") and
about how every Sikh was a potential hijacker or terrorist.

Then it was Sikhs. Today its Muslims. But, Congress or BJP, the
strategy is exactly the same.

Action-Reaction: Referring to the Sikh riots of 1984, Rajiv Gandhi
told a public meeting, "When a big tree falls, the ground is bound to
shake." God knows who was writing his speeches those days, but the
line would come back to haunt Rajiv so much the Congress would spend
hours explaining it away.

Referring to the Ahmedabad riots this year a variety of BJP leaders,
both national and regional, said that they were an inevitable
consequence of the Godhra incident. The Times of India quoted Narendra
Modi as suggesting that every action had an equal and opposite
reaction. That remark has haunted Modi so much that he has gone blue
in the face denying it or claiming that it was taken out of context.

The two statements — and the subsequent spin — echo each other
uncannily.

The Media and Elections: In the aftermath of Gujarat, the BJP is
claiming that the media actually distorted or suppressed news about
how well the party was doing because of journalistic bias.

This is a familiar allegation because the Congress has used it at
least thrice. In 1971, when Mrs Gandhi won a landslide in the mid-term
Lok Sabha election, she blamed the press ("which is against us") for
failing to spot the wave. In 1979-80, when she came back to office,
she said the same thing (and yes, the press did truly hate her after
what it went through during the Emergency). And in 1984, Congressmen
were openly leery of the press's failure to spot the wave.

The truth, I suspect, has little to do with journalistic biases.
Journos are simply not very good at predicting election results, even
when a wave is staring them in the face. Predictions are for
pollsters, not correspondents.

But the Congress blamed it on bias. And so, in exactly the same way,
does the BJP these days.

The Media in General: Mrs Gandhi famously described India Today (at a
press conference) as being anti-national only because it did not share
her perception of the national interest. When newspapers carried
reports of massacres during the visits of foreign dignitaries, they
were also called 'anti-national' or 'determined to show India in a bad
light'.

When newspapers ran campaigns against the government, punitive action
had to be taken. Rajiv introduced a Defamation Bill to tame the press.
And his government made it a mission to destroy The Indian Express.

This government is following the same strategy. Ask any awkward
questions — about the Ansal Plaza shoot-out, for instance — and you
are anti-national. Focus on Narendra Modi's role during the Gujarat
riots and you are embarrassing India in the eyes of the world. Speak
up for the minorities and you are either anti-national (ISI agents is
how the VHP's Praveen Togadia, the 'spiritual victor' of Gujarat,
describes critical editors) or anti-Hindu, which, to this crowd, is
much the same thing.

And if you launch a campaign against them, they will make Rajiv's
persecution of The Indian Express seem tame in comparison. Just look
at the manner in which Tehelka has been destroyed, its offices raided,
its journalists arrested, and its staff harassed. And, sure enough,
Tehelka has also been accused of being anti-national and ISI-
influenced.

And finally…: Do you begin to see the parallels? For all of the last
fortnight, I've imagined that Indira Gandhi is a ghostly presence at
BJP press conferences, there to bless the men she once jailed.

All of the rhetoric is strikingly similar. If the 1971 election was
the "voters' reply to the vested interests," then Gujarat is the
"voter's" reply to secularists". The allegations of governmental
complicity in the Gujarat riots are said to be bogus; "No NGO has
produced any evidence that will stand up in court." Exactly what the
Congress said after the Delhi riots: ask Sajjan Kumar, he's got the
acquittals to prove it.

Why, after the liberalisation and liberalism of the 1990s, have we
gone back to the clichés of the 1970s and 1980s? To the foreign hand;
to foreign intelligence agencies; to attempts to destabilise India; to
the need to call everybody we disagree with 'anti-national'; to
turning Indian against Indian on the basis of religion; to destroying
critical media organisations; and most of all, to the opinionated self-
righteousness of Indira Gandhi, a woman who treated an attack on her
government as an attack on India?

And, at a more serious level, what does this say about our politics?
Does it suggest that all politicians are basically the same,
regardless of party? Is the BJP turning into everything it once said
it would oppose about the Congress? Is this Indira Gandhi's ultimate
revenge — ensuring that her opponents become her political
descendants?

I don't know the answers.

But don't you think the questions are worth asking?

Vir Sanghvi

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news

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BAJRANG DAL
Indian fascism: Bajrang Dal

The wrath yatra
Vrinda Gopinath & Sharad Gupta

The Bajrang Dal, or vanar sena (army of apes), as it is
infamously called because of the wanton vandalism indulged by
its members, was born in 1984, just as the
Ramjanmabhoomi movement was beginning to roll off the
ground. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which was
spearheading the movement with the tacit blessing of the
Sangh Parivar, had planned the Sri Ram Janki Yatra, from
Ayodhya to Lucknow, which immediately ran into trouble with
the Uttar Pradesh state authorities. Stung by the state's
determination to stop the procession, the yatris made a clarion
call to Hindu youths in surrounding villages for protection. By
the time the yatra reached the state capital, a name was
already found for the band of Hindu `soldiers' -- the Bajrang
Dal.

What began as a temporary security arrangement, soon
swelled to a menacing army of misguided youths who were
preyed upon and infused with a fatal potion: a sense of
``colossal historical wrongdoing'' and ``wounded Hindu pride''.
Heady with a new sense of purpose anddirection, the Bajrang
Dal's Hindu Yuva Shakti (youth power) was successfully
employed to carry out a campaign of terror and destruction in
the Parivar's eternal quest to cleanse and purify Hindu society.
The Bajrang Dalis became the foot soldiers of the Parivar's
army, ready and alert for the call of battle. Training camps
were set up on the outskirts of Ayodhya, called Karsevapuram,
on the banks of the Gomti river, where youths lived in
dormitories and learnt the art of war. The combat wear was
equally fierce -- blazing saffron bandanas and shirts, glistening,
giant trishuls and swords in their hands, and provocative
slogans in the air. Hindutva had truly arrived.

As the militant, rabble-rousers muscled their way around and
successfully set up centres all over the cow belt, to the
satisfaction of the Parivar's patriarchs, the Bajrang Dal gave
the kickstart to the Ramjanmabhoomi movement. They
participated in the shilanyas after the doors of the Babri Masjid
were unlocked by a court order, organised bandhsand
demonstrations in the name of Ram, which most often ended
violently, but their first foray outside UP, however, was in
1989, when the organisation announced it would chant the
Hanuman chalisa in Jama Masjid, New Delhi. In a few
months, Dal activists joined the big league when they led L.K.
Advani's 1991 rath yatra, roaring alongside Advani's Toyota
chariot on motorbikes in full combat gear, leaving behind a trail
of violence and destruction.

It was in this atmosphere of hatred and fear, that the plan to
demolish the Babri Masjid quietly unfolded, and on December
6, 1992, the job was ruthlessly accomplished. But if there were
any hopes the Bajrang Dal would disband and go back to their
previous lives now that the ``historical slur had been wiped
clean'', soon evaporated after it announced it was now the
official youth wing of the VHP. Worse, the ban on the Bajrang
Dal with the RSS and VHP, after the demolition of the
mosque, gave it a separate identity. What was first dismissed
as a great nuisance value,the lunatic fringe of the Hindutva
movement, soon gave way to a group that was spread out,
organised, well-funded, and with immense muscle power.
Though the Dal has steadfastly maintained it has no political
ambitions but exists purely to ``liberate and unshackle Hindu
samaj'' and is not associated with any political party including
the BJP, its members (also from its parent organisation, the
VHP) however, soon filled Parliament and the UP Legislative
Assembly after the 1991 elections.

Arun Katiyar, the Dal's first convenor, was elected an MP,
and he was part of the clutch of sadhus and sants that
thundered into Parliament as elected members, brandishing
trishuls and kamandals. For a year-and-a-half, until the militant
organisations were banned (December 10, 1992), the BJP
looked on benignly as the sadhus and Dal MPs and MLAs
vociferously agitated for their demands raging from changing
the Constitution radically to the familiar one of a ban on cow
slaughter. But the Parivar's paternal indulgence on the``boys
and sants'' soon diminished as it sought to hide its aggressive
Hindutva image behind a more ``tolerant'' one. The sudden
decision came after the humiliating defeat of the BJP in the
Assembly elections in the Hindi belt, and the uncomfortable
truth sunk in that Hindutva alone will not bring in the votes.

To add to the BJP's discomfort, the sants kept up the pressure
to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya, many of them fell out
squabbling among themselves on who should lead the
temple-building, Katiyar stood completely discredited when he
was accused of raping of a young girl, Kusum Misra, whose
tale of continuous abuse and torture created an uproar, and
very soon the BJP and the Parivar began to distance itself
publicly from the militant outfits. In the 1996 general election,
unlike in the election before (in 1991), when Dal workers were
visible everywhere campaigning for the BJP, this time the
saffron wave was pushed back as BJP workers conducted
their own campaign. But the irrepressible Bajrang Dalsoon
surfaced to continue their ``service to Hindu samaj''.

In 1996, 26 Dal activists were jailed in Mumbai for smashing
the house of eminent artist Maqbool Fida Husain, for his
``nude'' paintings of a Hindu goddess. The next year, 17 beauty
contests were suspended in different parts of the country due
to Bajrang Dal's ``protests.'' It also forced 16 cigarette and pan
masala companies to stop using portraits of Hindu gods and
goddesses on their products. But it was in 1998, that the
Bajrang Dal was resurrected to give expression to the
Parivar's ``anger'' against Christian missionaries and get them
to suspend their ``chagai meetings'' (spiritual healing) in places
as far-flung as Haryana, Gujarat, UP, Punjab and Himachal
Pradesh. The violence and terror that has followed and last
week's ghastly murder of an Australian missionary and his two
sons, has once again brought back old nightmares. By calling
the violence against Christian missionaries a ``natural reaction''
of the local people to ``forcedconversions'', the Dal once again
thrust itself in the forefront, willing as always to start another
debate on the threat to Hinduism from minority communities.

"Enemies of Hindus must fear us"

Outlook Magazine on the Bajrang Dal
THE TRIDENT SPEAKS

Ideology thrown to the winds, Bajrang Dal says it will go the whole
hog
against missionaries

By Rajesh Joshi

Dr Surendra Jain, Bajrang Dal's all-India convenor, told Outlook it
was
not possible for the Bajrang Dal to stop its "work" unless Christians
apologised and broke their links with terrorist organisations.
Excerpts.
The Sangh parivar is in combat mode. Far from being cornered, the most
visible strong arm of the Sangh, the Bajrang Dal, has decided to go
the
whole hog against Christian missionaries. At a two-day conclave in
Delhi
last week, the organisation decided to reach out to "each and every
gram
pradhan and each and every household", to expose the "designs of the
missionaries to plant churches in every Indian village by 2001".
The Sangh clearly wants to kill two birds with one stone: take on
Christians, and target Sonia as well. A task made easier, they claim,
after Sonia Gandhi "insulted the Hindu dharma" by not signing the
register at Tirupati to declare her non-Hindu origins.

The RSS, in fact, started pushing its hardline Hindutva agenda right
after the state assembly election debacle. And pressed the Bajrang Dal
into service. For the self-styled "saviours of Hindus" in the Bajrang
Dal, the integral humanism propounded by Deen Dayal Upadhyay does not
appear to mean anything; nor do they believe in the 'sober' talks of
rashtra jeevan often put out by RSS pracharaks. This bratpack is on
the
offensive.

"We are ready to take up AK-47s if the need arises. Muslims want to
turn
this country into an Islamic state but we shall not let it happen,"
declares Ashok Kapoor, north Delhi convenor of the Bajrang Dal and son
of a refugee from Jhang, Pakistan. "I don't believe in demonstrations;
I
believe that without a 'danda' nobody listens to you," he explains.
Prakash Sharma, co-convenor of the Bajrang Dal, is equally
belligerent:
"We have decided to write letters to all the gram pradhans about this
danger and will tell the people that they (the Christians) are doing
politics over the dead bodies of their children."

For a while, top vhp and Bajrang Dal leaders were hard put to distance
themselves from the Staines murder. Not any longer. By their own
admission, the Bajrang Dal has become "synonymous with terror for the
opponents of Hindus". The knife-shaped trident-wielding young men,
indoctrinated by an overdose of anti-minorityism, wearing saffron
bandannas, throng either a park or an abandoned field in their
mohallas
every morning and evening to practice martial arts.

These are the Balopasana kendras or the centres of Worship of Power.
Over 2,000 such kendras have sprung up across the country in the last
one year where the young men are told how Hindus are being persecuted
in
their own land and how Muslims and Christians are pushing an
"anti-national" agenda. And that the onus of saving the nation is on
them.

It is not all empty rhetoric. The organisation has shown time and
again
that when it comes to brasstacks it is always in the forefront. The
organisation takes pride in incidents where they have forced their way
or subjugated opponents. According to a publication of the vhp, the
Bajrang Dal "forcefully resisted the riots" on February 14, 1986, when
Muslims protested against the opening of the locked Ram temple at
Ayodhya. Similarly, says the publication, on October 14, 1988, the
Delhi
unit of the Bajrang Dal announced that it would recite the Hanuman
Chalisa at the Jama Masjid in Delhi. Following which all state units
announced the programme of organising kirtans and Hanuman Chalisa
recitations in masjids in their respective areas.

After every such action, a pat or two from the RSS top brass is more
than enough to keep a Bajrang Dal activist going. Although the Dal is
part of the Sangh, the RSS says it cannot be held responsible for
actions of other Sangh members. This time-tested tactic was chalked
out
initially when the RSS was banned for the first time in 1948, after
the
assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

"The RSS functions through its several organisations so that it could
not be squarely blamed for anything," says an RSS-watcher. It is not
necessary for the cadre to take permission from the top leadership.
Activists, especially in remote tribal areas, launch militant
anti-minority actions on their own—like loose cannons. And if the
situation goes out of control, it is easier for the RSS to distance
itself. This holds true not only for the Bajrang Dal but other Sangh
affiliates like the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram.

In August 1998, an activist of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Ranchi
told
Outlook about a plan to demolish a church in a remote area of South
Bihar. He had noted down the name of the church, area and the date on
which the action was to be carried out. He said: "Our leaders have no
knowledge of my plans; we will tell them once we accomplish the task."
The particular church was razed to the ground on the day they had
decided on, August 31, 1998. Says Kapoor: "There is a famous saying in
the RSS that the RSS does not do anything and there is nothing which
the
RSS cadre does not do." That just about sums up the modus operandi of
Sangh affiliates.

The first thing the vhp and Bajrang Dal did after the Orissa incident
was disown the accused Dara Singh, while condemning the incident. They
also questioned the conduct of the missionary and dismissed the
incident
as a "local reaction". Asked whether the RSS would appeal to the
Hindus
to observe restraint as Mahatma Gandhi did after Chauri Chaura, a top
RSS leader retorted: "No way. Why should we appeal to Hindus to
observe
restraint? Gandhi did what he thought was right, we are doing what we
think is right."

The formation of the Bajrang Dal coincides with the anti-Sikh wave
that
swept the country in 1983-84 after Operation Bluestar. Then prime
minister Indira Gandhi had emerged as a strong Hindu leader and to
neutralise the Hindu support for her the RSS planned to launch an
all-out attack on the government on the issue of Ram Janmabhoomi.
Riding
the anti-Sikh sentiments, the Bajrang Dal organised several trishul
dhaaran functions throughout the country. The activists were given a
knife-like trident to be slung across the shoulder—an answer to the
kirpan. The Bajrang Dal has come of age during these 14 years. It has
faced a ban and successfully managed to mushroom into an all-India
organisation. Created to murder Sikhs- it has since identified
new targets...

http://www.sikhlionz.com/bajrangdal.htm


"Hindus are very intolerant"
by Amberish K Diwanji

Tell a lie a 1000 times and it becomes the truth. This was claimed by
none other than Josef Goebbels, minister for propaganda in Hitler's
cabinet. Except that he was wrong. Tell a lie a 1000 times and people
believe you easily, often thinking it is the truth.

But it is not the truth.

Today, there is a certain myth prevailing that Hindus are a very
tolerant people and that Hinduism is a very tolerant religion. That it
is the tolerance of Hinduism and the Hindu people which allowed and
allows other faiths, sects and beliefs to exist in this country in
perfect harmony. That because India is a Hindu majority country it is
secular (clearly implying that if Hindus are not in a majority, India
would not have been secular).

Alas, it is very easy to believe flattering things about ones own
self. Tell a man he is intelligent and handsome, he'll nod
approvingly; say he's not and you could end up in a fight! On what
basis are these premises made? It must be very ego satisfying for
Hindus nurturing delusions of grandeur to hold such beliefs about
their great faith, but it is not very true.

Despite its many social flaws, there is no doubt good reason to
believe that Hinduism, as a religion and philosophy, is very tolerant.
The reason is because Hinduism means different things to different
people. It does not have a single book (like the Bible or Koran) but
has many books -- the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagvad Gita, besides
books such as the Ramayan, Mahabharata, Ramacharita Manas,
Dnyaneshwari, and so on. In these books one comes across various
ideas, beliefs, stories and devotional songs to guide the common man.
Similarly, while Hinduism is at one end extremely ritualistic, it can
also be lived completely bereft of these rituals and sacraments. Even
those who insist that Hinduism has certain core beliefs have
difficulty listing them. You can even be an atheist and be a Hindu
(only Buddhism comes close in this respect). It is this elasticity,
this all-encompassing nature of this great philosophy and theology
that has ensured the survival of the world's oldest religion, a
religion assaulted more
from within than from outside.

However, are Hindus really tolerant, or do we simply believe that we
are and then propagate this lie so much that we end up believing it.
Reams have been written, scores of scholars, theologians, and
intellectuals of different persuasions quoted in seeking to prove the
tolerance of Hindus. Nothing is more satisfying that quoting some
white-skinned Westerner who chooses to attack Christianity and Islam
and praise Hinduism and Hindus. Yet when some brown-skinned Indian
chooses to find fault with Hinduism, he is called Macaulay's child,
brown sahib, a person who has never understood India, and so on.
Praise Hindus and you have understood India (and Hinduism); criticise
certain aspects of Hinduism and be damned! Is this not an
Inquisition?

How do you measure tolerance? Muslims today are called intolerant. Yet
history shows that for centuries, Jews were safest in Muslim lands
while being hounded in Christian lands, until the creation of Israel
changed that. Today, Christian-majority nations and states are pushing
the frontiers of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice, ideas that
India imported and Indians (mostly Hindus) today seek proudly to
defend because these ideas are for the benefit of all citizens. Ideas
cannot to be condemned simply because they come from another land or
from people of a different faith.

While there is no doubt about Hinduism per se being tolerant, all
Hindus cannot claim that privilege. Every society and religion has its
outsiders. The Jews had their gentile, Christians their pagan, Muslims
their kafirs. Hindus had their mlechha (the impure outsiders and lower
castes). But while other faiths only targeted outsiders, Hindus also
targeted people within their faith: the so-called untouchables and
lower castes. A great amount of energy and effort was expended by the
so-called upper castes in keeping down the lower castes by creating a
maze of laws that were inhuman to say the least.

There is much boasting about how other faiths could flourish in India,
the inference being about how Hindus were tolerant. Yet what kind of
tolerance is it that is kind to some while cruel to others? Is it to
do with fear? Christianity and Islam both first came to India along
the Malabar coast (ironic, but the great Shankaracharya, who revived
Hinduism in India and ousted Buddhism, also came from the region now
known as Kerala), but then they were small settlements with a limited
impact. The major impact of both came with the conquerors. The fact is
that (upper-caste) Hindus were tolerant to both Muslims and Christians
because being conquerors and rulers, to not tolerate them and their
faith meant instant death! And their intolerance to their own lower
caste brethren drove the latter into the arms of other faiths.

The fact is that no Hindu would dare have treated a Muslim the way he
did an untouchable: the Muslim rulers/kings/warriors would have
chopped off his head. Ditto when the Europeans came. Would any upper
caste Hindu have dared prevent a Muslim or Christian from entering his
house or his locality? On the contrary, the upper caste Hindus forged
close alliances with the rulers of the day to improve their positions
in society and became part of the élite. (Upper-caste) Hindus were
tolerant towards Muslims and Christians because the latter had swords
and guns; but the same Hindus were intolerant of lower-caste Hindus
who came with their hands folded, seeking to pray in the temple and
live with dignity in the village. Both of which were denied to them!

Today, both the Muslim and Christian conquerors and rulers are no
longer in our midst. And the result is an upsurge of Hindu
intolerance, whether it is in the massacres in Bihar (remember, dalits
are hardly ever treated as equal Hindus), in the killing of Stains, in
the communal violence that so pervades our society. Tolerance is how
the ruling class and society treats its people of all kinds, and our
record is no great shakes.

What is mentioned above can be said of all peoples of all communities.
Christians, exhorted to love their neighbours, have perpetuated the
worst crimes in history against native people across the globe. For
centuries, the Church supported apartheid and racism, and the
imperialism of the West. The killings in the name of Islam (despite
Prophet Mohammed's message never to convert by force) are endless and
gory, the destruction of temples and the forced conversions of Hindus
and others (offering them the Koran or the sword) in India and
elsewhere are part of Islam's history.

Yet, the point I am trying to make is that the people of all religions
have shown incredible cruelty towards others weaker than them at a
given point in history. It is not much different for Hindus. Upper
caste Hindus centuries ago, were not tolerant of people weaker than
them (who were then the so-called lower castes). Hence when Hindus
boast of their tolerance, let us take it with a large pinch of salt.

Certainly, Hinduism has never been involved in a clash with Buddhism
(like how Christian and Islam fought) and this is due to the accepting
and open philosophies of both. Yet, all religions preach certain
values of love, brotherhood, service, etc. Humans have failed to
understand them. When some of us (of any religious denomination)
criticise the actions of some Hindu bigots (as we do that of Muslim
and Christian fanatics), it is only because our religions teach us
better.

http://www.sikhlionz.com/hindusareveryintolerant.htm

http://www.sikhlionz.com/antisikh.htm

...and I am Sid Harth

== 4 of 4 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 9:36 pm
From: bademiyansubhanallah


PAKISTAN
OR
THE PARTITION OF INDIA

BY
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

"More brain, O Lord, more brain! or we shall mar,
Utterly this fair garden we might win."
(Quotation from the title page of Thoughts on Pakistan, 1st ed.)

INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY
OF
RAMU
As a token of my appreciation of her goodness of heart, her nobility
of mind and her purity of character
and also for the cool fortitude and readiness to suffer along with me
which she showed
in those friendless days of want and worries which fell to our lot.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

[Editor's Introduction]

Preface to the Second Edition

Prologue

Introduction

PART I -- MUSLIM CASE FOR PAKISTAN

CHAPTER I -- What does the League Demand?

Part I [The Muslim League's Resolution of March 1940]
Part II [Unifying the North-West provinces is an age-old project]
Part III [The Congress itself has proposed to create Linguistic
Provinces]
CHAPTER II -- A Nation Calling for a Home
[What is the definition of a "nation," and what "nations" can be found
in India?]
CHAPTER III -- Escape from Degradation
[What grievances do Muslims have against their treatment by the
Congress?]

PART II -- HINDU CASE AGAINST PAKISTAN

CHAPTER IV -- Break-up of Unity

[How substantial, in truth, is the unity between Hindus and Muslims?]
CHAPTER V -- Weakening of the Defences
Part I -- Question of Frontiers
Part II -- Question of Resources
Part III -- Question of Armed Forces
CHAPTER VI -- Pakistan and Communal Peace
Part I [The Communal Question in its "lesser intent"]
Part II [The Communal Question in its "greater intent"]
Part III [The real question is one of demarcation of boundaries]
Part IV [Will Punjabis and Bengalis agree to redraw their boundaries?]

PART III -- WHAT IF NOT PAKISTAN?

CHAPTER VII -- Hindu Alternative to Pakistan

Part I [Lala Hardayal's scheme for conversion in the North-West]
Part II [The stand of Mr. V. D. Savarkar and the Hindu Maha Sabha]
Part III [Mr. Gandhi's tenacious quest for Hindu-Muslim unity]
Part IV [The riot-torn history of Hindu-Muslim relations, 1920-1940]
Part V [Such barbaric mutual violence shows an utter lack of unity]
CHAPTER VIII -- Muslim Alternative to Pakistan
Part I [The proposed Hyderabad scheme of legislative reform is not
promising]
Part II [The "Azad Muslim Conference" thinks along similar lines]
CHAPTER IX -- Lessons from Abroad
Part I [The case of Turkey shows a steady dismemberment and loss of
territory]
Part II [The case of Czechoslovakia, a country which lasted only two
decades]
Part III [Both were brought down by the growth of the spirit of
nationalism]
Part IV [The force of nationalism, once unleashed, almost cannot be
stopped]
Part V [Hindustan and Pakistan would be stronger, more homogeneous
units]

PART IV -- PAKISTAN AND THE MALAISE

CHAPTER X -- Social Stagnation

Part I [Muslim Society is even more full of social evils than Hindu
Society is]
Part II [Why there is no organized movement of social reform among the
Muslims]
Part III [The Hindus emphasize nationalist politics and ignore the
need for social reform]
Part IV [In a "communal malaise," both groups ignore the urgent claims
of social justice]
CHAPTER XI -- Communal Aggression
[British sympathy encourages ever-increasing, politically calculated
Muslim demands]
CHAPTER XII -- National Frustration
Part I [Can Hindus count on Muslims to show national rather than
religious loyalty?]
Part II [Hindus really want Dominion status; Muslims really want
independence]
Part III [The necessary national political loyalty is not present
among Muslims]
Part IV [Muslim leaders' views, once nationalistic, have grown much
less so over time]
Part V [The vision of Pakistan is powerful, and has been implicitly
present for decades]
Part VI [Mutual antipathies have created a virus of dualism in the
body politic]

PART V

CHAPTER XIII -- Must There be Pakistan?

Part I [The burden of proof on the advocates of Pakistan is a heavy
one]
Part II [Is it really necessary to divide what has long been a single
whole?]
Part III [Other nations have survived for long periods despite
communal antagonisms]
Part IV [Cannot legitimate past grievances be redressed in some less
drastic way?]
Part V [Cannot the many things shared between the two groups be
emphasized?]
Part VI ['Hindu Raj' must be prevented at all costs, but is Pakistan
the best means?]
Part VII [If Muslims truly and deeply desire Pakistan, their choice
ought to be accepted]
CHAPTER XIV -- The Problems of Pakistan
Part I [Problems of border delineation and population transfer must be
addressed]
Part II [What might we assume to be the borders of West and East
Pakistan?]
Part III [Both Muslims and Hindus ignore the need for genuine self-
determination]
Part IV [Punjab and Bengal would thus necessarily be subject to
division]
Part V [A demand for regional self-determination must always be a two-
edged sword]
Part VI [The problems of population transfer are solvable and need not
detain us]
CHAPTER XV -- Who Can Decide?
Part I [Partition is a very possible contingency for which it's best
to be prepared]
Part II [I offer this draft of a 'Government of India (Preliminary
Provisions) Act']
Part III [My plan is community-based, and thus more realistic than the
Cripps plan]
Part IV [My solution is borne out by the examination of similar cases
elsewhere]
Epilogue -- [We need better statesmanship than Mr. Gandhi and Mr.
Jinnah have shown]

TABLES

-- 003a -- Revenues raised by Provincial and Central Governments
-- 101a -- The Congress's Proposed Linguistic Provinces
-- 205a -- Resources of Pakistan
-- 205b -- Resources of Hindustan
-- 205c -- Areas of Indian Army Recruitment
-- 205d -- Areas of Recruitment During World War I
-- 205e -- Changes in the Composition of the Indian Infantry
-- 205f -- Changes in the Communal Composition of the Indian Army
-- 205g -- Communal Composition of the Indian Army in 1930
-- 205h -- Communal Percentages in Infantry and Cavalry, 1930
-- 205i -- Provincial Composition of the Indian Army, 1943
-- 205j -- Communal Composition of the Indian Army, 1943
-- 205k -- Contributions to the Central Exchequer from the Pakistan
Area
-- 205l -- Contributions to the Central Exchequer from the Hindustan
Area
-- 206a -- Muslim Population in Pakistan and Hindustan
-- 206b -- Distribution of Seats in the Central Legislature (Numbers)
-- 206c -- Distribution of Seats in the Central Legislature
(Percentages)
-- 307a -- Casualties of the Riots in Sukkur, Sind, November 1939
-- 308a -- Proposed Hyderabad Scheme of Communal Reforms
-- 410a -- Married Females Aged 0-15 per 1000 Females of That Age
-- 411a -- Legislative Councils (Act of 1909): Communal Proportion
between Hindus and Muslims
-- 411b -- Communal Composition of the Legislatures, 1919
-- 411c -- Representation of Muslims According to the Lucknow Pact,
1916
-- 411d -- Actual Weightage of Muslims According to the Lucknow
Pact

APPENDICES

-- 01 -- Appendix I : Population of India by Communities
-- 02 -- Appendix II : Communal distribution of population by
Minorities in the Provinces of British India
-- 03 -- Appendix III : Communal distribution of population by
Minorities in the States
-- 04 -- Appendix IV : Communal distribution of population in the
Punjab by Districts
-- 05 -- Appendix V : Communal distribution of population in Bengal by
Districts
-- 06 -- Appendix VI : Communal distribution of population in Assam by
Districts
-- 07 -- Appendix VII : Proportion of Muslim population in N.-W. F.
Province by Districts
-- 08 -- Appendix VIII : Proportion of Muslim population in N.-W. F.
Province by Towns
-- 09 -- Appendix IX : Proportion of Muslim population in Sind by
Districts
-- 10 -- Appendix X : Proportion of Muslim population in Sind by
Towns
-- 11 -- Appendix XI : Languages spoken by the Muslims of India
-- 12-- Appendix XII : Address by Muslims to Lord Minto, 1906, and
Reply thereto
-- 13 -- Appendix XIII : Allocation of Seats under the Government of
India Act, 1935, for the Lower House in each Provincial Legislature
-- 14 -- Appendix XIV : Allocation of Seats under the Government of
India Act, 1935, for the Upper House in each Provincial Legislature
-- 15 -- Appendix XV : Allocation of Seats under the Government of
India Act, 1935, for the Lower House of the Federal Legislature for
British India by Province and by Community
-- 16 -- Appendix XVI : Allocation of Seats under the Government of
India Act, 1935, for the Upper Chamber of the Federal Legislature for
British India by Province and by Community
-- 17 -- Appendix XVI : Allocation of Seats under the Government of
India Act, 1935, for the Upper Chamber of the Federal Legislature for
British India by Province and by Community
-- 18 -- Appendix XVIII : Communal Award
-- 19 -- Appendix XIX : Supplementary Communal Award
-- 20 -- Appendix XX : The Poona Pact
-- 21 -- Appendix XXI : Comparative Statement of Minority
Representation under the Government of India Act, 1935, in the
Provincial Legislature
-- 22 -- Appendix XXII : Comparative Statement of Minority
Representation under the Government of India Act, 1935, in the Central
Legislature
-- 23 -- Appendix XXIII : Government of India Resolution of 1934 on
Communal Representation of Minorities in the Services
-- 24 -- Appendix XXIV : Government of India Resolution of 1943 on
Representation of the Scheduled Castes in the Services
-- 25-- Appendix XXV : The Cripps Proposals

ERRATA -- [corrections have now been incorporated into the text]

MAPS
-- Punjab -- Bengal & Assam -- India --

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/index.html#contents
Editor's Introduction

The text of this complete online book has been taken from Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. 8 (Bombay: Education
Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1990). The work was first
published by Thacker and Co., Bombay, December 1940. Second edition:
February 1945. Third edition: 1946. The Government of Maharashtra's
text is that of the third edition.
This online edition has been edited for research use by most readers
(apart from some academic specialists, who will of course want to
consult the various original print versions). Here is a description of
the editing:

= Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
= All the errors in the book's list of "Errata" have been corrected in
the text.
= A few omissions of section numbers, or misnumberings of sections,
have been corrected.
= Nothing whatsoever has been omitted from the original text.
= All paragraph breaks are those of the original text.
= In a few cases, punctuation has been adjusted for clarity.
= All editorial annotations by FWP have been enclosed in square
brackets.
= All embedded quotations that are not Dr. Ambedkar's own words are in
10-point type.
= Such embedded quotations have been reproduced exactly as in the
printed text.

Needless to say, Dr. Ambedkar's opinions about many matters discussed
in the text were then, and are now, controversial. In addition, some
of the historical accounts on which he relied for factual information
have now been rendered obsolete by later, and better-grounded,
research. (For example, Chapter IV would surely have been quite
different if Dr. Ambedkar had had access to more complex studies like
that of Romila Thapar on Mahmud Ghaznavi, or Richard Eaton on temple
destruction.)

That being said, it's a unique and fascinating work, and well deserves
the new readers it will now be able to find.

-- Fran Pritchett
Columbia University

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/000fwpintro.html

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The problem of Pakistan has given a headache to everyone, more so
to me than to anybody else. I cannot help recalling with regret how
much of my time it has consumed when so much of my other literary work
of greater importance to me than this is held up for want of it. I
therefore hope that this second edition will also be the last. I trust
that before it is exhausted either the question will be settled or
withdrawn.

There are four respects in which this second edition differs from
the first.

/1/The first edition contained many misprints which formed the subject
of complaints from many readers as well as reviewers. In preparing
this edition, I have taken as much care as is possible to leave no
room for complaint on this score. The first edition consisted only of
three parts. Part V is an addition. It contains my own views on the
various issues involved in the problem of Pakistan. It has been added
because of the criticism levelled against the first edition that while
I wrote about Pakistan, I did not state what views I held on the
subject. The present edition differs from the first in another
respect. The maps contained in the first edition are retained but the
number of appendices have been enlarged. In the first edition there
were only eleven appendices. The present edition has twenty-five. To
this edition I have also added an index which did not find a place in
the first edition.

The book appears to have supplied a real want. I have seen how the
thoughts, ideas, and arguments contained in it have been pillaged by
authors, politicians and editors of newspapers to support their sides.
I am sorry they did not observe the decency of acknowledging the
source even when they lifted not merely the argument but also the
language of the book. But that is a matter I do not mind. I am glad
that the book has been of service to Indians who are faced with this
knotty problem of Pakistan. The fact that Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah in
their recent talks cited the book as an authority on the subject which
might be consulted with advantage bespeaks the worth of the book.

The book by its name might appear to deal only with the X.Y.Z. of
Pakistan. It does more than that. It is an analytical presentation of
Indian history and Indian politics in their communal aspects. As such,
it is intended to explain the A.B.C. of Pakistan also. The book is
more than a mere treatise on Pakistan. The material relating to Indian
history and Indian politics contained in this book is so large and so
varied that it might well be called Indian Political What is What.

The book has displeased both Hindus as well as Muslims though the
reasons for the dislike of the Hindus are different from the reasons
for the dislike of the Muslims. I am not sorry for this reception
given to my book. That it is disowned by the Hindus and unowned by the
Muslims is to me the best evidence that it has the vices of neither,
and that from the point of view of independence of thought and
fearless presentation of facts the book is not a party production.

Some people are sore because what I have said has hurt them. I
have not, I confess, allowed myself to be influenced by fears of
wounding either individuals or classes, or shocking opinions however
respectable they may be. I have often felt regret in pursuing this
course, but remorse never. Those whom I may have offended must forgive
me, in consideration of the honesty and disinterestedness of my aim. I
do not claim to have written dispassionately, though I trust I have
written without prejudice. It would be hardly possible--1 was going to
say decent--for an Indian to be calm when he talks of his country and
thinks of the times. In dealing with the question of Pakistan, my
object has been to draw a perfectly accurate, and at the same time, a
suggestive picture of the situation as I see it. Whatever points of
strength and weakness I have discovered on either side, I have brought
them boldly forward. I have taken pains to throw light on the
mischievous effects that are likely to proceed from an obstinate and
impracticable course of action.

The witness of history regarding the conflict between the forces
of the authority of the State and of anti-State nationalism within,
has been uncertain, if not equivocal. As Prof. Friedmann /2/ observes:

"There is not a single modem State which has not, at one time or
another, forced a recalcitrant national group to live under its
authority. Scots, Bretons, Catalans, Germans, Poles, Czechs, Finns,
all have, at some time or another, been compelled to accept the
authority of a more powerful State whether they liked it or not.
Often, as in Great Britain or France, force eventually led to co-
operation and a co-ordination of State authority and national
cohesion. But in many cases, such as those of Germany, Poland, Italy
and a host of Central European and Balkan countries, the forces of
Nationalism did not rest until they had thrown off the shackles of
State Power and formed a State of their own. . . ."
In the last edition, I depicted the experience of countries in
which the State engaged itself in senseless suppression of nationalism
and withered away in the attempt. In this edition I have added by way
of contrast the experience of other countries, to show that given the
will to live together it is not impossible for diverse communities and
even for diverse nations to live in the bosom of one State. It might
be said that in tendering advice to both sides, I have used terms more
passionate than they need have been. If I have done so it is because I
felt that the manner of the physician who tries to surprise the vital
principle in each paralyzed organ in order to goad it to action was
best suited to stir up the average Indian who is complacent if not
somnolent, who is unsuspecting if not ill-informed, to realize what is
happening. I hope my effort will have the desired effect.
I cannot close this preface without thanking Prof. Manohar B.
Chitnis of the Khalsa College, Bombay, and Mr. K. V. Chitre for their
untiring labours to remove all printer's and clerical errors that had
crept into the first edition, and to see that this edition is free
from all such blemishes. I am also very grateful to Prof. Chitnis for
the preparation of the Index, which has undoubtedly enhanced the
utility of the book.

B. R. AMBEDKAR

1st January 1945,
22, Prithviraj Road,
New Delhi.

/1/ In the first edition there unfortunately occurred through
oversight in proof correction a discrepancy between the population
figures in the different districts of Bengal and the map showing the
lay-out of Pakistan as applied to Bengal which had resulted in two
districts which should have been included in the Pakistan area being
excluded from it. In this edition, this error has been rectified and
the map and the figures have been brought into conformity.

/2/ The Crisis of the National State (1943), p. 4.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/001pref.html

PROLOGUE

It can rightly be said that the long introduction with which this
treatise opens leaves no excuse for a prologue. But there is an
epilogue which is affixed to the treatise. Having done that, I thought
of prefixing a prologue, firstly, because an epilogue needs to be
balanced by a prologue, and secondly, because the prologue gives me
room to state in a few words the origin of this treatise to those who
may be curious to know it and to impress upon the readers the
importance of the issues raised in it. For the satisfaction of the
curious it may be stated that there exists, at any rate in the Bombay
Presidency, a political organization called the Independent Labour
Party (abbreviated into I.L.P.) for the last three years. It is not an
ancient, hoary organization which can claim to have grown grey in
politics. The I.L.P. is not in its dotage and is not overtaken by
senility, for which second childhood is given as a more agreeable
name. Compared with other political organizations, the I.L.P. is a
young and fairly active body, not subservient to any clique or
interest. Immediately after the passing of the Lahore Resolution on
Pakistan by the Muslim League, the Executive Council of the I.L.P. met
to consider what attitude it should adopt towards this project of
Pakistan. The Executive Council could see that there was underlying
Pakistan an idea to which no objection could be taken. Indeed, the
Council was attracted to the scheme of Pakistan inasmuch as it meant
the creation of ethnic states as a solution of the communal problem.
The Council, however, did not feel competent to pronounce at that
stage a decided opinion on the issue of Pakistan. The Council,
therefore, resolved to appoint a committee to study the question and
make a report on it. The committee consisted of myself as the
Chairman, and Principal M. V. Donde, B.A.; Mr. S. C. Joshi,
M.A.,LL.B., Advocate (O.S.), M.L.C.; Mr.R.R.Bhole, B.Sc., LL.B.,
M.L.A.; Mr. D. G. Jadhav, B.A., LL.B., M.L.A.; and Mr. A. V. Chitre,
B.A., M.L.A., all belonging to the I.L.P., as members of the
committee. Mr. D. V. Pradhan, Member, Bombay Municipal Corporation,
acted as Secretary to the committee. The committee asked me to prepare
a report on Pakistan which I did. The same was submitted to the
Executive Council of the I.L.P., which resolved that the report should
be published. The treatise now published is that report.

The book is intended to assist the student of Pakistan to come to
his own conclusion. With that object in view, I have not only
assembled in this volume all the necessary and relevant data but have
also added 14 appendices and 3 maps, which in my judgement, form an
important accompaniment to the book.

It is not enough for the reader to go over the material collected
in the following pages. He must also reflect over it. Let him take to
heart the warning which Carlyle gave to Englishmen of his generation.
He said:

"The Genius of England no longer soars Sunward, world-defiant, like an
Eagle through the storms, ' mewing her mighty youth,'.... the Genius
of England—much like a greedy Ostrich intent on provender and a whole
skin. . . . ; with its Ostrich-head stuck into....whatever sheltering
Fallacy there may be, and so awaits the issue. The issue has been
slow; but it now seems to have been inevitable. No Ostrich, intent on
gross terrene provender and sticking its head into Fallacies, but will
be awakened one day—in a terrible a posteriori manner if not
otherwise! Awake before it comes to that. Gods and men did us awake!
The Voices of our Fathers, with thousand fold stern monition to one
and all, bid us awake."
This warning, I am convinced, applies to Indians in their present
circumstances as it once did to Englishmen, and Indians, if they pay
no heed to it, will do so at their peril.
Now, a word for those who have helped me in the preparation of
this report. Mr. M. G. Tipnis, D.C.E., (Kalabhuwan, Baroda), and Mr.
Chhaganlal S. Mody have rendered me great assistance, the former in
preparing the maps and the latter in typing the manuscript. I wish to
express my gratitude to both for their work which they have done
purely as a labour of love. Thanks are also due in a special measure
to my friends Mr. B. R. Kadrekar and Mr. K. V. Chitre for their
labours in undertaking the most uninteresting and dull task of
correcting the proof sand supervising the printing.

B.R. AMBEDKAR.

28th December, 1940,
'Rajagrah'
Dadar, Bombay, 14.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/002prolog.html

INTRODUCTION

The Muslim League's Resolution on Pakistan has called forth
different reactions. There are some who look upon it as a case of
political measles to which a people in the infancy of their conscious
unity and power are very liable. Others have taken it as a permanent
frame of the Muslim mind and not merely a passing phase and have in
consequence been greatly perturbed.

The question is undoubtedly controversial. The issue is vital and
there is no argument which has not been used in the controversy by one
side to silence the other. Some argue that this demand for
partitioning India into two political entities under separate national
states staggers their imagination; others are so choked with a sense
of righteous indignation at this wanton attempt to break the unity of
a country, which, it is claimed, has stood as one for centuries, that
their rage prevents them from giving expression to their thoughts.
Others think that it need not be taken seriously. They treat it as a
trifle and try to destroy it by shooting into it similes and
metaphors. "You don't cut your head to cure your headache," "you don't
cut a baby into two because two women are engaged in fighting out a
claim as to who its mother is," are some of the analogies which are
used to prove the absurdity of Pakistan. In a controversy carried on
the plane of pure sentiment, there is nothing surprising if a
dispassionate student finds more stupefaction and less understanding,
more heat and less light, more ridicule and less seriousness.

My position in this behalf is definite, if not singular. I do not
think the demand for Pakistan is the result of mere political
distemper, which will pass away with the efflux of time. As I read the
situation, it seems to me that it is a characteristic in the
biological sense of the term, which the Muslim body politic has
developed in the same manner as an organism develops a characteristic.
Whether it will survive or not, in the process of natural selection,
must depend upon the forces that may become operative in the struggle
for existence between Hindus and Musalmans. I am not staggered by
Pakistan; I am not indignant about it; nor do I believe that it can be
smashed by shooting into it similes and metaphors. Those who believe
in shooting it by similes should remember that nonsense does not cease
to be nonsense because it is put in rhyme, and that a metaphor is no
argument though it be sometimes the gunpowder to drive one home and
imbed it in memory. I believe that it would be neither wise nor
possible to reject summarily a scheme if it has behind it the
sentiment, if not the passionate support, of 90 p.c. Muslims of India.
I have no doubt that the only proper attitude to Pakistan is to study
it in all its aspects, to understand its implications and to form an
intelligent judgement about it.

With all this, a reader is sure to ask: Is this book on Pakistan
seasonable in the sense that one must read it, as one must eat the
fruits of the season to keep oneself in health? If it is seasonable,
is it readable? These are natural queries and an author, whose object
is to attract readers, may well make use of the introduction to meet
them.

As to the seasonableness of the book there can be no doubt. The
way of looking at India by Indians themselves must be admitted to have
undergone a complete change during the last 20 years. Referring to
India Prof. Arnold Toynbee wrote in 1915—

"British statesmanship in the nineteenth century regarded India as a
'Sleeping Beauty,' whom Britain had a prescriptive right to woo when
she awoke; so it hedged with thorns the garden where she lay, to
safeguard her from marauders prowling in the desert without. Now the
princess is awake, and is claiming the right to dispose of her own
hand, while the marauders have transformed themselves into respectable
gentlemen diligently occupied in turning the desert into a garden too,
but grievously impeded by the British thorn-hedge. When they politely
request us to remove it, we shall do well to consent, for they will
not make the demand till they feel themselves strong enough to enforce
it, and in the tussle that will follow if we refuse, the sympathies of
the Indian princess will not be on our side. Now that she is awake,
she wishes to walk abroad among her neighbours; she feels herself
capable of rebuffing without our countenance any blandishments or
threats they may offer her, and she is becoming as weary as they of
the thorn-hedge that confines her to her garden.
"If we treat her with tact, India will never wish to secede from the
spiritual brotherhood of the British Empire, but it is inevitable that
she should lead a more and more independent life of her own, and
follow the example of Anglo-Saxon Commowealths by establishing direct
relations with her neighbours. . . ."

Although the writer is an Englishman, the view expressed by him in
1915 was the view commonly held by all Indians irrespective of caste
or creed. Now that India the "Sleeping Beauty" of Prof. Toynbee is
awake, what is the view of the Indians about her? On this question,
there can be no manner of doubt that those who have observed this
Sleeping Beauty behave in recent years, feel she is a strange being
quite different from the angelic princess that she was supposed to be.
She is a mad maiden having a dual personality, half human, half
animal, always in convulsions because of her two natures in perpetual
conflict. If there is any doubt about her dual personality, it has now
been dispelled by the Resolution of the Muslim League demanding the
cutting up of India into two, Pakistan and Hindustan, so that these
conflicts and convulsions due to a dual personality having been bound
in one may cease forever, and so freed from each other, may dwell in
separate homes congenial to their respective cultures, Hindu and
Muslim.
It is beyond question that Pakistan is a scheme which will have to
be taken into account. The Muslims will insist upon the scheme being
considered. The British will insist upon some kind of settlement being
reached between the Hindus and the Muslims before they consent to any
devolution of political power. There is no use blaming the British for
insisting upon such a settlement as a condition precedent to the
transfer of power. The British cannot consent to settle power upon an
aggressive Hindu majority and make it its heir, leaving it to deal
with the minorities at its sweet pleasure. That would not be ending
imperialism. It would be creating another imperialism. The Hindus,
therefore, cannot avoid coming to grips with Pakistan, much as they
would like to do.

If the scheme of Pakistan has to be considered, and there is no
escape from it, then there are certain points which must be borne in
mind.

The first point to note is that the Hindus and Muslims must decide
the question themselves. They cannot invoke the aid of anyone else.
Certainly, they cannot expect the British to decide it for them. From
the point of view of the Empire, it matters very little to the British
whether India remains one undivided whole, or is partitioned into two
parts, Pakistan and Hindustan, or into twenty linguistic fragments as
planned by the Congress, so long as all of them are content to live
within the Empire. The British need not interfere for the simple
reason that they are not affected by such territorial divisions.

Further, if the Hindus are hoping that the British will use force
to put down Pakistan, that is impossible. In the first place, coercion
is no remedy. The futility of force and resistance was pointed out by
Burke long ago in his speeches relating to the coercion of the
American colonies. His memorable words may be quoted not only for the
benefit of the Hindu Maha Sabha but also for the benefit of all. This
is what he said:

"The use of force alone is temporary. It may endure a moment but it
does not remove the necessity of subduing again: a nation is not
governed which is perpetually to be conquered. The next objection to
force is its uncertainty. Terror is not always the effect of force,
and an armament is not a victory. If you do not succeed you are
without resource; for conciliation failing, force remains; but force
failing, no further hope of reconciliation is left. Power and
Authority are sometimes bought by kindness, but they can never be
begged as alms by an impoverished and defeated violence. A further
objection to force is that you impair the object by your very
endeavours to preserve it. The thing you fought for (to wit the
loyalty of the people) is not the thing you recover, but depreciated,
sunk, wasted and consumed in the contest."
Coercion, as an alternative to Pakistan, is therefore
unthinkable.
Again, the Muslims cannot be deprived of the benefit of the
principle of self-determination. The Hindu Nationalists who rely on
self-determination and ask how Britain can refuse India what the
conscience of the world has conceded to the smallest of the European
nations, cannot in the same breath ask the British to deny it to other
minorities. The Hindu Nationalist who hopes that Britain will coerce
the Muslims into abandoning Pakistan, forgets that the right of
nationalism to freedom from an aggressive foreign imperialism and the
right of a minority to freedom from an aggressive majority's
nationalism are not two different things; nor does the former stand on
a more sacred footing than the latter. They are merely two aspects of
the struggle for freedom and as such equal in their moral import.
Nationalists, fighting for freedom from aggressive imperialism, cannot
well ask the help of the British imperialists to thwart the right of a
minority to freedom from the nationalism of an aggressive majority.
The matter must, therefore, be decided upon by the Muslims and the
Hindus alone. The British cannot decide the issue for them. This is
the first important point to note.

The essence of Pakistan is the opposition to the establishment of
one Central Government having supremacy over the whole of India.
Pakistan contemplates two Central Governments, one for Pakistan and
the other for Hindustan. This gives rise to the second important point
which Indians must take note of. That point is that the issue of
Pakistan shall have to be decided upon before the plans for a new
constitution are drawn and its foundations are laid. If there is to be
one Central Government for India, the design of the constitutional
structure would be different from what it would be if there is to be
one Central Government for Hindustan and another for Pakistan. That
being so, it will be most unwise to postpone the decision. Either the
scheme should be abandoned and another substituted by mutual agreement
or it should be decided upon. It will be the greatest folly to suppose
that if Pakistan is buried for the moment, it will never raise its
head again. I am sure, burying Pakistan is not the same thing as
burying the ghost of Pakistan. So long as the hostility to one Central
Government for India, which is the ideology underlying Pakistan,
persists, the ghost of Pakistan will be there, casting its ominous
shadow upon the political future of India. Neither will it be prudent
to make some kind of a make-shift arrangement for the time being,
leaving the permanent solution to some future day. To do so would be
something like curing the symptoms without removing the disease. But,
as often happens in such cases, the disease is driven in, thereby
making certain its recurrence, perhaps in a more virulent form.

I feel certain that whether India should have one Central
Government is not a matter which can betaken as settled; it is a
matter in issue and although it may not be a live issue now, some day
it will be.

The Muslims have openly declared that they do not want to have any
Central Government in India and they have given their reasons in the
most unambiguous terms. They have succeeded in bringing into being
five provinces which are predominantly Muslim in population. In these
provinces, they see the possibility of the Muslims forming a
government and they are anxious to see that the independence of the
Muslim Governments in these provinces is preserved. Actuated by these
considerations, the Central Government is an eyesore to the Muslims of
India. As they visualize the scene, they see their Muslim Provinces
made subject to a Central Government predominantly Hindu and endowed
with powers of supervision over, and even of interference in, the
administration of these Muslim Provinces. The Muslims feel that to
accept one Central Government for the whole of India is to consent to
place the Muslim Provincial Governments under a Hindu Central
Government and to see the gain secured by the creation of Muslim
Provinces lost by subjecting them to a Hindu Government at the Centre.
The Muslim way of escape from this tyranny of a Hindu Centre is to
have no Central Government in India at all./1/

Are the Musalmans alone opposed to the existence of a Central
Government? What about the Hindus? There seems to be a silent premise
underlying all political discussions that are going on among the
Hindus that there will always be in India a Central Government as a
permanent part of her political constitution. How far such a premise
can be taken for granted is more than I can say. I may, however, point
out that there are two factors which are dormant for the present but
which some day may become dominant and turn the Hindus away from the
idea of a Central Government.

The first is the cultural antipathy between the Hindu Provinces.
The Hindu Provinces are by no means a happy family. It cannot be
pretended that the Sikhs have any tenderness for the Bengalees or the
Rajputs or the Madrasis. The Bengalee loves only himself. The Madrasi
is.bound by his own world. As to the Mahratta, who does not recall
that the Mahrattas, who set out to destroy the Muslim Empire in India,
became a menace to the rest of the Hindus whom they harassed and kept
under their yoke for nearly a century. The Hindu Provinces have no
common traditions and no interests to bind them. On the other hand,
the differences of language, race, and the conflicts of the past have
been the most powerful forces tending to divide them. It is true that
the Hindus are getting together and the spirit moving them to become
one united nation is working on them. But it must not be forgotten
that they have not yet become a nation. They are in the process of
becoming a nation and before the process is completed, there may be a
setback which may destroy the work of a whole century.

In the second place, there is the financial factor. It is not
sufficiently known what it costs the people of India to maintain the
Central Government and the proportionate burden each Province has to
bear.

The total revenue of British India comes to Rs. 194,64,17,926 per
annum. Of this sum, the amount raised by the Provincial Governments
from provincial sources, comes annually to Rs. 73,57,50,125 and that
raised by the Central Government from central sources of revenue comes
to Rs. 121,06,67,801. This will show what the Central Government costs
the people of India. When one considers that the Central Government is
concerned only with maintaining peace and does not discharge any
functions which have relation to the progress of the people, it should
cause no surprise if people begin to ask whether it is necessary that
they should pay annually such an enormous price to purchase peace. In
this connection, it must be borne in mind that the people in the
provinces are literally starving and there is no source left to the
provinces to increase their revenue.

This burden of maintaining the Central Government, which the
people of India have to bear, is most unevenly distributed over the
different provinces. The sources of central revenues are (1) Customs,
(2) Excise, (3) Salt, (4) Currency, (5) Posts and Telegraphs, (6)
Income Tax and (7) Railways. It is not possible from the accounts
published by the Government of India to work out the distribution of
the three sources of central revenue, namely Currency, Posts and
Telegraphs, and Railways. Only the revenue raised from other sources
can be worked out province by province. The result is shown in the
following table :—

REVENUE RAISED BY PROVINCIAL AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS

It will be seen from this table that the burden of maintaining the
Central Government is not only heavy but falls unequally upon the
different provinces. The Bombay Provincial Government raises Rs.
12,44,59,553; as against this, the Central Government raises Rs.
22,53,44,247 from Bombay. The Bengal Government raises Rs.
12,76,60,892; as against this, the Central Government raises Rs.
23,79,01,583 from Bengal. The Sind Government raises Rs. 3,70,29,354;
as against this, the Central Government raises Rs. 5,66,46,915 from
Sind. The Assam Government raises nearly Rs. 2 1/2 crores; but the
Central Government raises nearly Rs. 2 crores from Assam. While such
is the burden of the Central Government on these provinces, the rest
of the provinces contribute next to nothing to the Central Government.
The Punjab raises Rs. 11 crores for itself but contributes only Rs. 1
crore to the Central Government. In the N.W.F.P. the provincial
revenue is Rs. 1,80,83,548; its total contribution to the Central
Government however is only Rs. 9,28,294. U.P. raises Rs. 13 crores but
contributes only Rs. 4 crores to the Centre. Bihar collects Rs. 5
crores for itself; she gives only 1 1/2 crores to the Centre. C.P. and
Berar levy a total of 4 crores and pay to the Centre 31 lakhs.

This financial factor has so far passed without notice. But time
may come when even to the Hindus, who are the strongest supporters of
a Central Government in India, the financial considerations may make a
greater appeal than what purely patriotic considerations do now. So,
it is possible that some day the Muslims, for communal considerations,
and the Hindus, for financial considerations, may join hands to
abolish the Central Government.

If this were to happen, it is better if it happens before the
foundation of a new constitution is laid down. If it happens after the
foundation of the new constitution envisaging one Central Government
were laid down, it would be the greatest disaster. Out of the general
wreck, not only India as an entity will vanish, but it will not be
possible to save even the Hindu unity. As I have pointed out, there is
not much cement even among the Hindu Provinces, and once that little
cement which exists is lost, there will be nothing with which to build
up even the unity of the Hindu Provinces. It is because of this that
Indians must decide, before preparing the plans and laying the
foundations, for whom the constitutional structure is to be raised and
whether it is temporary or permanent. After the structure is built as
one whole, on one single foundation, with girders running through from
one end to the other; if, thereafter, a part is to be severed from the
rest, the knocking out of the rivets will shake the whole building and
produce cracks in other parts of the structure which are intended to
remain as one whole. The danger of cracks is greater, if the cement
which binds them is, as in the case of India, of a poor quality. If
the new constitution is designed for India as one whole and a
structure is raised on that basis, and thereafter the question of
separation of Pakistan from Hindustan is raised and the Hindus have to
yield, the alterations that may become necessary to give effect to
this severance may bring about the collapse of the whole structure.
The desire of the Muslim Provinces may easily infect the Hindu
Provinces and the spirit of disruption generated by the Muslim
Provinces may cause all round disintegration.

History is not wanting in instances of constitutions threatened
with disruption. There is the instance of the Southern States of the
American Union. Natal has always been anxious to get out from the
Union of South Africa and Western Australia recently applied, though
unsuccessfully, to secede from the Australian Commonwealth.

In these cases actual disruption has not taken place and where it
did, it was soon healed. Indians, however, cannot hope to be so
fortunate. Theirs may be the fate of Czechoslovakia. In the first
place, it would be futile to entertain the hope that if a disruption
of the Indian constitution took place by the Muslim Provinces
separating from the Hindu Provinces, it would be possible to win back
the seceding provinces as was done in the U.S.A. after the Civil War.
Secondly, if the new Indian constitution is a Dominion Constitution,
even the British may find themselves powerless to save the
constitution from such a disruption, if it takes place after its
foundations are laid. It seems to be, therefore, imperative that the
issue of Pakistan should be decided upon before the new constitution
is devised.

If there can be no doubt that Pakistan is a scheme which Indians
will have to resolve upon at the next revision of the constitution and
if there is no escape from deciding upon it, then it would be a fatal
mistake for the people to approach it without a proper understanding
of the question. The ignorance of some of the Indian delegates to the
Round Table Conference of constitutional law, I remember, led Mr.
Garvin of the Observer to remark that it would have been much better
if the Simon Commission, instead of writing a report on India, had
made a report on constitutional problems of India and how they were
met by the constitutions of the different countries of the world. Such
a report I know was prepared for the use of the delegates who framed
the constitution of South Africa. This is an attempt to make good that
deficiency and as such I believe it will be welcomed as a seasonable
piece.

So much for the question whether the book is seasonable. As to the
second question, whether the book is readable no writer can forget the
words of Augustine Birrell when he said:

"Cooks, warriors, and authors must be judged by the effects they
produce; toothsome dishes, glorious victories, pleasant books, these
are our demands. We have nothing to do with ingredients, tactics, or
methods. We have no desire to be admitted into the kitchen, the
council, or the study. The cook may use her saucepans how she pleases,
the warrior place his men as he likes, the author handle his material
or weave his plot as best he can; when the dish is served we only ask.
Is it good?; when the battle has been fought, Who won?; when the book
comes out, Does it read?
"Authors ought not to be above being reminded that it is their first
duty to write agreeably. Some very disagreeable men have succeeded in
doing so, and there is, therefore, no need for anyone to despair.
Every author, be he grave or gay, should try to make his book as
ingratiating as possible. Reading is not a duty, and has consequently
no business to be made disagreeable. Nobody is under any obligation to
read any other man's book."

I am fully aware of this. But I am not worried about it. That may
well apply to other books but not to a book on Pakistan. Every Indian
must read a book on Pakistan, if not this, then some other, if he
wants to help his country to steer a clear path.
If the book does not read well, i.e., its taste be not good, the
reader will find two things in it which, I am sure, are good.

The first thing he will find is that the ingredients are good.
There is in the book material which will be helpful and to gain access
to which he will have to labour a great deal. Indeed, the reader will
find that the book contains an epitome of India's political and social
history during the last twenty years, which it is necessary for every
Indian to know.

The second thing he will find is that there is no partisanship.
The aim is to expound the scheme of Pakistan in all its aspects and
not to advocate it. The aim is to explain and not to convert. It
would, however, be a pretence to say that I have no views on Pakistan.
Views I have. Some of them are expressed, others may have to be
gathered. Two things, however, may well be said about my views. In the
first place, wherever they are expressed, they have been reasoned out.
Secondly, whatever the views, they have certainly not the fixity of a
popular prejudice. They are really thoughts and not views. In other
words, I have an open mind, though not an empty mind. A person with an
open mind is always the subject of congratulations. While this may be
so, it must, at the same time, be realized that an open mind may also
be an empty mind and that such an open mind, if it is a happy
condition, is also a very dangerous condition for a man to be in. A
disaster may easily overtake a man with an empty mind. Such a person
is like a ship without ballast and without a rudder. It can have no
direction. It may float but may also suffer a shipwreck against a rock
for want of direction. While aiming to help the reader by placing
before him all the material, relevant and important, the reader will
find that I have not sought to impose my views on him. I have placed
before him both sides of the question and have left him to form his
own opinion.

The reader may complain that I have been provocative in stating
the relevant facts. I am conscious that .such a charge may be levelled
against me. I apologize freely and gladly for the same. My excuse is
that I have no intention to hurt. I had only one purpose, that is, to
force the attention of the indifferent and casual reader to the issue
that is dealt with in the book. I ask the reader to put aside any
irritation that he may feel with me and concentrate his thoughts on
this tremendous issu : Which is to be, Pakistan or no Pakistan?

/1/ This point of view was put forth by Sir Muhammad lqbal at the
Third Round Table Conference.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/003intro.html

EPILOGUE
[We need better statesmanship than Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah have
shown]

Here I propose to stop. For I feel that I have said all that I can
say about the subject. To use legal language, I have drawn the
pleadings. This I may claim to have done at sufficient length. In
doing so, I have adopted that prolix style so dear to the Victorian
lawyers, under which the two sides plied one another with plea and
replication, rejoinder and rebutter [=rebuttal], surrejoinder and
surrebutter, and so on. I have done this deliberately, with the object
that a full statement of the case for and against Pakistan may be
made. The foregoing pages contain the pleadings. The facts contained
therein are true to the best of my knowledge and belief. I have also
given my findings. It is now for Hindus and Muslims to give theirs.

To help them in their task it might be well to set out the issues.
On the pleadings the following issues seem to be necessary issues:

(1) Is Hindu-Muslim unity necessary for India's political
advancement? If necessary, is it still possible of realization,
notwithstanding the new ideology of the Hindus and the Muslims being
two different nations?
(2) If Hindu-Muslim unity is possible, should it be reached by
appeasement or by settlement?

(3) If it is to be achieved by appeasement, what are the new
concessions that can be offered to the Muslims to obtain their willing
co-operation, without prejudice to other interests?

(4) If it is to be achieved by a settlement, what are the terms of
that settlement? If there are only two alternatives, (i) Division of
India into Pakistan and Hindustan, or (ii) Fifty-fifty share in
Legislature, Executive, and the Services, which alternative is
preferable?

(5) Whether India, if she remained [=remains] one integral whole, can
rely upon both Hindus and Musalmans to defend her independence,
assuming it is won from the British?

(6) Having regard to the prevailing antagonism between Hindus and
Musalmans, and having regard to the new ideology demarcating them as
two distinct nations and postulating an opposition in their ultimate
destinies, whether a single constitution for these two nations can be
built, in the hope that they will show an intention to work it and not
to stop it.

(7) On the assumption that the two-nation theory has come to stay,
will not India as one single unit become an incoherent body without
organic unity, incapable of developing into a strong united nation
bound by a common faith in a common destiny, and therefore likely to
remain a feebler and sickly country, easy to be kept in perpetual
subjection either of [=to] the British or of [=to] any other foreign
power?

(8) If India cannot be one united country, is it not better that
Indians should help India in the peaceful dissolution of this
incoherent whole into its natural parts, namely, Pakistan and
Hindustan?

(9) Whether it is not better to provide for the growth of two
independent and separate nations, a Muslim nation inhabiting Pakistan
and a Hindu nation inhabiting Hindustan, than [to] pursue the vain
attempt to keep India as one undivided country in the false hope that
Hindus and Muslims will some day be one and occupy it as the members
of one nation and sons of one motherland?

Nothing can come in the way of an Indian getting to grips with
these issues and reaching his own conclusions with the help of the
material contained in the foregoing pages except three things: (1) A
false sentiment of historical patriotism, (2) a false conception of
the exclusive ownership of territory, and (3) absence of willingness
to think for oneself. Of these obstacles, the last is the most
difficult to get over. Unfortunately thought in India is rare, and
free thought is rarer still. This is particularly true of Hindus. That
is why a large part of the argument of this book has been addressed to
them. The reasons for this are obvious. The Hindus are in a majority.
Being in a majority, their view point must count! There is not much
possibility of [a] peaceful solution if no attempt is made to meet
their objections, rational or sentimental. But there are special
reasons which have led me to address so large a part of the argument
to them, and which may not be quite so obvious to others. I feel that
those Hindus who are guiding the destinies of their fellows have lost
what Carlyle calls "the Seeing Eye" and are walking in the glamour of
certain vain illusions, the consequences of which must, I fear, be
terrible for the Hindus. The Hindus are in the grip of the Congress
and the Congress is in the grip of Mr. Gandhi. It cannot be said that
Mr. Gandhi has given the Congress the right lead. Mr. Gandhi first
sought to avoid facing the issue by taking refuge in two things. He
started by saying that to partition India is a moral wrong and a sin
to which he will never be a party. This is a strange argument. India
is not the only country faced with the issue of partition, or shifting
of frontiers based on natural and historical factors to those based on
the national factors. Poland has been partitioned three time,s and no
one can be sure that there will be no more partition of Poland. There
are very few countries in Europe which have not undergone partition
during the last 150 years. This shows that the partition of a country
is neither moral nor immoral. It is unmoral. It is a social, political
or military question. Sin has no place in it.
As a second refuge Mr. Gandhi started by protesting that the
Muslim League did not represent the Muslims, and that Pakistan was
only a fancy of Mr. Jinnah. It is difficult to understand how Mr.
Gandhi could be so blind as not to see how Mr. Jinnah's influence over
the Muslim masses has been growing day by day, and how he has engaged
himself in mobilizing all his forces for battle. Never before was Mr.
Jinnah a man for the masses. He distrusted them./1/ To exclude them
from political power he was always for a high franchise. Mr. Jinnah
was never known to be a very devout, pious, or a professing Muslim.
Besides kissing the Holy Koran as and when he was sworn in as an
M.L.A., he does not appear to have bothered much about its contents or
its special tenets. It is doubtful if he frequented any mosque either
out of curiosity or religious fervour. Mr. Jinnah was never found in
the midst of Muslim mass congregations, religious or political.

Today one finds a complete change in Mr. Jinnah. He has become a
man of the masses. He is no longer above them. He is among them. Now
they have raised him above themselves and call him their Qaid-e-Azam.
He has not only become a believer in Islam, but is prepared to die for
Islam. Today, he knows more of Islam than mere Kalama. Today, he goes
to the mosque to hear Khutba and takes delight in joining the Id
congregational prayers. Dongri and Null Bazaar once knew Mr. Jinnah by
name. Today they know him by his presence. No Muslim meeting in Bombay
begins or ends without Allah-ho-Akbar and Long Live Qaid-e-Azam. In
this Mr. Jinnah has merely followed King Henry IV of France—the
unhappy father-in-law of the English King Charles I. Henry IV was a
Huguenot by faith. But he did not hesitate to attend mass in a
Catholic Church in Paris. He believed that to change his Huguenot
faith and go to mass was an easy price to pay for the powerful support
of Paris. As Paris became worth a mass to Henry IV, so have Dongri and
Null Bazaar become worth a mass to Mr. Jinnah, and for similar reason.
It is strategy; it is mobilization. But even if it is viewed as the
sinking of Mr. Jinnah from reason to superstition, he is sinking with
his ideology, which by his very sinking is spreading into all the
different strata of Muslim society and is becoming part and parcel of
its mental make-up. This is as clear as anything could be. The only
basis for Mr. Gandhi's extraordinary view is the existence of what are
called Nationalist Musalmans. It is difficult to see any real
difference between the communal Muslims who form the Muslim League and
the Nationalist Muslims. It is extremely doubtful whether the
Nationalist Musalmans have any real community of sentiment, aim, and
policy with the Congress which marks them off from the Muslim League.
Indeed many Congressmen are alleged to hold the view that there is no
different [=difference] between the two, and that the Nationalist
Muslim[s] inside the Congress are only an outpost of the communal
Muslims. This view does not seem to be quite devoid of truth when one
recalls that the late Dr. Ansari, the leader of the Nationalist
Musalmans, refused to oppose the Communal Award although it gave the
Muslims separate electorates in [the] teeth of the resolution passed
by the Congress and the Nationalist Musalmans. Nay, so great has been
the increase in the influence of the League among the Musalmans that
many Musalmans who were opposed to the League have been compelled to
seek for a place in the League or make peace with it. Anyone who takes
account of the turns and twists of the late Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan and
Mr. Fazlul Huq, the late Premier of Bengal, must admit the truth of
this fact. Both Sir Sikandar and Mr. Fazlul Huq were opposed to the
formation of branches of the Muslim League in their Provinces when Mr.
Jinnah tried to revive it in 1937. Notwithstanding their opposition,
when the branches of the League were formed in the Punjab and in
Bengal, within one year both were compelled to join them. It is a case
of those coming to scoff remaining to pray. No more cogent proof seems
to be necessary to prove the victory of the League.

Notwithstanding this Mr. Gandhi, instead of negotiating with Mr.
Jinnah and the Muslim League with a view to a settlement, took a
different turn. He got the Congress to pass the famous Quit India
Resolution on the 8th August 1942. This Quit India Resolution was
primarily a challenge to the British Government. But it was also an
attempt to do away with the intervention of the British Government in
the discussion of the Minority question, and thereby securing
[=secure] for the Congress a free hand to settle it on its own terms
and according to its own lights. It was in effect, if not in
intention, an attempt to win independence by bypassing the Muslims and
the other minorities. The Quit India Campaign turned out to be a
complete failure.

It was a mad venture and took the most diabolical form. It was a
scorch[ed]-earth campaign in which the victims of looting, arson and
murder were Indians, and the perpetrators were Congressmen. Beaten, he
started a fast for twenty-one days in March 1943 while he was in gaol,
with the object of getting out of it. He failed. Thereafter he fell
ill. As he was reported to be sinking, the British Government released
him for fear that he might die on their hand[s] and bring them
ignominy. On coming out of gaol, he found that he and the Congress had
not only missed the bus, but had also lost the road. To retrieve the
position and win for the Congress the respect of the British
Government as a premier party in the country, which it had lost by
reason of the failure of the campaign that followed up the Quit India
Resolution and the violence which accompanied it, he started
negotiating with the Viceroy. Thwarted in that attempt, Mr. Gandhi
turned to Mr. Jinnah. On the 17th July 1944 Mr. Gandhi wrote to Mr.
Jinnah expressing his desire to meet him and discuss with him the
communal question. Mr. Jinnah agreed to receive Mr. Gandhi in his
house in Bombay. They met on the 9th September 1944. It was good that
at long last wisdom dawned on Mr. Gandhi, and he agreed to see the
light which was staring him in the face and which he had so far
refused to see.

The basis of their talks was the offer made by Mr.
Rajagopalachariar to Mr. Jinnah in April 1944 which, according to the
somewhat incredible/2/ story told by Mr. Rajagopalachariar, was
discussed by him with Mr. Gandhi in March 1943 when he (Mr. Gandhi)
was fasting in gaol, and to which Mr. Gandhi had given his full
approval. The following is the text of Mr. Rajagopalachariar's
formula, popularly spoken of as the C. R. Formula:—

(1) Subject to the terms set out below as regards the constitution
for Free India, the Muslim League endorses the Indian demand for
Independence and will co-operate with the Congress in the formation of
a provisional interim government for the transitional period.
(2) After the termination of the war, a commission shall be appointed
for demarcating contiguous districts in the north-west and east of
India, wherein the Muslim population is in absolute majority. In the
areas thus demarcated, a plebiscite of all the inhabitants held on the
basis of adult suffrage or other practicable franchise shall
ultimately decide the issue of separation from Hindustan. If the
majority decide in favour of forming a sovereign State separate from
Hindustan, such decision shall be given effect to, without prejudice
to the right of districts on the border to choose to join either
State.

(3) It will be open to all parties to advocate their points of view
before the plebiscite is held.

(4) In the event of separation, mutual agreements shall be entered
into for safeguarding defence, and commerce and communications and for
other essential purposes.

(5) Any transfer of population shall only be on an absolutely
voluntary basis.

(6) These terms shall be binding only in case of transfer by Britain
of full power and responsibility for the governance of India.

The talks which began on the 9th September were carried on over a
period of 18 days till 27th September, when it was announced that the
talks had failed. The failure of the talks produced different
reactions in the minds of different people. Some were glad, others
were sorry. But as both had been, just previous to the talks, worsted
by their opponents in their struggle for supremacy, Gandhi by the
British and Jinnah by the Unionist Party in the Punjab, and had lost a
good deal of their credit, the majority of people expected that they
would put forth some constructive effort to bring about a solution.
The failure may have been due to the defects of personalities. But it
must however be said that failure was inevitable, having regard to
certain fundamental faults in the C. R. Formula. In the first place,
it tied up the communal question with the political question in an
indissoluble knot. No political settlement, no communal settlement, is
the strategy on which the formula proceeds. The formula did not offer
a solution. It invited Mr. Jinnah to enter into a deal. It was a
bargain—"If you help us in getting independence, we shall be glad to
consider your proposal for Pakistan." I don't know from where Mr.
Rajagopalachariar got the idea that this was the best means of getting
independence. It is possible that he borrowed it from the old Hindu
kings of India who built up alliance for protecting their independence
against foreign enemies by giving their daughters to neighbouring
princes. Mr. Rajagopalachariar forgot that such alliances brought
neither a good husband nor a permanent ally. To make communal
settlement depend upon help rendered in winning freedom is a very
unwise way of proceeding in a matter of this kind. It is a way of one
party drawing another party into its net by offering communal
privileges as a bait. The C. R. Formula made communal settlement an
article for sale.
The second fault in the C. R. Formula relates to the machinery for
giving effect to any agreement that may be arrived at. The agency
suggested in the C. R. Formula is the Provisional Government. In
suggesting this Mr. Rajagopalachariar obviously overlooked two
difficulties. The first thing he overlooked is that once the
Provisional Government was established, the promises of the
contracting parties, to use legal phraseology, did not [=would not]
remain concurrent promises. The case became [=would become] one of the
executed promise against an executory [=yet to be executed] promise.
By consenting to the establishment of a Provisional Government, the
League would have executed its promise to help the Congress to win
independence. But the promise of the Congress to bring about Pakistan
would remain executory. Mr. Jinnah, who insists, and quite rightly,
that the promises should be concurrent, could never be expected to
agree to place himself in such a position. The second difficulty which
Mr. Rajagopalachariar has overlooked is what would happen if the
Provisional Government failed to give effect to the Congress part of
the agreement. Who is to enforce it? The Provisional Government is to
be a sovereign government, not subject to superior authority. If it
was unwilling to give effect to the agreement, the only sanction open
to the Muslims would be rebellion. To make the Provisional Government
the agency for forging a new Constitution, for bringing about
Pakistan, nobody will accept. It is a snare and not a solution.

The only way of bringing about the constitutional changes will be
through an Act of Parliament embodying provisions agreed upon by the
important elements in the national life of British India. There is no
other way.

There is a third fault in the C. R. Formula. It relates to the
provision for a treaty between Pakistan and Hindustan to safeguard
what are called matters of common interests such as Defence, Foreign
Affairs, Customs, etc. Here again Mr. Rajagopalachariar does not seem
to be aware of obvious difficulties. How are matters of common
interest to be safeguarded? I see only two ways. One is to have a
Central Government vested with Executive and Legislative authority in
respect of these matters. This means Pakistan and Hindustan will not
be sovereign States. Will Mr. Jinnah agree to this? Obviously he does
not. The other way is to make Pakistan and Hindustan sovereign States
and to bind them by a treaty relating to matters of common interests.
But what is there to ensure that the terms of the treaty will be
observed? As a sovereign State Pakistan can always repudiate it, even
if it was [=were to be] a Dominion. Mr. Rajagopalachariar obviously
drew his inspiration in drafting this clause from the Anglo-Irish
Treaty of 1922. But he forgot the fact that the treaty lasted so long
as Ireland was not a Dominion, and that as soon as it became a
Dominion it repudiated the treaty, and the British Parliament stood
silent and grinned, for it knew that it could do nothing.

One does not mind very much that the talks failed. What one feels
sorry for is that the talks failed [at] giving us a clear idea of some
of the questions about which Mr. Jinnah has been observing discreet
silence in his public utterances, though he has been quite outspoken
about them in his private talks. These questions are— (1) Is Pakistan
to be conceded because of the Resolution of the Muslim League? (2) Are
the Muslims, as distinguished from the Muslim League, to have no say
in the matter? (3) What will be the boundaries of Pakistan? Whether
the boundaries will be the present administrative boundaries of the
Punjab and Bengal or whether the boundaries of Pakistan will be
ethnological boundaries? (4) What do the words "subject to such
territorial adjustments as may be necessary" which occur in the Lahore
Resolution mean? What were the territorial adjustments the League had
in mind? (5) What does the word "finally" which occurs in the last
part of the Lahore Resolution mean? Did the League contemplate a
transition period in which Pakistan will not be an independent and
sovereign State? (6) If Mr. Jinnah's proposal that the boundaries of
Eastern and Western Pakistan are to be the present administrative
boundaries, will he allow the Scheduled Castes, or, if I may say so,
the non-Muslims in the Punjab and Bengal to determine by a plebiscite
whether they wish to be included in Mr. Jinnah's Pakistan, and whether
Mr. Jinnah would be prepared to abide by the results of the plebiscite
of the non-Muslim elements in the Punjab and Bengal? (7) Does Mr.
Jinnah want a corridor running through U. P. and Bihar to connect up
Eastern Pakistan to Western Pakistan? It would have been a great gain
if straight questions had been put to Mr. Jinnah and unequivocal
answers obtained. But instead of coming to grips with Mr. Jinnah on
these questions, Mr. Gandhi spent his whole time proving that the C.
R. Formula is substantially the same as the League's Lahore Resolution—
which was ingenious if not nonsensical, and thereby lost the best
opportunity he had of having these questions clarified.

After these talks Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah have retired to their
pavilions as players in a cricket match do after their game is over,
as though there is nothing further to be done. There is no indication
whether they will meet again, and if so when. What next? is not a
question which seems to worry them. Yet it is difficult to see how
India can make any political advance without a solution of the
question which one may refuse to discuss. It does not belong to that
class of questions about which people can agree to differ. It is a
question for which solution will have to be found. How? It must be by
agreement or by arbitration. If it is to be by agreement, it must be
the result of negotiations—of give and take, and not of surrender by
one side to the other. That [=surrender] is not agreement. It is
dictation. Good sense may in the end prevail, and parties may come to
an agreement. But agreement may turn out to be a very dilatory way. It
may take long before good sense prevails. How long one cannot say. The
political freedom of India is a most urgent necessity. It cannot be
postponed, and yet without a solution of the communal problem it
cannot be hastened. To make it dependent on agreement is to postpone
its solution indefinitely. Another expeditious method must be found.
It seems to me that arbitration by an International Board is the best
way out. The disputed points in the minorities problem, including that
of Pakistan, should be remitted to such a Board. The Board should be
constituted of persons drawn from countries outside the British
Empire. Each statutory minority in India—Muslims, Scheduled Castes,
Sikhs, Indian Christians—should be asked to select its nominee to this
Board of Arbitration. These minorities, as also the Hindus, should
appear before the Board in support of their demands, and should agree
to abide by the decision given by the Board. The British should give
the following undertakings :—

(1) That they will have nothing to do with the communal settlement.
It will be left to agreement or to a Board of Arbitration.
(2) They will implement the decision of the Board of Arbitration on
the communal question by embodying it in the Government of India Act.

(3) That the award of the International Board of Arbitration would be
regarded by them as a sufficient discharge of their obligations to the
minorities in India, and [they] would agree to give India Dominion
Status.

The procedure has many advantages. It eliminates the fear of
British interference in the communal settlement, which has been
offered by the Congress as an excuse for its not being able to settle
the communal problem. It is alleged that, as there is always the
possibility of the minorities getting from the British something more
than what the Congress thinks it proper to give, the minorities do not
wish to come to terms with the Congress. The proposal has a second
advantage. It removes the objection of the Congress that by making the
constitution subject to the consent of the minorities, the British
Government has placed a veto in the hands of the minorities over the
constitutional progress of India. It is complained that the minorities
can unreasonably withhold their consent, or they can be prevailed upon
by the British Government to withhold their consent, as the minorities
are suspected by the Congress to be mere tools in the hands of the
British Government. international arbitration removes completely every
ground of complaint on this account. There should be no objection on
the part of the minorities. If their demands are fair and just, no
minority need have any fear from a Board of International Arbitration.
There is nothing unfair in the requirement of a submission to
arbitration. It follows the well-known rule of law, namely, that no
man should be allowed to be a judge in his own case. There is no
reason to make any exception in the case of a minority. Like an
individual, it cannot claim to sit in judgement over its own case.
What about the British Government? I cannot see any reason why the
British Government should object to any part of this scheme. The
Communal Award has brought great odium on the British. It has been a
thankless task and the British should be glad to be relieved of it. On
the question of the discharge of their responsibilities for making
adequate provision for the safety and security of certain communities,
in respect of which they have regarded themselves as trustees, before
they relinquish their sovereignty, what more can such communities ask
than the implantation in the constitution of safeguards in terms of
the award of an International Board of Arbitration? There is only one
contingency which may appear to create some difficulty for the British
Government in the matter of enforcing the award of the Board of
Arbitration. Such a contingency can arise if any one of the parties to
the dispute is not prepared to submit its case to arbitration.
In that case the question will be: will the British Government be
justified in enforcing the award against such a party? I see no
difficulty in saying that the British Government can with perfect
justice proceed to enforce the award against such a party. After all,
what is the status of a party which refuses to submit its case to
arbitration? The answer is that such a party is an aggressor. How is
an aggressor dealt with? By subjecting him to sanctions. Implementing
the award of the Board of Arbitration in a constitution against a
party which refuses to go to arbitration is simply another name for
the process of applying sanctions against an aggressor. The British
Government need not feel embarrassed in following this process if the
contingency should arise. For it is a well-recognized process of
dealing with such cases and has the imprimatur of the League of
Nations, which evolved this formula when Mussolini refused to submit
to arbitration his dispute with Abyssinia. What I have proposed may
not be the answer to the question: What next? I don't know what else
can be. All I know is that there will be no freedom for India without
an answer. It must be decisive, it must be prompt, and it must be
satisfactory to the parties concerned.

/1/ Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in his autobiography says that Mr. Jinnah
wanted the Congress to restrict its membership to matriculates.

/2/ The formula was discussed with Mr. Gandhi in March 1943, but was
not communicated to Mr. Jinnah till April 1944.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00ambedkar/ambedkar_partition/600epilog.html

...and I am Sid Harth


==============================================================================
TOPIC: FURORE IN J&K OVER SMS MOCKING AT ABDULLAHS
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/02d417894976499e?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 3:02 am
From: bademiyansubhanallah


Actions belie his words

There is a popular saying about the newly appointed president of BJP,
Nitin Gadkari … that he manages to elicit results with the least of
efforts. It was with great pomp that Gadkari had raised the apt issue
in Indore that the party was in need of combative people, not of
sychophants or yes-men. But it is not hidden from anyone as to how
serious the gentleman, whom Gadkari himself kept portraying as Mr
Genius from Indore to Delhi, is about political issues. Even
otherwise, in Gadkari's regime the people who were first appointed to
various posts are all known to be the flagbearers of the practice of
doing the rounds of the powers that be. For example, the newly-
appointed president of Punjab BJP Ashwini Sharma or Khimi Ram,
Himachal's executive president who has been made a full president by
Gadkari. The BJP president wanted to send Prabhat Jha as the president
of Madhya Pradesh BJP; in Bihar he is advocating the need of handing
over the reins to another loyal-tag owner Mantoo Pandey alias Mangal
Pandey. One Alok Kumar has been appointed the chief of the all India
training camp of the party. Or the saffron flag of aggression of the
yes-brigade is flying high during the Gadkari rule.

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AEactions-belie-his-words

Gadkari's Govindacharya

BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started the process of selecting his
team. But for Gadkari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is the most important
person right now and if sources are to be believed then Gadkari's is
moving fast forward on Sahasrabuddhe's brains. In a way Sahasrabuddhe
is working as the political secretary of Gadkari. This association is
exactly like the relationship Govindacharya once shared with Advani.
Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte are also going to play an important role in
identifying and selecting the new team for Gadkari. In view of the
importance of the forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar, Leader of
Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley is being made the in-
charge. One finds it difficult to recall if earlier a Leader of
Opposition had played the role of an election in-charge. What kind of
a precedent is being set by Gadkari?

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%b8%e0%a4%b9%e0%a4%b8%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%87-%e0%a4%95%e0%a5%80-%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a7%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%bfgadkari%e2%80%99s-govindach

Poll

Is BJP a sinking boat?

Yes (67.12%)
No (32.88%)

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%85%e0%a4%ac-%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%82%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%87%e0%a4%97%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%9a%e0%a4%bf%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%82%e0%a4%ac%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ae-%e0%a4%95%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%ad%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%aechidamb

BJP too trying to earn some brownie points

Anita Saluja
First Published : 07 Mar 2010 03:49:00 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Sensing that history may be created on the centenary of
International Women's Day in India, if the Rajya Sabha succeeds in
passing the controversial Women's Reservation Bill, enabling 33
percent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, the BJP on Saturday lent a helping hand to the UPA
Government.

The BJP core group meeting, which was convened by BJP president Nitin
Gadkari, appealed to all political parties to vote in favour of the
Women's Reservation Bill.

After the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, "The
BJP was the first party to demand one-third reservation for women in
Parliament and state Assemblies. It has promised the Centre full
support to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha." Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was optimistic of the passage of the
Women's Bill in the Upper House and said that on its own, the BJP was
mobilising support for the Bill.

Claiming that the BJP has always stood for empowerment of women, being
the first party to give one-third reservation to women in the party
organisation, Gadkari said that it had issued whip to all the party
members of Rajya Sabha.

He said that it was the NDA Government, which first moved the Bill in
Parliament and mooted the idea to set apart 33 percent of the total
seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for women in BJP National
Council meeting at Vadodara.

Unlike in 1996, when the BJP was riven with dissensions on the Women's
Reservation Bill, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti opposing the
legislation inside the Lok Sabha, this time around, there is no
dissenting voice.

Uma Bharti is no more in the BJP and with Sushma Swaraj leading the
party in the Lok Sabha, no one dares to challenge her ruling. "We have
to prove our own credibility," remarked a senior leader from the Rajya
Sabha.

Apart from the three Yadavs, Mulayam Singh of the SP, Lalu Yadav of
RJD and Sharad Yadav of JD (U), the BJP alliance partner in
Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, is also opposing the Bill in its present
form.

Comments

Right & time demand step by leading political parties in national
interest.
By Kapil Pathak
3/7/2010 10:04:00 AM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=PM+confident+of+women%E2%80%99s+quota+Bill+passage&artid=0wcbTOGE2j4=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=Women%E2%80%99s+Reservation+Bill&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=

I don't want to make a show of it

BJP youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan spills the beans on why she
skipped her brother's big fat TV wedding

By Anand Holla and Vickey Lalwani
Posted On Monday, March 08, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM

The Mahajans have a way of making it to the headlines. This time it is
Rahul, who tied the knot, for the second time, with a 21-year-old
Bengali model and item girl in a televised event on Saturday which was
attended by his mother, but not his sister.

Poonam Mahajan-Rao

Poonam Mahajan-Rao, who had always stood by her elder brother during
the darkest phases of his life - the drug scandal for instance – was
missing from the scene.

This sent the media and commentators in a tizzy, as Rahul and his
spokespersons found themselves struggling to deal with speculations
that Poonam, who is a BJP youth wing leader, wanted to stay away from
the reality drama.

After considerable effort, Mirror managed to speak to Poonam. "I am a
very private person, and for me, an event like a marriage is a private
affair." However, Rahul's 'private affair' was a high-voltage mega-TRP-
driven event with millions watching it live as it unfolded. When asked
why she didn't join in the much-watched ceremony, Poonam defended, "I
am the kind of person who prefers to sit at home rather than make a
show out of things. I even keep my son's birthday party as private as
possible. That's how I am."

Incidentally, Poonam was very much around when Rahul married his
childhood sweetheart Shweta in a private ceremony in 2006. They
divorced two years later.

Speaking about her own wedding which was a low-key affair, Poonam
said, "Ten years ago, I made a choice of getting married to the person
I wanted to. Now, Rahul has made his choice and being his sister
support him entirely."

Rahul with his newly-wedded wife Dimpy Ganguly after the reality show
concluded

When asked if there are any differences within the Mahajan family over
Rahul's choice and decision, Poonam said, "Rahul is my elder brother
and his decisions are totally his. I will be there for him just like
I've always been there for him, even during the tough times. I wish
him all the luck with this marriage. Together, we want to take forward
our father's legacy by helping each other."

Not just Poonam, missing from what was purported to be Rahul's big day
was his uncle Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary and MP.
Munde has been constantly by the side of late BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan's family since he was shot dead three years ago by younger
brother Pravin.

BJP sources said Munde along with national president Nitin Gadkari and
leader of state legislature Eknath Khadse were in Nashik for their
felicitation. "The felicitation programme was finalised few months ago
and Munde had accepted the invitation. In fact he made it a point to
attend the Nashik event as his absence at previous felicitation event
in Aurangabad was being blamed on intra party tussle with Gadkari,'' a
party leader remarked.

But the speculations over Poonam's absence refuse to die down. "Poonam
may have deliberately avoided not to attend the much publicised
wedding show for political reasons. She is keen to establish herself
politically and does not want to get embroiled in any controversy,''
the source said.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/201003082010030803124526953f94fde/I-don%E2%80%99t-want-to-make-a-show-of-it.html

Parties divided, but government determined to push women's bill

PM says the Centre is moving towards providing one-third reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures

By PTI
Posted On Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 04:12:40 AM

New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women's empowerment, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Government is moving
towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and
state legislatures.

Inaugurating the women's leadership summit here, he said the
Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment
of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.

Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development,
Krishna Tirath welcomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
inauguration of the Women's Leadership Summit 2010

The Women's Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of
seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come
up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has
revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, "We hope
to give this movement of political participation of women further
fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and
city and town governments to 50 per cent.

"More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third
reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures," he
said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by Women and Child
Development Minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have
broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to
avail of many opportunities.

LS Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high
status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practise is reversed
in society.

The three-day summit being held as part of women's day celebrations
would be attended by women achievers from all fields.

JD-U divided

However, sharp divisions have emerged among the opponents of the Bill
with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure, pitting himself
against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.

SP also opposes

The Samajwadi Party, which opposes the Bill in its present form, on
Saturday said it will register its "protest" on Monday. The SP has
suggested reservation within reservation for OBC women, not more than
20 per cent.
BJP supports

Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of the Bill, BJP
sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since
the UPA coalition was in minority in the RS, the onus of getting it
adopted was with the main opposition.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting
of the party Core Group to discuss the Bill.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News -
Nation&sectid=3&contentid=2010030720100307041240664ef9a81db

JD(U) Hints At Softening of Opposition to Women's Bill

New Delhi, March 7 – With the numbers favouring the passage of the
women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha Monday, the Janata Dal-
United (JD-U), a prominent party opposing it, Sunday indicated a
softening of its position.

JD-U chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Ali Anwar Ansari said the party
will consider the opinion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in
support of the bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women
in parliament and state legislatures.

'A meeting of JD-U MPs will be held at party president Sharad Yadav's
residence Monday morning. We will take a unanimous decision,' Ansari
told IANS.

The JD-U has not issued a whip to its MPs to either support or oppose
the bill.

Ansari said the bill is expected to be passed by the upper house of
parliament and 'there is no point of opposing it for the sake of
opposition'.

'We are taking the opinion of all our members and a decision will be
taken,' he said.

Ansari, who spoke to both Yadav and Nitish Kumar Sunday, ruled out the
possibility of the party abstaining from the vote on the bill.

Nitish Kumar, who will lead the JD-U charge in campaign for Bihar
assembly elections later this year, Saturday spoke in favour of the
bill.

With more and more parties coming out in favour of the legislation,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained
its only two vocal opponents. Both parties are demanding quotas for
backward classes and minorities within 33 per cent reservation for
women. While the SP has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, the RJD has
four.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 12 members in the upper
house, has not opened its cards yet with regards to the bill.

For the bill to be passed, it has to be supported by two-thirds of
those present and voting. This figure should also be at least 50
percent of the total number of members in the house.

With an effective strength of 233, the Constitution (108th Amendment
Bill), 2008, needs support of 155 members in the Rajya Sabha if all
the members are present.

While the combined strength of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Left – three main supporters of the bill – comes to 138
in the upper house, many other parties, including the DMK, AIADMK,
Biju Janata Dal, National Conference, Nationalist Congress Party and
Shiromani Akali Dal have expressed their support for the path-breaking
legislation.

With the ruling Congress having timed the consideration of the bill
with the International Women's Day and party president Sonia Gandhi
making a strong pitch for its passage, the BJP too has joined the race
to claim credit.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who appealed to all parties to support
the bill, said the party was conscious that the ruling coalition was
in minority in the Rajya Sabha. He said the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government had first moved the bill in parliament.

The Constitution (108th Amendment Bill), 2008, provides for
reservation of one-third seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
for 15 years from the date of commencement of the Act on rotation
basis.

The proposal to provide such reservation to women has been pending for
the last 13 years due to lack of political consensus.

Posted by Vamban on Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

Latest News

•Lok Sabha Adjourned for Fourth Time
http://www.vamban.com/lok-sabha-adjourned-for-fourth-time/
•BJP Condemns SP, RJD for Tearing Up Women's Bill
http://www.vamban.com/bjp-condemns-sp-rjd-for-tearing-up-womens-bill/
•Women's Bill Moved, Torn to Shreds in Rajya Sabha
http://www.vamban.com/womens-bill-moved-torn-to-shreds-in-rajya-sabha/
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http://www.vamban.com/jd-u-joins-sp-rjd-to-protest-womens-bill/
•85 Million Women Missing in India, China: UNDP
http://www.vamban.com/85-million-women-missing-in-india-china-undp/

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

BJP to oppose any proposal for autonomy to Kashmir
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Tuesday said his party will oppose any proposal for granting autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at a function here to mark 20 years of exodus of Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley, he said a solution to the Kashmir problem
should be found within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.

"We will oppose autonomy with full force. If such a proposal comes to
Parliament, we will be against it," he said.

Gadkari termed as "dangerous" the report of Justice Saghir Ahmad - who
headed the working group on Centre-State relations - recommending
giving autonomy to the state. The report was submitted to the Jammu
and Kashmir government last month.

The BJP chief blamed the Congress for the problems in Jammu and
Kashmir. "Congress has messed up things in the state," he said, adding
that the "mistakes" should not be repeated.

The function was organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/bjp-to-oppose-any-proposal-for-autonomy-to-kashmir-13998/

Dhumal ordered tap on Virbhadra Singh's phone, CD tells
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

SHIMLA - In another twist to the corruption cases against union Steel
Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a new audio
compact disc (CD) from an unknown source was circulated here Tuesday
in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is purportedly directing the
vigilance chief to tap the phones of the couple.


Two other CDs were also released here — one audio in which Dhumal was
heard talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar
and the other video in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parliamentarian Virender Kashyap was shown accepting some cash in
regard to granting permission to an educational institute in the
state.

In the alleged conversation recorded in the first CD, Director General
of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas asked Dhumal regarding Singh and his
wife's phone tapping. At this Dhumal replied: "Do it."

Manhas then said: "Yes, we will do it, we will do it. If the CID
(Criminal Investigation Department) is doing it, its staff will leak
it." Dhumal replied: "This is right."

Dhumal and Manhas allegedly also talked about some Rs.25 crore (Rs.250
million).

However, a senior police official said there was no proof of the
authenticity of the CD. "It is released when the vigilance is almost
ready to start within a month the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh
and his wife," he said.

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009,
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh
alleges misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when
he was the chief minister of the state in 1989.

Interestingly, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released
by Singh's political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007.

Meanwhile, Dhumal refuted the allegations in the new CD. He told IANS
on phone from Delhi Tuesday: "Right now I am not in the state. I have
not seen the CD and not even heard about it. I am not in a position to
comment on it."

"The government machinery is not involved in phone tapping of Singh
and his wife. It's just a white lie," he added.

The CD that showed BJP parliamentarian Virender Kashyap talking to
someone on the issue of granting permission to an educational
institute in the state was recorded April 17, 2009 when Kashyap was
only a party activist.

In the conversation, Kashyap was insisting and telling the person
sitting opposite to him to first complete the formalities and then
seek formal permission. The CD also showed Kashyap being offered some
cash, which he hesitantly accepted.

However, Kashyap was not available for comments.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/dhumal-ordered-tap-on-virbhadra-singhs-phone-cd-tells-13989/

Prosecution against Virbhadra likely within month: Police
By IANS
January 1st, 2010

SHIMLA - Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution
against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha
Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said
here Friday.

"We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against
Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month," Director
General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.

Regarding the questionnaires sent to the couple, Manhas said: "We got
the replies to the questionnaire. Both the questionnaires have about
25 questions."

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009, by
the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau under the Prevention of
Corruption Act.

The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his official position
and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in
1989.

According to police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD
released by Singh's political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.

In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on
the phone with former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer
Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his
wife and some industrialists.

Manhas said that four of the nine people identified in the CD are
dead.

"Four are dead out of the nine accused. It is still to be decided that
who is the main accused," the police official added.

Singh has already refuted the allegations, saying the state's ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to malign him.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/01/prosecution-against-virbhadra-likely-within-month-police-11083/

Revival of Friends of BJP
March 8th, 2010

I was part of a small team from Friends of BJP that was invited to
attend the BJP National Council meet in Indore in mid-Feb. It was
quite a gathering - over 5,000 people brought together from all over
the country.

Among the announcements made was that of the revival of Friends of
BJP.

Here is what Nitin Gadkari said in his Presidential Address: "We are
also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate organisation of
the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All patriotic citizens,
especially all young professionals who look forward to BJP as an
instrument of making India a resurgent republic are welcome to join
this forum."

We will be back with more details soon. My hope is that we can help
bring about a change in India's political and policy climate in the
coming years.

3 responses so far ↓

1 Santosh // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:29 am

Rajesh,
I was one of the individuals who wanted BJP voted back to power in
2004 because of what they achieved in their last term. And I firmly
believe that BJP was pro-reforms in their term.

But seeing what India has been able to achieve in last 6 odd years
shouldn't be undermined. Ofcourse, Congress isn't the reformist that
most urban Indians want and India has managed the growth because of
sheer efficiencies of private enterprise.
For what we have achieved in last 6 years, I don't go all out against
them. Today, I don't see any reason why BJP should be supported -
There is no great leader remaining whom we can trust to take our
country forward. They don't play the role of constructive opposition
at all. They find baseless arguments in blocking/ criticizing every
Congress move.

I fail to understand what is it that you see so strongly in BJP to go
& support them. I don't to vote for a government shouts from roof-top.
I want a clear plan of what they would do & who is the team that is at
work. Unfortunately, I don't see either.

2 Alok Mittal // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:17 am

What is really needed is not revival of Friends of BJP, but revival of
BJP itself. I think Congress has won a lot of erstwhile BJP supporters
over the past 6 years; and BJP has lost a lot of supporters over the
past 2 years. There is a critical distinction between the two, and the
latter can only be addressed by the BJP leadership itself.

3 Adarsh Jain // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm

Alok and Santosh,

I think for the future of the country there should be a worthy
opposition. After Nitin Gadkari became party president, I believe BJP
is ready for transformation and play the role of constructive
opposition till next election

http://emergic.org/2010/03/08/revival-of-friends-of-bjp/

India's women quota bill triggers uproar in parliament
Foreign 2010-03-08 17:23

NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) - An attempt by India's government to pass
legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament
provoked uproar on Monday as opposition politicians forced repeated
adjournments.

The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill,
which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes
to pass in the upper house on Monday after being presented on
International Women's Day.

The upper house was adjourned twice on Monday as politicians opposing
the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction
of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate.

The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but
several socialist parties oppose it.

They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for
women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly
by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious
minority Muslims.

"We are not anti-women but we want reservations for women hailing from
minority and backward classes first," Mulayam Singh Yadav, a leader of
the pro-Muslim Samajwadi (Socialist) party said outside parliament.

Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political
groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from
Muslim and low-caste communities.

Yadav said the bill was an attempt by the Congress and the BJP to
appease the rich and the influential upper class.

The controversial proposal to reserve 33 percent of seats, first
introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women's
membership in both houses of parliament where they now occupy about
one in 10 seats.

Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the
approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house after which
it will go before the lower house where it also requires a two-thirds
majority.

Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There
are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.

"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving
towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state
legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women's leadership
summit on Saturday.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India's
most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill,
saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.

It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and
passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last
week.

Political analysts said the government was testing the waters by
introducing it in the upper house first instead of the lower house,
where most proposed legislation is sent.

Some accused the government of playing politics by seeking to appease
women by proposing the legislation but without having any realistic
chance of it passing.

Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now
hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia
Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

Panchayats -- local governing bodies in towns and villages -- already
reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move
has given women greater status in their communities. (By Rupam Jain
Nair/ AFP)

MySinchew 2010.03.08

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/36074

Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Prime Minister is holding emergency meetings with his senior
ministers to discuss the Women's Bill and the impact of Lalu Prasad
and Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing they will withdraw their support to
this government. (Read & Watch: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to
govt)

Lalu and Mulayam have said the Women's Bill is being forced upon them
by the Congress, and that it does not protect the interest of Dalit
and Muslim women.

The Rajya Sabha is meant to vote on the bill today.

For the Women's Bill, the government is not worried about the numbers
because the Opposition - the BJP and the Left, along with smaller
parties, are in favour of the bill.

However, the Finance Bill has not yet been passed. And that's what the
government is worried about.

The UPA government believes that without Lalu and Mulayam's MPs, it
can still count on 274 votes in favour of Pranab Mukherjee's budget.
The number of votes required to pass it is 273. So the government's
margin is tiny. And that's what the BJP and Left will try to exploit.
Both have already attacked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the
budget, in particular, over the hike in petrol and diesel prices. The
government's key allies including the DMK and Mamata Banerjee have
also expressed their concern over the fuel hike, and the government's
new numbers weaken its position if it finds it must negotiate with
these allies.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/why-lalu-mulayam-exit-worries-government-17380.php

Women's Bill: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Congress-led UPA government finds itself in a spot. Set to table
and get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, it now
has to contend with the threat of withdrawal of support from two
traditional opponents of the Bill - the Samajwadi Party and the RJD.

Both parties have announced they are withdrawing support to the UPA
government over the Bill. While the government does not need their
support to pass this Bill, since the BJP and the Left will vote in
favour, it will find itself on an uncomfortable, wafer-thin majority
for other legislation, like the crucial Finance Bill, without the
buffer of the 22 Samajwadi Party MPs and 4 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha.
(Read: Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government)

Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav have said they oppose the Women's
Bill because it does not protect the interests of minorities and Other
Backward Castes.

The bill reserves 33% seats for women in Parliament and in state
assemblies.

"Reservation should be for Muslims and Dalits," said Mulayam Singh
Yadav.

"The government is trying to force the bill upon us. The Congress
does not listen to anyone. The bill must bring the Asli Bharat
forward...the Congress is leaving women and Muslims behind, " said
Lalu.

The government is in a huddle right now on what next steps should be.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding meetings with senior
colleagues like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary
Affairs Minsiter PK Bansal to evolve a strategy.

Not to press ahead with the Women's Bill today will mean a big loss of
face, especially given that the Bill is close to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi's heart and the many statements that she and other
Congress leaders and ministers have already made. But the party cannot
risk Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav actually carrying out
their threat and officially withdrawing support.

Along with the BSP, the two parties have already ensured that
Parliament proceedings are anything but smooth. As Lok Sabha opened in
the morning, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh rushed to the Well of the
House.

In the Rajya Sabha too, the SP and RJD disrupted Question Hour. Here
they demanded the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report first. (Read: Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill)

Both Houses reconvened at noon only to be adjourned again.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mulayam-lalu-to-withdraw-support-to-government-17373.php

Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill

Press Trust of India, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav have announced the withdrawal of
their outside support to the UPA government over the Women's
Reservation Bill.

The government is attempting history in the making, but the
proceedings have got off to a very rocky start. There was chaos in
both the houses when they opened on Monday morning.

Rajya Sabha:

The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecendented scenes leading to an
adjournment for the third time on Monday as determined SP, RJD, LJP
and BSP members entered the well of the House, ripped off mikes and
tore up papers in an attempt to stall the Women's Reservation Bill
from being taken up for consideration.

An attempt was made to snatch the Bill from the Chairman's table which
was prevented by marshals. However, they snatched some papers from the
Secretary General's table and tore them up.

Mr Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party, Mr Sabir Ali of LJP and Mr
Gangacharan Rajput of BSP along with other party members spearheaded
the stalling tactics. Some of them then got on the reporters' table in
the well of the House.

All members of various political parties were on their feet. Seeing
these antics many looked shocked.

The ruling Congress party members, especially women, were seen making
a protective ring around Law Minister M Veerappa Moily who will move
the Bill for consideration.

Shocked over these developments, the Chairman adjourned the House till
3 pm.

Earlier, the House was adjourned twice within minutes of assembling as
members of the SP, RJD, LJP, and BSP raised slogans from the well of
the House demanding implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report.

Lok Sabha:

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the third time on Monday afternoon
when SP, RJD and JD(U) members trooped into the well protesting the
Women's Reservation Bill in its present form.

When the House, which was earlier adjourned twice on the same issue,
reassembled at 2 pm, members of these parties led by RJD chief Lalu
Prasad, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav,
stormed the well shouting slogans.

As the slogan-shouting continued, Trinamool Congress members including
its chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, were seen singing the
famous song - "We shall overcome some day".

Other Trinamool members, including Minister of State for Health Dinesh
Trivedi, chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay and cine-star turned MP
Shatabdi Roy, were heard singing the song in the House.

As the din continued, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House
till 3 pm.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/rajya-sabha-adjourned-after-uproar-over-womens-bill-17368.php

BJP too to quit JAC?

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:43:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP is contemplating quitting the Telangana political
JAC and evolve its own programme of action to rouse public opinion in
favour of separate Telangana State.

The State leadership of the party wants to strengthen the party's base
at ground level in villages. It will have `Jai Telangana' slogan in
Telangana areas and `Jai Andhra' in Andhra districts.

The party's approach to Telangana that all legislators should resign
and force a constittutional crisis has changed after it encountered
opposition within the party. Those who opposed it argued that MLAs of
neither the Congress nor the TDP resigned.

This was the reason why these elements got together and ensured the
election of Kishan Reddy as the party's State president who too
subscribed to the idea and refused to resign. In such an event, the
point that is being discussed at length is why stay in the JAC when
the party is not in a position to honour its decisions (of quitting
the Assembly).

To make this easy for Kishan Reddy's supporters, the BJP National
Committee too expressed displeasure over the BJP continuing in the JAC
and wanted it to make an honourable exit from the panel so that it
would not be misconstrued by the people.

Already, the ABVP, which has an ideological affiliation with the BJP,
is carrying on the movement for Telangana without joining the JAC and
has already made a mark. The BJP wants to toe the same line so that it
will be able to preseve its identity and strengthen its base.

The Stare party leadership has asked the district units to organise
Telangana programmes in districts only in the name of the party and
will not have anything to do with the JAC. This apart, the JAC leaders
are not on good terms with the new chief of the State unit.

Comments

PEOPLE AND STUDENTS OF T-REGION REJECTED KCR/TRS & TRAITORS IN
TELANGANA CONGRESS FOR PUBLICITY STUNTS AND RESIGNATION DRAMAS AND KCR/
TRS MP NOT RESIGNED AGAINST THEIR OWN ADVISE TO OTHERS AND KCR
ATTENDING RAJ BHAVAN DINNER EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE WITH SRI KRISHNA'S
TOR- SEPARATE-T NOT FEASIBLE HAS GONE AGAINS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
TRS/KCR WILL REALISE THIS IN BYE-ELECTION RESULTS THAT IS WHY KCR/TRS
MP NOR RESIGNED.

By JAC-T= KCR/TRS+KO-DANDA ONLY.
3/8/2010 1:19:00 PM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+too+to+quit+JAC?&artid=FPykUG9SeSM=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

BJP demands bill on bifurcation

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:42:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP State Council has demanded that the Centre
introudce a bill in Parliament for bifurcation of the State.

The council, which met here yesterday, said in its political
resolution that the constitution of the Justice BN Srikrishna
Committee was intended to prolong the issue and saw no need for the
party to make a presentation to the Srirkrishna panel since it
beleived that the committee's purpose was other than formation of two
States.

"Bifurcation of the State is the only answer to backwardness of the
two regions,'' it said and criticised other parties for their
dichotomy on the issue.

By another resolution the council expressed concern over the
deteriroration of administration which led to increase in the prices
of essential commodities as well as breakdown of law and order.

The murder of Sri Vaishnavi in Vijayawada and the hooch tragedy in
East Godavari district were indicative of the breakdown of the law and
order machienry, the council said. It alleged that the State
Government had miserably failed to come to the rescue of people
affected by the unprecedented floods in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar,
Krishna and Guntur districts.

Though the Centre annoucned Rs 1,000 crore for mitigation of the
suffering of the flood-affected people, the funds had so far not been
transferred, it pointed out.

A resoultion said that the adminsitraion was in a state of suspended
animation with Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was asked to step into
the shoes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash,
being unable to perform.

By another resolution the party demanded that the State should take
immediate steps for controlling the prices of essential commodities
which have been going through the roof and supply power for nine hours
to the farm sector to save standing crops.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+demands+bill+on+bifurcation&artid=7oMMyEgPRtw=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

Lalu declares 'war' against women's Bill
TNN, Mar 8, 2010, 05.42am IST

Women's Bill: 'Conspiracy to eliminate minorities'PATNA: RJD chief
Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared he will fight tooth and nail against
women's reservation Bill. "Yuddh hoga (There would be a war)," he
thundered and added the OBC brigade will roll up sleeves against the
move.

Lalu said BJP and Congress are making a 'historical blunder' by
issuing a whip to their MPs to vote for the Bill in its present form.
"If they (Congress and BJP) think they will get women's votes, they
are mistaken. It's a male-dominated society (where women go by what
their menfolk say while voting). If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote
for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?"
he asked at a presser and added nowhere in the world women get
reservation in legislative bodies.

Even if it has to be given, there should be quota for deprived
sections within this reservation, Lalu said and added the faces of
women belonging to minority community, backward castes, Dalits and
tribals should be visible through this reservation. "The quota should
be for those who cannot enter the legislative bodies on their own," he
said.

By introducing the Bill, the RJD leader said, the Congress is trying
to divert people's attention from main issues like price rise,
unemployment, growing regionalism and threat to national security.
"The BJP and Congress want to get votes of Muslims, Dalits and OBCs,
but they do not want to safeguard their interests," he said.

Lalu hit out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for changing tack on
the issue. "Nitish is a `bahurupiya' (a master of disguise)," Lalu
said, recalling Nitish earlier gave a note of dissent as a member of
the parliamentary committee which looked into this issue.

Also, Nitish's party colleague and JD(U) national president Sharad
Yadav once declared he would consume poison if the women's reservation
Bill in its present form was introduced. "By advising Sharad to ensure
the passage of the Bill now, Nitish has shown his real face to the
Muslims, Dalits and OBCs," Lalu said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5656141.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lalu-declares-war-against-womens-Bill/articleshow/5656141.cms

. BJP, Justice Sagheer in agreement on Kashmir Accord
Working Group Report on Centre-State Relations-V

Syed Junaid Hashmi

JAMMU, Mar 7: The historical comment of former Prime Minister late
Indira Gandhi "The clock could not be put back in this manner" is
central theme of 'some kind of restoration of autonomy' recommended by
Justice Sagheer Panel on centre-state relations and clearly, in
contrast to vehement claims of ruling coalition.

The recommendation is in agreement with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
led union cabinet's decision on Autonomy resolution of Jammu and
Kashmir on July 5, 2000. The then union cabinet while rejecting
autonomy resolution of then National Conference (NC) led government in
Jammu and Kashmir had accepted that there is a clear case for
devolution of more financial and administrative powers and functions
to the states alongside taking suitable steps to ensure harmonious
centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.

Interestingly, the union cabinet had then rejected autonomy resolution
by referring to Kashmir accord, more commonly known as Indira-Sheikh
Accord. It had said that issue of restoring constitutional situation
in Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 position had been discussed in
detail by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah with former Prime Minister
late Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. The decision had noted that agreement
signed after these negotiations had affirmed that provisions of the
Constitution of India already applied to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.

Justice (Retd) Sagheer in his report on Pages 93 and 94 has referred
to speech of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in the
parliament on February 24, 1975 in which she had remarked, "The
constitutional relationship between state of Jammu and Kashmir and the
union will continue as it has been and extension of further provisions
of constitution to the state will continue to be governed by procedure
prescribed in Article 370."

Justice Sagheer further notes, "Sheikh Abdullah was very anxious that
to start with, the constitutional relationship between the state and
the centre should be as it was in 1953 when he was in power. It was
explained to him that the clock could not be put back in this manner.
Mirza Afzal Beg pressed for transfer of provisions relating to
fundamental rights to state constitution, removal of the supervision
and control of Election Commission of India over elections to the
state legislature and the modification of Article 356 to require the
state government's concurrence before imposing president's rule in the
state."

Late Indira Gandhi while outrightly rejecting these demands had said,
"It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must
say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on
these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusion." After this,
Justice (Retd) Sagheer has referred to clause 3 and 4 of the Kashmir
Accord.
The panel while referring these two clauses has concluded that if any
provision of the constitution of India had been applied to the state
of Jammu and Kashmir without adaptations and modifications, then such
modifications are unalterable. But with respect to provisions applied
with adaptations and modifications, it was agreed that they can be
altered or repealed by an order of President under Article 370 but
each individual proposal in this behalf would be considered on its
merits;

"With a view to assuring freedom to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
have its own legislation on matters like welfare measures cultural
matters, social security, personal law and procedural laws, in a
manner suited to the special conditions in the State, it is agreed
that the State Government can review the laws made by Parliament or
extended to the State after 1953 on any matter related to the
Concurrent List and may decide which of them, in its opinion, needs
amendment or repeal. Thereafter, appropriate steps may be taken under
Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The grant of President's
assent to such legislation would be sympathetically considered,"
Justice Sagheer has noted from the Kashmir Accord as relevant to
present discourse on autonomy.

Concluding debate on autonomy, Justice Sagheer Ahmed has referred to a
Supreme Court decision in Sampat Prakash vs. State of Jammu and
Kashmir in which it was held that inspite of the dissolution of
constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional
provisions could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir with
such adaptations and modifications as the president may deem fit. It
is after these referrals that Justice Sagheer has recommended for
examining the question of autonomy in the light of Kashmir Accord.

Interestingly, the ruling coalition through 10 page recommendatory
notes of report had claimed that Justice Sagheer had recommended what
National Conference (NC) led government had proposed central
government through a resolution properly passed and vetted by more
than 60 members of state legislative assembly on June 26, 2000. The
resolution which was rejected by the then BJP led NDA government on
July 5, 2000.

[Kashmir Times]

Related news

:. Saghir reports to Omar, 24 Dec 2009
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261696873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Webmaster

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268044174&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

...and I am Sid Harth


== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 8:45 am
From: chhotemianinshallah


COLUMN

Between despair and hope
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Rae Bareli court's discharge of L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya
demolition case is a mockery of justice, but the Supreme Court's
intervention in the Best Bakery matter revives hopes that the Indian
legal system might prevail in bringing the perpetrators of communal
hate crimes to book.

THE waywardness of India's police and justice delivery systems has few
parallels when it comes to punishing communal offences and hate
crimes. What began as a devious process of manipulation of the first
information reports in the Babri mosque demolition case, and the
totally illegitimate dropping of conspiracy charges against the
principal accused, turned into a grotesque parody of justice on
September 19 when the Special Court of Magistrate Vinay Kumar Singh in
Rae Bareli framed charges against seven persons, including Murli
Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and other Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leaders, but discharged Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
Advani is the man who spearheaded, planned and ideologically inspired
the raucous agitation that led to the razing of the mosque on December
6, 1992.

Precisely what charges are framed against the remaining seven will be
only known on October 10. The list of offences filed by the CBI under
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is not long: Section 147 (rioting), 149
(committing a crime), 153A and 153B (spreading communal hatred) and
505 (creating ill will). But it is clear that the indictment will not
include the all-important charge of criminal conspiracy, nor offences
under Sections 295 and 295A of the IPC (defiling places of worship and
indulging in acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any
class).

Thus, the perpetrators of one of the worst hate crimes in India's
history - who pulled down a monument which had become a symbol of
pluralism - will not even stand trial for destroying a mosque and
exploiting communal hatred, which they so clearly did.

This is bad enough. What is downright outrageous is that Advani, who
was the most important leader of the anti-Babri movement which the BJP
took over in the late 1980s, and who conducted the infamous Somnath-to-
Ayodhya rath yatra and played a direct, preponderant role in the
events leading to December 6, has been let off the hook. The
ostensible reason made public for this is the curious argument that
the CBI cited two conflicting testimonies, one of which claimed that
Advani tried to calm down the restive crowd (while the other said he
did nothing to restrain leaders like Uma Bharati and Sadhvi
Ritambhara, with whom he shared the dais who made extremely
inflammatory speeches).

Basing himself on this claimed contradiction, the Magistrate gave
Advani the "benefit of the doubt". Strangely, he cited the Supreme
Court's ruling in the Praful Kumar Samal case, that if the scales of
evidence presented against the accused during a trial are "even" then
that is a fit ground for acquittal. This conforms to the canonical
rule that a person must be considered innocent until proved guilty.

Logically, this rationale can come into effect only at the conclusion
of a trial, not before it, at the stage of framing charges. It does
not stand to reason that a person against whom there is weighty prima
facie evidence should be simply let off. The Supreme Court had said:
"If an element of grave suspicion is there and the accused has
explained the doubts then he can be discharged." Advani manifestly did
not explain away any "doubts".

The Magistrate has erred in exonerating Advani. Independent
investigations have turned up overwhelming evidence of Advani's
pivotal role in the processes and events that led to the demolition,
including the happenings of December 6. The Citizens' Tribunal on
Ayodhya, comprising Justices O. Chinappa Reddy, D.A. Desai and D.S.
Tewatia documented Advani's role at length in its Report of the
Inquiry Commission (July 1993) and in the Judgement and
Recommendations (December 1993), both published by the Tribunal (K-14
Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110016).

These show that Advani was central to the build-up to the events of
December 1992 - from numerous kar sevas, the 1990 rath yatra, and
manipulation of the State government (then under the BJP's Kalyan
Singh), to misleading the courts, and organising crucial coordination
meetings of the Sangh combine. The intention to raze the mosque was
repeatedly and unambiguously stressed during these events. The very
purpose of the rath yatra was to kindle "Hindu pride" and "get even"
with history - of "conquest and humiliation" of the Hindus by
"foreigners". The main slogans of the yatra were provocative: "there
are only two places for Muslims - Pakistan or kabristan
(graveyard))".

The Inquiry Commission recorded detailed testimony of eyewitnesses to
show that plans for December 6 were launched by the BJP-VHP-Bajrang
Dal with a lalkar saptah starting November 29. By December 2, 90,000
kar sevaks had gathered at Ayodhya. By December 3, they numbered
150,000. On December 5, Advani addressed a public meeting in Lucknow
and was to go to Varanasi, reaching Ayodhya/Faizabad on December 5.
He, however, altered his plans so as to reach Faizabad to join an all-
important closed-door meeting at Vinay Katiyar's house, where the
ultimate, detailed, nuts-and-bolts plans for December 6 were
finalised.

Among those present were the RSS' H.V. Seshadri and K.S. Sudershan,
the VHP's Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and Acharya Dharmendra, the
Shiv Sena's Moreshwar Save, and the BJP's Pramod Mahajan. Meanwhile, a
rehearsal of the demolition operation took place the same day near the
Babri mosque.

According to the Commission, on December 6, Advani arrived at the site
at the same time as Joshi (10-30 a.m.). He, among others, addressed
the kar sevaks. His speech was intemperate. Meanwhile, some kar sevaks
had breached the security cordon and were in a highly excited state.
At 11-30 a.m., Uma Bharati made a highly inflammatory speech,
including slogans "tel lagao Dabar ka, naam mitao Babar ka", "Katue
kate jayenge, Ram-Ram chillayenge", and so on.

At 11-45, Advani reportedly announced, "We don't need bulldozers to
pull down the mosque; [we can do it manually by removing chunks of its
wall]". The assault on the mosque began. Advani then ensured that the
demolition would continue and be completed without the intervention of
Central paramilitary forces stationed nearby. At 3-15 p.m., he urged
kar sevaks "to block all entry points to Ayodhya to prevent Central
forces from entering, and warned the armed forces not to touch the kar
sevaks." The eight accused were present at the site for a full seven
hours and made no gesture to distance themselves from the destructive
and illegal actions of the day.

The December 6 events were videographed and photographed by numerous
journalists, by Indian and foreign TV channels and, above all, by the
Intelligence Bureau, which reportedly has nine hours of tapes.
(Curiously, the CBI did not present all of these to the special
court).

Yet, the Sangh Parivar has launched a disinformation campaign which
claims that Advani did his best to restrain the kar sevaks and shed
tears at the demolition! It is relevant to ask if these were tears of
sorrow or of joy: Advani has consistently described the anti-Babri
agitation as a "national" movement for Hindu self-assertion, which
finally removed what he called the "ocular" insult in the form of the
mosque.

The disinformation and evasion of responsibility speaks of monumental
cowardice on the part of Advani & Co. They revelled in the
destruction, and hugged one another in exultation and mutual
congratulation.

The BJP rode to political power at the Centre on the anti-Babri Masjid
movement. In all honesty, its leaders must face trial and declare
either that they stand by their role or that they regret and repent it
and apologise. They cannot both take credit for the act and attribute
its planning and execution to mysterious, unknown and unknowable
forces - as Sangh ideologue K.R. Malkani once did, by blaming the
CIA.

There was a clearly identifiable human agency behind December 6: the
BJP-VHP-RSS-Bajrang Dal-Shiv Sena's top leadership, including Advani
and Joshi. But cowardice is a Sangh characteristic. Following Gandhi's
assassination, the RSS was banned. Thousands of its members quickly
stopped participating in its activities and claimed they were never
its members.

The Rae Bareli order is odious. But Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided not to appeal against it - on the
grounds that "I am a firm believer in the judiciary and of the view
that the court verdict on Ayodhya should be acceptable to all ... I
welcome the court's decision and have nothing more to say ... " Amar
Singh has gone even further to say that the government cannot appeal
against it. This strengthens the suspicions of a secret collusive deal
between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav has
decided to accept the BJP's Kesarinath Tripathi as Speaker and not to
poach on the party's MLAs. This makes the whole matter all the more
sordid. It sets back hopes of a just trial and further shakes the
public's confidence in India's justice delivery system.

IN contrast to this comes the Supreme Court's intervention in the Best
Bakery case. Through two hearings on September 12 and 19, the court
effectively began piloting and guiding the Gujarat government in its
handling of the consequences of a "fast-track" special court's
judgment exonerating all the accused for the burning of 14 Muslims.
While questioning Gujarat's Chief Secretary and Director-General of
Police directly, Chief Justice V.N. Khare obtained an assurance that
Gujarat's Advocate-General would now take full charge of the matter.
He would redraft the appeal against the "fast-track" court verdict.

The Supreme Court tried to establish three things: the Best Bakery
investigation was faulty because 37 of the 43 witnesses turned
hostile; there was miscarriage of justice; and there is a case for re-
trial of the accused outside Gujarat. The Gujarat government did admit
that there was miscarriage of justice and there is a case for re-trial
(although that should not be outside Gujarat). It also claimed the
investigation was not faulty. However, the Supreme Court asked it to
file an affidavit on October 9 to say on what lines its appeal would
be drafted. This suggests close supervision or stewardship of the
process of litigation.

Welcome as this intervention is, the Court needs to go beyond the Best
Bakery case and look at the horrendous crimes committed during the
Gujarat pogrom in their totality. Crimes Against Humanity, the report
of the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal, comprising eminent jurists and
scholars, concluded, after examining 2,094 statements and 1,500
witnesses, that the pogrom that lasted several weeks amounted to
genocide in the strict sense of the term. The pattern of violence
shows: selective targeting of Muslims, inhuman forms of brutality,
military precision and planning, and use of Hindu religious symbols.
This was planned, sustained and prolonged through hate speech,
intimidation and terror by the RSS, the BJP and the VHP-Bajrang Dal,
with the complicity and participation of policemen and bureaucrats,
encouraged by Narendra Modi.

It is clear that Muslims were targeted not because they did this or
that act, but simply because they were Muslims. The killer mobs'
declared intention, as revealed by their own slogans, was to
liquidate, mentally harm, humiliate and subjugate Muslims and "destroy
them", "wipe them out from Gujarat", and cleanse the state of Islam.
The physical violence directed against Muslims, the calculated
destruction of the economic basis of their survival, and sexual
assaults against Muslim women as an instrument of terror, all point to
genocide.

Article II of the International Convention on Genocide, 1948 defines
genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group" like: "(a) killing [its] members; (b) causing [them]
serious bodily or mental harm; (c) deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions ... calculated to bring about its physical
destruction... ; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; (e) forcibly transferring [its] children ... to
another group."

The Gujarat pogrom unambiguously fits the definition. As a signatory
to the Convention, India is obliged to punish the perpetrators of
genocide through a competent court. This demands a special independent
National Tribunal for hate crimes and genocide. This alone can meet
the ends of justice.

For this to happen, we must see the numerous cases of violence not as
discrete acts, but in their totality as genocide. This sui generis
process of litigation will need special agencies for investigation and
prosecution as well as victim protection. It would be a historic
tragedy if the Indian state once again fails to bring the perpetrators
of hate crimes to book.

Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2020/stories/20031010005312500.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 16 :: No. 04 :: Feb. 13 - 26, 1999

COVER STORY
A bitter aftermath

The pattern set in the aftermath of the Staines killing shows that
there are enough voices in positions of authority willing to justify
heinous crimes committed in the name of religion.

SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN

SENSITIVITY to public opinion was at a premium in the aftermath of the
grisly murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his
two young boys by a lynch mob in Orissa on January 23. Union Home
Minister L.K. Advani put on record his strong condemnation of the
event, as did Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, the latter
describing it as a "crime against humanity". But for each such
concession to the demands of rectitude, there was a gesture that
tended to work to the contrary purpose. One such act was Advani's
preemptive exculpation of the Bajrang Dal - his claim that he had
authoritative information that the organisation was not involved in
the crime. Another was BJP president Kushabhau Thakre's assertion that
Christian missionaries were inviting trouble through their activities.
He said: "I appeal to the missionaries that they are sitting on a
stack of hay. They better be careful."

Thakre's remarks conformed to a pattern of morally dubious conduct by
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organisations
after the Staines murder. In what could only be construed as a gross
act of dishonouring the dead, Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice-president
Giriraj Kishore asserted that the work of Graham Staines amidst
leprosy sufferers was a facade, since there were no such people within
a wide radius of where he lived and worked. As an intervention in an
emotionally fraught situation, this was only slightly less coarse than
that of Hindu Jagran Manch's Orissa unit president Subhash Chouhan. He
said that Graham Staines was killed because he was engaged in
proselytisation. The pattern set in the aftermath of the killing was
very clear. Adherents to the RSS worldview who happen to be in the
Government felt obliged to issue deprecatory noises. But those outside
the Government felt few such restraints.

EASTERN PRESS AGENCY
Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines with wife
Glade and children Philip, Esther and Timothy, in a picture from the
family album.

A three-member team of Cabinet Ministers visited the site of the
murder as part of the Government's crisis management strategy. Prior
to his departure to the spot, Union Minister for Steel and Mines
Naveen Patnaik made it clear that he looked at the event through the
miasma of his antagonism to the Orissa unit of the Congress(I).
Defence Minister George Fernandes and Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi chose a strategy of prudence in advance
of their visit - the former because he is a key member of the BJP-led
Government's crisis management effort and the latter because of his
well-advertised proximity to hardline elements in the RSS.

The ministerial trio spent one hour at the scene of the crime. On its
return to Delhi, the team issued a statement which ascribed
responsibility for the crime to an "international conspiracy" by
"forces which would like this Government to go". If this effectively
ruled out the culpability of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates, the
team also urged that a judicial commission of inquiry be constituted
to look into the murder in order to uncover the conspiracy.

Shortly afterwards the Government announced, on the advice of the
Chief Justice of India, that a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court,
Justice D.P. Wadhwa, had been appointed as a one-man commission of
inquiry into the Staines killing. Union Minister for Information and
Broadcasting and Cabinet spokesman Pramod Mahajan said that the
inquiry report would be completed by April, so that it could be placed
in Parliament in its next session.

The Director-General for Investigations in the National Human Rights
Commission, D.R. Karthikeyan, visited the scene of the crime. His
report is expected to be submitted by the middle of February, though
with the appointment of the judicial commission it could become an
input for the broader inquiry. Certain suggestions that he made in the
context of the local police investigation, such as entrusting it to
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the State police and
putting an officer of the rank of Superintendent in charge of it, have
been accepted.

A two-member team from the National Commission on Minorities
comprising James Massey and N. Neminath also went to the site. Its
report is also expected to be an important input into the inquiries of
the judicial commission.

AP
During their visit to Manoharpur village in Orissa a few days after
the murder of Graham Stewart Staines and his sons, members of the
Cabinet team, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Human Resource
Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister for Steel and
Mines Naveen Patnaik, make inquiries.

IN the midst of these exertions, the ambivalence of official
utterances continues to cause disquiet. It is well known that the
Bajrang Dal - as in the case of most organisations in the RSS
constellation - does not maintain membership rolls. Established in
1984, just when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was beginning to take
shape in the strategies of the RSS, the Bajrang Dal honed its
agitational and inflammatory skills in the lethal campaign to bring
down the mosque in Ayodhya. The slogans it crafted as part of this
campaign still ring with menace and were often chanted by the riotous
mobs which took a heavy toll of human life during the six years
leading up to the demolition.

Many modern legal systems have a category of offence known as "hate
speech". Slogans and declamations that tend to engender a sense of
antipathy towards any group of people are an offence in themselves.
And if they are issued in close temporal or spatial connection with
actual incidents of violence against these groups, a direct
association is drawn. The onus is then on those who raise the
inflammatory slogans to prove that there is no connection with the
actual act of violence.

By this reasonable benchmark, the BJP spokesmen who have, at every
juncture since the cycle of anti-Christian violence began, exerted
themselves in the cause of strife rather than harmony bear a share of
the blame for the Staines killing. And their conspicuous lack of
remorse after the event has certainly contributed to the sustenance of
an atmosphere of violence. This has been most recently exemplified in
the alleged gang-rape of a Catholic nun on February 3 in Mayurbhanj
district in Orissa. Heinous crimes have been justified by the supposed
sense of rage at the incursions of alien religions into what is deemed
to be Hindu territory. For the BJP leaders who today represent
governmental authority, this has concurrently become an alibi for a
complete abdication of responsibility.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1604/16040220.htm

Volume 24 - Issue 08 :: Apr. 21-May. 04, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COLUMN

Politics of intimidation
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to browbeat the Election
Commission and its critics on the anti-Muslim CD issue.

SUBIR ROY

BJP State president Kesri Nath Tripathi with senior leader Lalji
Tandon in Lucknow on March 30.

NO Indian political formation can even remotely match the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) when it comes to violating norms of political
decency, defying the law, and pursuing an outrageously divisive and
sectarian agenda. The latest instance is its release on April 3 of a
viciously anti-Muslim compact disc (CD) entitled Bharat ki Pukar (the
call of India) as part of its campaign material for the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections.

The BJP has disowned the CD and feigned ignorance of how it got to be
commissioned, written, approved and released — without sincerely
apologising for it. Worse, it has tried to turn the tables on a
constitutional authority, the Election Commission, as well as its
political opponents. It has also used threats and intimidation to
resist reasonable pressure to play by the ground rules of electoral
politics.

Even more disgracefully for the Indian political system, the BJP has
for all practical purposes got away with its offensive conduct. As
this is being written, during the third round of polling in the seven-
phase U.P. elections, it seems highly unlikely that the BJP will be
made to pay politically for its defiance of the prohibition against
using hate speech to win votes, itself a crime against democracy.

The Election Commission issued the BJP a notice asking the party to
explain why it should not be punished under the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 and its Model Code of Conduct, which was in force
when the CD was released. But the BJP, true to type, launched a
counter-offensive and tried to divert attention from this central
issue by demanding that Naveen Chawla, one of the Election
Commissioners, recuse himself from hearing its case. It took this
secondary issue to the Supreme Court on April 13, which has deferred
its hearing to May 8.

Regrettably, the BJP has thus succeeded in getting any resolution of
the issues raised by the CD postponed until it ceases to matter for
the all-important election campaign in U.P.

Now, it can hardly be disputed that the CD is flagrantly anti-Muslim.
It perversely portrays all Muslims as anti-Hindu and anti-national.
They are depicted as duplicitous devils: they trick Hindus into
selling them cows by pretending they will look after them, only to
butcher them in a gory way. They oppress their own women and turn them
into mere reproductive machines - so as to change India's demographic
balance.

The CD shows Muslim men abducting innocent Hindu girls and eloping
with them - only to convert them forcibly. (The effect of this was
reinforced in real life by the systematic hounding of mixed couples
from Bhopal and elsewhere, and by orchestrated "protests" against
their marriage, including a typical Hindutva-style attack on a Star
News studio in Mumbai.)

The CD was clearly calculated to incite hatred against a religious
community, divide citizens, and provoke a militant reaction - probably
with a view to triggering a Hindu-communal backlash. There is nothing
vague or unambiguous of its purpose: it is to win votes in U.P., where
the BJP faces a double-or-nothing prospect.

It simply will not do for the BJP to pretend that the CD was
unauthorised and produced by a junior-level "worker" without prior
approval by the party's top leaders, including Lalji Tandon and State
unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi. According to Virendra Singh,
director of the Bulandshehr-based Fakira Films, which produced the CD,
the State BJP leadership was consulted "at every stage of the writing
of the CD" and whenever the script was "modified... and fine-tuned...
" This stands to reason. Withdrawing the CD cannot mitigate the
original offence because the disc is in circulation and has been
viewed by large numbers of people - in excerpts aired on television,
as well as original copies.

V.V. KRISHNAN

The controversial CD.

Prima facie, there is an irrefutable case against the BJP for
violating the election law in a depraved manner and for offending
Sections of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to spreading hatred
against a particular group or using appeals to religious identity and
which prohibit and punish the use of inflammatory communal material.

The Election Commission was not only right to issue a notice to the
BJP, it was duty-bound to act against it. Logically, such action can
take many forms: publicly reprimanding the BJP, imposing a hefty fine,
and derecognising it at least so far as the use of the lotus symbol is
concerned. The E.C. is not merely meant to disqualify a candidate in
retrospect for communal propaganda. Article 324 of the Constitution
gives it a broad mandate, which includes preventing, precluding and
punishing the use of such propaganda during elections.

The "retrospective" argument just does not stand up to scrutiny. The
E.C.'s core job is to do all it can to prohibit effectively the use of
unfair electoral practices. That is why it is empowered to requisition
police and paramilitary forces, transfer and appoint civil servants,
and set rules for the conduct of the electoral process in its minutest
details.

Implicit in, and central to, the E.C.'s function as a statutory
authority is preventive and pre-emptive action so as to guard the
sanctity of elections. To use an analogy, its principal task is not to
punish arsonists but to prevent fires, which vitiate the selection of
the people's representatives - a process vital and indispensable to
democracy. The E.C. would be perfectly within its powers to demand an
explicit, binding commitment from any political party that it will not
use communal means of canvassing electoral support, a breach of which
would automatically entail disqualification and derecognition.

The case for doing so is especially strong because only last December,
the BJP officially released a CD similar to the April avatar. This was
done during its National Council meeting in Lucknow, where the CD
featured as part of the press kit. The BJP fully owns and stands by
this CD. It cannot claim innocence about its cousin/derivative.

It has since produced equally obnoxious advertisements questioning the
patriotic intentions of Muslims through the caption: Kya inka irada
Pak hai? (Are their intentions pure). Several of its top leaders,
including its chief ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh, have publicly
defended their content as "truthful".

The plain truth is that the BJP has tried to browbeat its opponents -
by raising a diversionary issue and by resorting to the melodramatic
(but mercifully aborted) tactic of courting arrest and launching a
self-righteous protest agitation against the E.C.'s notice. (It is
another matter that it also put up a dummy candidate in Tandon's
constituency - his own son - in case the U.P. BJP's topmost leader
faces punitive action.)

This is not the first time that the BJP has resorted to bluff and
bluster, by threatening a "mass agitation", by pretending that any
E.C. action against it would amount to an "electoral emergency", and
by creating a climate of fear. This is a familiar tactic. It takes
recourse to majoritarianism and arouses concern that should a Hindutva
force be even brought to book, the consequences in the form of
disruption of order would be unacceptable.

The BJP did exactly this after the Babri Masjid was demolished in
December 1992, when it prevailed upon the Centre to allow the patently
illegal makeshift Ram-Lala temple built on its rubble to remain.
Indeed, even before that ghastly episode, our courts were reluctant to
take pre-emptive action except of a tokenist variety against it. So
was the government, which retreated each time the BJP adopted an
aggressive posture.

Here too, the fear of a "majoritarian backlash" trumped all
considerations of constitutional propriety, defence of secularism and
plain legality. Since December 1992, no government has dared to assert
the law of the land. Nor have the demolition's planners and
perpetrators been brought to book.

A similar fear gripped the Establishment after the Gujarat pogrom. The
Centre failed to dismiss the BJP-ruled State government although it
had caused, and continued to preside over, a total breakdown of all
constitutional order: even High Court judges and senior police
officers had to flee their homes in fear. The Opposition too failed to
mount enough pressure on the Centre to impose President's Rule, for
which there has never been, and could not have been, a fitter case.

Worse, elections were allowed to be held while a whole community had
been terrorised, democratic governance had collapsed, and free and
fair canvassing, polling and exercise of rational choices had become
impossible — given the continuing harassment and intimidation of
Muslims, inflamed Hindu-communal sentiments, the BJP-VHP's (Vishwa
Hindu Parishad) goonda raj, and the prevalence of a generalised
climate of fear.

All that the E.C.'s initial and salutary intervention in Gujarat
resulted in was postponement of the elections by a few months - when
the obvious remedy was President's Rule, followed by full return to
normalcy and systematic prosecution of the pogrom's perpetrators. The
Supreme Court's off-the-cuff pronouncements indicating its opposition
to deferring elections did not help.

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami flanked by Election
Commissioners S.Y. Quraishi and Naveen Chawla, in New Delhi.

The Establishment, in effect, has repeatedly permitted the BJP to hold
and exercise a veto over vital political processes, exercise of police
and prosecution powers, and the running of the administration in
crisis situations such that it would be suborned by the forces of
Hindu communalism.

This does not argue that the Indian government/Establishment has
turned actively communal over the years, only that it has made
deplorable compromises with Hindu communalists or passively accepted
that they deserve to be treated differently from other communalists,
as well as secularists. It is both noteworthy and shameful that the
worst abuses of freedom and the most ferocious attacks on democracy,
secularism and the rule of law in India's recent history have occurred
in situations where Hindu communalism was ascendant or rampant.

Similarly, the Establishment has allowed the BJP and its associates
virtual veto power on a number of policies, especially those
pertaining to religion and politics, to Kashmir, to relations with
Pakistan and other neighbours, and to defence and national security.
BJP leaders have arrogantly begun to assert such "primacy". Three
years ago, L.K. Advani claimed: "The BJP alone can find solutions to
our problems with Pakistan because Hindus will never think whatever we
have done is a sell-out."

The underlying assumption seems to be that by virtue of being
majoritarian or Hindu-communal, the BJP or the Sangh Parivar is a more
authentic representative of Indian opinion than other political
currents or parties. Nothing could be more false. Looked at
historically, the BJP has been a minority current in Indian politics
until the 1990s. Even at its peak, it has never commanded more than a
quarter of the national vote.

Even more important, the assumption is dangerously misguided and
unbecoming of a society and state that aspires to be secular by
drawing a line of basic demarcation between religion and politics. It
simply cannot accord primacy to a particular religious group by virtue
of its large numbers.

This situation must be remedied. That can only happen when progressive
political opinion and civil society pressure is mounted on the
Establishment so that it stands up to the bullying tactics of the
majoritarian communalists. One must hope that the E.C. will set a
positive example in the CD case.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2408/stories/20070504002810800.htm

Volume 17 - Issue 13, June 24 - July 07, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COMMUNALISM

An assault on Christians

Emboldened by the weak response of governments to attacks against
Christian places of worship, the affiliates of the Sangh Parivar
unleash a new wave of terror against the community.

PARVATHI MENON
in Bangalore

EVER since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance
government assumed power at the Centre, there has been a low-intensity
war against Christians in India, especially nuns and priests, by
groups and organisations loyal to the Sangh Par ivar. A wave of
attacks against Christian evangelists and places of worship through
1998 culminated in the murder of the Australian missionary Graham
Staines and his two sons on January 23, 1999. Dara Singh, a Hindutva
fanatic with links to the Sangh Par ivar, has been arrested in that
connection. A second wave of terror against Christian missionaries,
that extends now to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh, has culminated this June in a series of bomb blasts in
churches in Ka rnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

SHERWIN CRASTO/AP
During a peace march in Mumbai on June 17, Christian priests carry a
portrait of Brother George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in
Mathura.

The bombs that went off in churches in the towns of Vasco in Goa, Wadi
in Karnataka, and Ongole and Tadepalligudem in Andhra Pradesh, point
to a qualitatively new phase in the campaign of organised violence
against Christians in the country. Although the identity of the forces
behind the blasts is yet to be established, the nature of the attacks,
their target and timing, point the finger of suspicion at the Sangh
Parivar. In fact, the month of May alone saw two bomb attacks in
Andhra Pradesh; the first in Machlipatnam where 30 persons were
injured in a bomb blast at a prayer meeting on May 21, and another in
Vikarabad where an explosive device planted in a church was
fortunately defused in time. The simultaneous bomb blasts in the four
towns suggest th at the perpetrators have been emboldened by what has
been seen as a weak and non-serious state response to the terror
campaign so far.

At 6 a.m. on June 8, a bomb exploded on the precincts of the St. Ann
Catholic Church in the industrial town of Wadi in Gulbarga, shattering
glass panes. A second blast occurred at 9 a.m. after the police had
reached the spot, surveyed the area and recove red residual material
of the earlier blast. When a car parked in the church precincts was
moved, a tin box was found protruding from the ground. But it exploded
before the bomb disposal squad could defuse it. One person was injured
in the blast. Wadi has a Christian population of about 80 families.

Around the same time a blast at the St. Andrews Church in Vasco in
south Goa shattered windowpanes and twisted grills out of shape. At
8-15 a.m. that day, the Gewett Memorial Baptist Church in Ongole was
the scene of a bomb blast which because it took pl ace after the
morning service, only injured three persons. A bomb went off at the
Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West Godavari
district, around the same time.

The police have already established certain significant facts with
regard to the blasts. "We are now certain that the same group of
conspirators were behind all the three blasts," C. Dinakaran, Director-
General of Police, Karnataka, told Frontline . In all the cases, he
said, the timing device and the detonators used were of the same type.
While in Andhra Pradesh the explosive had a plastic casing, in Goa and
Karnataka the explosives were encased in tin. The bombs were placed,
in all the cases, ne ar the gates or windows of the church. Gelatine,
an explosive commonly used for blasting in the stone quarries and
cement factories of Gulbarga in Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh was the
raw material used. "The other significant fact is that all the towns
have railway stations and we suspect that this may have determined the
choice of place. The conspirators possibly took trains from one place
to another," said Dinakaran.

K. RAMESH BABU
Inside the Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West
Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which was damaged in a bomb blast
on June 8.

THE serial blast mark a new phase in the continuing two-year-long
violence against the Christian community in the country. The fact of a
conspiracy is now clearly established. This points not only to careful
and coordinated planning, but also to new leve ls and strategies of
planned violence suggestive of a deadly seriousness of purpose. No
longer need mobs be mobilised in the destruction of places of
Christian worship as in the past. The terrorism of the bomb gives the
criminal a degree of invisibility, and widens the range of attack. The
serial bombs were in the nature of a message of intimidation, not just
to those who work for Christian organisations but to Church
congregations, from prayer meetings to Sunday school gatherings. With
the perpetrators of the crime distanced from the scene of the crime,
it is much easier for a compliant state machinery to give them
protection. The fear of indiscriminate strikes anywhere and at any
time has already created a sense of panic amongst Christians. After
all , ifa bomb can be planted in a town as innocuous as Wadi, it could
happen anywhere in the country.

"I read in all this a pattern of violence. These were similar
explosive devices that were used, " Fr. Dr.H.R. Donald De Souza,
deputy secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India
told Frontline. "We suspect an organised movement b y fundamentalist
groups who have been emboldened by the inaction of the government," he
added.

The serial blasts give the lie to the theory of 'secular violence'
that the BJP and the government it heads have put out regarding the
recent attacks on minorities in different parts of the country.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the government held t hat the
innumerable acts of violence against members of the Christian
community, in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and elsewhere, was not communally
motivated but were incidents of "dacoity and loot" by "criminal
gangs".

According to the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR),
there have been 35 recorded anti-Christian crimes between January and
June this year. The most recent of these was the murder of Brother
George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in the Paulus Memorial
School in Navada, Mathura, in U.P. on June 7. Within days of this
incident, a group of nuns were attacked in Mathura by a couple of
scooter-borne assailants. In the case of George Kuzhikandam, U.P.
Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta ins isted that money was the motive
behind the murder. "The BJP and the State government reach conclusions
even before the police start investigation," John Dayal, national
convener of the UCFHR said. "Why would a gang of thugs choose to kill
a poor priest i n his school during the holidays ? Or attack nuns who
run a convent school that charges the lowest fees in the area?" Dayal
said that the U.P. Police had promised to post police units at
Christian institutions but these were soon withdrawn. "A police out
post was stationed at the nuns' ashram in Agra. They proved more of a
nuisance as they insisted on being fed and looked after, and were in
any case taken off duty a few days later!" The U.P. government's stand
on the attacks received support from an unexpected quarter. The
National Minorities Commission (NMC) sent an investigative team to the
Agra-Mathura region and its report upheld the official view that the
cases of physical viol ence and murder were committed by anti-social
elements. "The NMC report was prepared by nominees of the present
government. So it is not surprising that they arrived at the
conclusion they did,"said Fr. Donald De Souza. "A group of Christian
parliamentar ians led by P.C. Thomas conducted another enquiry and on
the basis of the same evidence wholly disagreed with the NMC report,"
he added.

THE BJP responded to the serial blasts even before the government did.
While the Home Ministry "waited for reports from the States," the BJP
announced that the blasts were the handiwork of Pakistan's Inter-
Services Intelligence (ISI), which, it said, is bent on fomenting
hatred between Hindus and Christians in the country. Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee had no information to give as to what action the
State governments had taken when a delegation from the UCFHR called on
him three days after the bl ast. By then police investigations could
not establish any ISI involvement.

K. RAMESH BABU
The facade of the church.

Preliminary investigations into the blasts appear to discount the
theory of ISI involvement. "We cannot rule out anything," said DGP
Dinakaran. "But if an organisation as well-funded as the ISI is
involved, we expect they would use more sophisticated bom bs. Why must
they depend on gelatine and not the more expensive and deadly RDX
(research department explosive)?"

Christian leaders attach importance to the proliferation of hate-
literature that has provided the fuel for the attacks, and which also
provides evidence, for a law enforcing agency that wishes to use such
evidence, of who is behind the violence. Hate-lit erature is freely
printed and distributed in States where the Sangh Parivar is active,
and in States where the BJP is in government or is an ally of the
government, as in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Most hate-pamphlets do
not carry the name of an organis ation that has an address. For
example, there are pamphlets signed by the 'Hindu Jagaran Manch,
Kashi', or by 'Supporters of Dara Singh, the God Who Descended from
Heaven'. While some of the books are directly incendiary, others come
in the garb of work s of historical 'research', and yet others are
books/pamphlets on how to harass Christian missionaries in order to
prevent them from proselytising. For example, a booklet published in
Gujarat suggests that one way to prevent missionaries from working is
to foist false cases on them so that they are always tied up in the
courts.

These are faceless, addressless, front organisations of the Sangh
Parivar. If the law enforcing mechanism is slow in apprehending the
culprits in an attack of communally motivated violence, it is even
slower in tracing and taking action against the print ers and peddlers
of hate-literature. The environment in all the three States where the
serial blasts occurred has been vitiated by the activities of the
Sangh Parivar. "We are alarmed at the statements of important people
in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamseva k Sangh) and the BJP, such as B.K.
Modi and Ashok Singhal, who have been talking of the need to build a
pan Buddhist-Hindu alliance against Christianity and Islam in South
Asia," said Dayal. "The RSS chief speaks of an "Epochal War". What
does all this m ean?" he asked. The NDA government has already swept
the uncomfortable issue of the serial blasts, which they were briefly
confronted with, under the carpet. A passing worry presented itself
when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu was reported to
have tol d a delegation of Christian leaders that he would even
consider withdrawing support to the BJP-led government if the rights
of the minorities were not protected. But that concern too was
dispelled when the Telugu Desam Party leader denied that he had sai d
anything of the sort.

To the Christians in the country, the targets of a sustained two-year-
long cycle of violence, there is little room for comfort. And for
assurances there are few positive measures that have been taken for
their protection.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1713/17130210.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 26 :: Dec. 19, 1998 - Jan. 01, 1999

COLUMN
RSS and Christians

The Sangh Parivar's violent hatred against Christianity is deep-rooted
and decades old, as is the case with its animosity against several
other communities.

A. G. NOORANI

ON December 4, 1998, nearly 23 million Christians across the country
observed a protest day demanding that the governments at the Centre
and in the States check the growing violence against members of the
community. A letter of protest, drawn up by the United Christians'
Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR), said: "Since January 1998 there has
been more violence against the Christian community than in all the 50
years of the country's Independence. Nuns have been raped, priests
executed, Bibles burnt, churches demolished, educational institutions
destroyed and religious people harassed." This is persecution in the
strict dictionary meaning of the word "pursue with enmity and ill-
treatment". Mabel Rebello of the Congress(I) told the Rajya Sabha that
day that "50 per cent of these (incidents) have occurred in Gujarat
where the BJP is in power".

On October 8, Gujarat's Director-General of Police, C.P. Singh,
confirmed in an interview to Teesta Setalvad, co-editor of Communalism
Combat (October 1998): "One thing was clear in the pattern of
incidents. It was the activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and
Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their own hands, which posed
a serious danger to peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the
minorities were after these organisations had whipped up local
passions of conversions (by Christian missionaries) and allegedly
forced inter-religious marriages... our investigations revealed that
in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."

Two disturbing features of the campaign stand out in bold relief. One
is that the attacks mounted steeply after the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led Government assumed office in March 1998. The Archbishop of Delhi,
Alan de Lastic, said: "What I have noticed is that ever since this
Government came to power at the Centre, the attacks on Christians and
Christian missionaries have increased" (Sunday, November 22). The
other is the Government's wilful refusal to condemn them. Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks on December 5 were virtually
forced out of him. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has been false to
his oath of office ("do right to all manner of people in accordance
with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or
ill-will"). He said in Baroda on August 2 (The Hindu, August 3):
"There is no law and order problem in Gujarat." Three days later the
DGP said, according to The Hindustan Times (August 6), that "the VHP
and the Bajrang Dal were taking the law into their own hands." He also
said that incidents of communal violence had increased manifold over
the last few months; recently the crime rate in the State had
increased by as much as 9.6 per cent. On an average, 39 crimes of
serious nature like murder, rape and dacoity were reported in the
State every day." A member of the investigation team sent by the
Minorities Commission revealed: "After initial reluctance, the
officials named VHP and Bajrang Dal allegedly involved in the mob
attacks on Christians and Muslims" (The Indian Express, August 12).
Advani's certificate of good conduct speaks for itself.

Christians did not rush to register their protest, as they did on
December 4, but for long kept pleading for succour. On October 1, the
national secretary of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), John Dayal,
pointedly remarked: "The AICU is surprised that Union Government and
members of the ruling coalition, including the BJP, have not come out
categorically in denouncing the violence against Christians."

The Bajrang Dal has threatened Christian-run educational institutions
in Karnataka with dire consequences if they did not "Hinduise" them.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Rajendra Singh declared at an RSS
camp in Meerut on November 22: "Muslims and Christians will have to
accept Hindu culture as their own if Hindus are to treat them as
Indians" (an Agence France Presse: report in The Asian Age; November
23). The UCFHR bitterly complained in an open letter published on
November 19: "The state has failed to do its duty in protecting the
life, dignity and property of the victims. At many places, it seems as
if the Centre and the State governments have tacitly supported the
communal groups. How is it otherwise that the State governments have
not taken any action against the virulent and anti-national statements
of the VHP, RSS, Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal?" (emphasis added,
throughout).

While the Sangh Parivar's animosity towards Muslims is well-known, its
attitude towards Christians has taken many people by surprise. But,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Giriraj Kishore said in
Chandigarh on November 25: "Today the Christians constitute a greater
threat than the collective threat from separatist Muslim elements."
Describing G. S. Tohra, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, as a "separatist", he said, "all minorities including
Muslims and Christians must accept that their ancestors were Hindus."
Ergo, they must all return to the Hindu fold.

Violence in speech inevitably inspires violent acts. As the Jaganmohan
Reddy Commission that went into the Ahmedabad riots (1969) noted, once
communal tension is created in a city, all that is needed is "only a
match to set on fire and a fan to fan the city ablaze." Riots erupt
over trifling incidents only because the atmosphere has been fouled
up. Hence, the need for "a proper appreciation of the communal
atmosphere in a State, in a town or in any particular area," the
Commission stressed. Those who spread hate are the real perpetrators
of violence. The ones who wield the weapon are their mindless agents.

We have tended to ignore a fact that brooks no neglect - the real
cause of the communal riots is the rise of the Sangh Parivar. There
was communal peace even in the early years after Partition. A Home
Ministry review presented to the National Integration Council in 1968
noted: "From 1954 to 1960, there was a clear and consistent downward
trend, 1960 being a remarkably good year with only 26 communal
incidents in the whole country. This trend was sharply reversed in
1961. "That was when riots erupted in Jabalpur - thanks to the Jan
Sangh, the BJP's ancestor. Communal violence has not "looked back"
since.

Justice P. Venugopal, a former Judge of the Madras High Court, who
inquired into Hindu-Christian clashes in Kanyakumari district in March
1982, noted: "The RSS adopts a militant and aggressive attitude and
sets itself as the champion of what it considers to be the rights of
Hindus against minorities. It has taken upon itself the task to teach
the minority their place and if they are not willing to learn their
place, teach them a lesson. The RSS has given respectability to
communalism and communal riots and demoralise administration (sic).
The RSS methodology for provoking communal violence is: (a) rousing
communal feelings in the majority community by the propaganda that
Christians are not loyal citizens of this country..." Report after
report has indicted the RSS specifically or its affiliates (Ahmedabad
1969; Bhiwandi 1970; Tellicherry 1971; Jamshedpur 1981; and Mumbai
1993).

VIOLENCE is an integral part of the RSS credo. "It should be used as a
surgeon's knife... to cure the society... Sometimes to protect non-
violence itself violence becomes necessary," RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar
said in 1952. (Spotlights: Guruji Answers, pages 110 and 188). In his
fine work India as a Secular State, Donald Eugene Smith recalled the
desecration of a church in Bihar in 1955 and the almost total
destruction in 1957 of the Gass Memorial Centre at Raipur.

V.D. Savarkar wrote repeatedly in his book Hindutva (1923): "Hindutva
is different from Hinduism." For once, he was right. Hinduism is a
great religion, it is ancient. Hindutva is an ideology of hate. It is
recent. He grouped Muslims and Christians together as ones who do not
share "the tie of the common homage we pay to our great civilisation -
our Hindu culture." He added: "Christian and Mohammedan communities
who were but very recently Hindus... cannot be recognised as Hindus as
since their adoption of the new cult they had ceased to own Hindu
civilisation (Sanskriti) as a whole... For though Hindusthan to them
is Fatherland, as to any other Hindu, yet it is not to them a Holyland
too. Their holyland is far off in Arabia or Palestine."

They are not the only offenders: "Look at the Jews; neither centuries
of prosperity nor sense of gratitude for the shelter they found can
make them more attached or even equally attached to the several
countries they inhabit."

Golwalkar revealed on May 15, 1963 that his first book We or Our
Nationhood Defined was based on Savarkar's brother Babarao's book in
Marathi on the same theme, Rashtra Mimamsa. Golwalkar's second book,
Bunch of Thoughts, praised the book Hindutva and amplified its
ideology. The BJP has used it as a political weapon with dangerous
consequences. Chapter XII of Bunch of Thoughts is devoted to three
"Internal Threats" - Muslims, Christians and the Communists. Of the
first two he wrote: "Together with the change in their faith, gone are
the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Nor does it end there.
They have also developed a feeling of identification with the enemies
of this land. They look to some foreign lands as their holy places."
They are asked to return to the Hindu fold.

Not that that will be of much help. "For a Hindu, he gets the first
sanskar when he is still in his mother's womb... We are, therefore,
born as Hindus. About the others, they are born to this world as
simple unnamed human beings and later on, either circumcised or
baptised, they become Muslims or Christians." The hatred is
unconcealed. They have no right to proselytise. Hindus alone have it,
for, "returning to one's ancestral faith is not conversion at all, it
is merely home-coming."

Bunch of Thoughts first appeared in 1966 but the good work has been
stepped up since. To the three "internal threats", a fourth is added -
"Nehruism" - and among the perils we face is "Macaulayism". In Delhi
functions an outfit, Voice of India, which proclaims: "We are not
general booksellers and handle only books listed in this catalogue.
Please do not ask for other books." It is an outfit with a mission.
For the catalogue has an "appeal" which reads thus: "Hindu society and
culture are faced with a crisis. There is a united front of entrenched
alien forces - Islam, Christianity, Communism, Nehruism - to disrupt
and discredit the perennial values of the Indian ethos. All who care
for India need to know what is happening, and what is to be done if a
major tragedy is to be averted. Voice of India aims at providing an
ideological defence of Hindu society and culture, through a series of
publications."

SOME people were surprised by Advani's assertion at a seminar on
November 6 at Sarnath that "the Buddha did not announce any new
religion. He was only restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals
of the Indo-Aryan civilisation." The Buddha, he added, derived his
teaching from the Bhagvad Gita and was an avatar of Vishnu. Rebuttals
from Buddhists were swift and sharp (see "Hindutva's fallacies and
fantasies", Frontline, December 4, 1998).

However, no one familiar with the stuff churned out by this factory,
for over four decades, would have been surprised. Its literature is
intolerant of any cultural and religious diversity. It fosters a siege
mentality among Hindus and speaks disparagingly of all others - not
excluding Sikhs and Jews. That is not all. A Hindu who does not share
its bigotry is attacked as being "anti-Hindu". Its literature
represents the spirit, outlook and ethos of the Sangh Parivar. The
writings cited below reveal a revolting virulence. Its moving spirit
is one Sita Ram Goel.

The Parivar's organ Organiser only recently (October 18, 1998)
published a paper he had written in 1983. He wrote: "The English-
educated Hindu elite which controls the commanding heights in
government, educational institutions and mass media has failed the
test either because it has become indifferent to Hindu society, as a
result of having imbibed the current cosmopolitan culture, or because
it has been trained to look at Hindu society through eyes which are
not of its own ancestral culture and, as a result, has become
sceptical about, if not actually hostile to, the merits of Hindu
society. This desperate situation has been made more difficult by a
degenerate politics through which vote-hungry, sloganised, short-
sighted and nominally Hindu politicians weaken Hindu society by
dividing it on the basis of caste, sect, language and region, disarm
Hindu society by sanctimonious and one-sided appeals in the name of
traditional Hindu tolerance, strengthen alienated and aggressive
communities by supporting their separatist demands in the name of
secularism." His intolerance brings all within the sway of his
indictment, bar the Parivar itself.

TO return to Advani's notions on Buddhism, a pamphlet entitled
"Buddhism vis-a-vis Hinduism" published 40 years ago by Ram Swarup for
the outfit asserts: "Buddha, his spiritual experiences and teachings,
formed part of a Hindu tradition... A good Buddhist has perforce to be
a good Hindu too." He went on to attack "foreign" religions. "The
indigenous religions of the countries of the two Americas have been
completely overwhelmed. In the African sub-continent (sic) the local
religions are under a systematic attack from Islamic and Christian
ideologies." The Parivar takes a dim view of the United States.

Golwalkar was asked in July 1967: "What is your opinion about present-
day America?" There was lot to comment about - racial conflict,
Vietnam policy, and so on. All he could say was: "Do you not yourself
see that the American youth is fast dissipating himself in all kinds
of sensual indulgence?" Simplistic, sweeping, defamatory judgment
comes easily to the tribe.

Ram Swarup's tract Hinduism vis-a-vis Christianity and Islam continued
his refrain about "native" faiths. "What is happening in India is also
happening elsewhere. In America even the vestiges of once (sic), a
rich spiritual culture of the Indians, is no more." He developed the
theme in its sequel Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1992). "The
two ideologies have been active and systematic persecutors of pagan
nations, cultures and religions... We have spoken here with sympathy
and respect not only of pagan Americas and Africa but also of the
pagan past of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iran, Syria and Arabia." V.S.
Naipaul is in good company with the Sangh Parivar. Unlike him, it
indicts Christianity as well as Islam on this score.

"Hinduism can help all peoples seeking religious self-renewal, for it
preserves in some way their old Gods and religions, it preserves in
its various layers religious traditions and intuitions they have lost.
Many countries now under Christianity and Islam had once great
religions; they also had great Gods who adequately fulfilled their
spiritual and ethical needs... during the long period of neglect, they
lost the knowledge which could revive those Gods, Hinduism can help
them with this knowledge. In its simplest aspect, Europeans can best
study their old pre-Christian religion by studying Hinduism."

Ram Swarup goes on to quote approvingly: "Gore Vidal says that from a
'barbaric Bronze Age text known as Old Testament, three anti-human
religions have evolved - Judaism, Christianity and Islam'; he also
calls them 'sky-god religions'."

Ram Swarup damns all three religions as "great persecutors". The Hindu
response of old was wrong. He writes:

"First, they tried to 'reform' themselves and be like their rulers...
One God, a revealed Book and prophets.... The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya
Samaj, and the Akalis also claimed monotheism and iconoclasm ... in
the case of the Akalis, the new look has also become the basis of a
new separatist-militant politics....

"The second way the Hindus adopted was that of 'synthesis'. The
synthesizers claimed that all religions preach the same thing. They
found in the Bible and the Quran all the truths of the Upanishads and
vice versa. They culled passages from various scriptures to prove
their point... It is by such methods that they proved that the Bible
and the Quran were no different from the Upanishads...."

The wrath wells up as he proceeds and delivers a message which
explains why the country has had to undergo what it has all these
years, especially since 1990: "India became politically free in 1947,
but it is ruled by anti-Hindu Hindus. The old mental slavery continues
and it has yet to win its cultural and intellectual independence.
India is entering into the second phase of its freedom struggle; the
struggle for regaining its Hindu identity. The new struggle is as
difficult as the old one. Hindus are disorganised, self-alienated,
morally and ideologically disarmed. They lack leadership; the Hindu
elites have become illiterate about their spiritual heritage and
history and indifferent and even hostile towards their religion...
India's higher education, its academia and media are in the hands of a
Hindu-hating elite."

Note what Ram Swarup has to say of the caste system:

"Once when Hinduism was strong, castes represented a natural and
healthy diversity, but now in its present state of weakness these are
used for its dismemberment. Old vested interests joined by new ones
have come together to make use of the caste factor in a big way in
order to keep Hindus down.

"Hindus have been kept down too long. Everyone including the victims
think that it is the natural order of things. Therefore, now when the
Hindu society is showing some signs of stir, there is a great
consternation. Already a cry has gone out of Hindu fundamentalism, we
must expect more of it in future." The readers have been warned. But
India will not be the only country to be saved. "America is awaiting
to be rediscovered in a characteristically Hindu way, not the
Christian way".

THIS represents a worse-than-narrow world-view. It is redolent of the
bigotry of medieval times. This book was published in 1992. His
earlier pamphlet, "Cultural Self-Alienation and Some Problems Hinduism
Faces", also characterised "castes and denominations" as expressing a
"natural and healthy diversity". The ignorance is astounding. "To
Marx, the British conquest of India was a blessing." Hinduism faces
attacks "both from inside and outside. While the forces of self-
alienation are increasing within society, external enemies have
intensified their attack.... Communism, Islam, Christianity have
powerful international links... their World-Centres. Commu-nists have
their Comintern working overtly or covertly." By 1987, Ram Swarup
ought to have known that the Comintern was dissolved on May 22, 1943
and that the "Islamic International, a kind of Muslim Vatican, Rabitah
al'-alam al-Iscaniya" (Muslim World League) is a Saudi-sponsored non-
governmental organisation (1962) which counts for little in India.
Hindus, by comparison, are at a disadvantage, he moans. "They do not
even have a government of their own." Socially, they are falling prey
to "vulgarity"; that is, "gambling, drinking, vulgar film music...
Cinemas (sic) are becoming great moral and social pollutants."


ANU PUSHKARNA
The Christian missionary centre at Nawapara in Jhabua district,
Madhya Pradesh, where four nuns were gangraped on September 23.

So, combat these and go over to the offensive and "look at Islam,
Christianity and Communism... from the Hindu angle." Sikhs are not
spared. Ram Swarup adopts a dual approach in Hindu-Sikh Relationship
(1985). He woos them as "the members of Hindu society" and denounces
them for thinking that "they were different". Base motives are freely
attributed: "Thanks to the Green Revolution and various other factors,
the Sikhs have become relatively more rich and prosperous. No wonder,
they have begun to find that the Hindu bond is not good enough for
them and they seek a new identity readily available to them in their
names and outer symbols. This is an understandable human frailty."

He defends the storming of the Golden Temple. It "became an arsenal, a
fort, a sanctuary for criminals. This grave situation called for
necessary action which caused some unavoidable damage to the
building." There followed "protest meetings, resolutions", which he
deprecates. "The whole thing created wide-spread resentment all over
India which burst into a most unwholesome violence when Mrs. Indira
Gandhi was assassinated. The befoggers have again got busy and they
explain the whole tragedy in terms of collusion between the
politicians and the police. But this conspiracy theory cannot explain
the range and the virulence of the tragedy. A growing resentment at
the arrogant Akali politics is the main cause of this fearful
happening."

This is of a piece with the Organiser's defence of Mahatma Gandhi's
assassination in its editorial (January 11, 1970) - "turned the
people's wrath on himself." Its editor then, K.R. Malkani, is now vice-
president of the BJP.

SITA RAM GOEL does not lag behind. His pamphlet "Hindu Society under
Siege" (1981) paints a frightening future: "The death of Hindu society
is no longer an eventuality which cannot be envisaged. This great
society is now besieged by the same dark and deadly forces which have
overwhelmed and obliterated many ancient societies. Suffering from a
loss of its elan, it has become a house divided within itself... Hindu
society is in mortal danger as never before."

One is reminded of the loonies of California, the minutemen who lived
in dread of a Soviet conquest of the U.S. The familiar ghosts of old
are revived - "Islamism", "Christianism" and a new one to keep them
company, "Macaulay-ism" (the educated Hindu who rejects the Parivar's
voodoo credo and the mumbo-jumbo of its shrill rhetoric).

"Ideologically, Communism in India is, in several respects, a sort of
extension of Macaulayism, a residue of British rule. That is why
Communism is strongest today in those areas where Macaulayism had
spread its widest spell." In no other parts of the country, though,
are Indian languages and culture more highly respected than in West
Bengal and Kerala. "Macaulayism is wedded to Secularism and Democracy.
It has to find out for itself as to who are the enemies of Secularism
and Democracy and who their best friends. This can be done only by
looking beyond the United Front of Islamism, Communism and
Christianism."

In the U.S., the minutemen belonged to the lunatic fringe. In India,
the Parivar's ideology is espoused by the party in power, even if it
be through dubious alliances. Scruples are not the Parivar's
strongpoint. On April 4, 1980, L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee endorsed
a formulation in the National Executive of the Janata Party which
pledged its members to accept "unconditionally and strive to preserve
the composite culture and secular state established in our country."
After splitting the Janata Party both rejected the concept of India's
"composite culture." On April 8, 1998, at the BJP's Agra session, its
then president, Advani, denounced the concept of composite culture -
just as the Jan Sangh had done in December 1969.

HARSH NARAIN was a Visiting Professor at Aligarh Muslim University and
Reader at the North-Eastern Hill University. His Myths of Composite
Cultural and Equality of Religions (1990) reveals the unspoken
thoughts of the Parivar; the sub-text beneath the avowed text.

"Mere permanent settlement in a country does not entitle a plunderer
to be looked upon as indigenous. It must first be seen whose interests
he is out to serve. What is his attitude towards Indians? Take an
example. European settlers entered America and ruined the original
inhabitants, whom they named 'Red Indians'. To expect the remaining
Red Indians to regard their European-born rulers as equally indigenous
would be a cruel joke beyond their understanding.

"Islam was out to deal a death blow to the equilibrium, exuberance,
and cosmopolitan character of Indian humanity, later designated as
Hindu culture in juxtaposition to Indian culture."

To him, the Taj and the Qutub Minar are specimens exclusively of
Muslim, not Indian, sculpture. For, he holds: "The Muslims have been
religiously indifferent to, if not contemptuous of, Indian sculpture.
Thanks to the taste of the Sufis, the Muslims took some fancy to
Indian music. The main gamut of Indian literature has also been
untinged with Muslim literature and historic-cultural allusions...
Urdu language and literature, the much-vaunted symbols or vehicles of
composite culture, are not the result of intermingling of Hinduism and
Islam but reflected the Muslim image in Indian garb... nor have the
Hindu heroes and servants been fortunate enough to be honoured by the
Muslim community."

This can only be deliberate falsehood, since he flaunts familiarity
with Urdu. The much-maligned Iqbal wrote whole poems in praise of the
Buddha, Ram, Guru Nanak, and Swami Ram Tirtha. He was an admirer of
the Sanskrit poet, Bhartruhari, and had drunk deep at the fount of the
Gita and the Upanishads. Another great poet, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a
confirmed leftist, wrote nostalgically of the soil of Mathura and in
praise of Krishna. He was also an ardent admirer of Bal Gangadhar
Tilak. But this is understandable of one who stoops to libel one of
the greatest mystics and martyrs of all time, Mansur al-Hallaj. He was
beheaded and his life forms the subject of the feat of scholarship,
Louis Massignon's four-volume The Passion of al-Hallaj. He is accused
of converting to Islam "the Dudwalas and Pinjaris of Gujarat." No
authority is cited in support of the charge.

Harsh Narain holds that while "a sizable section of the Sufis had been
comparatively free from the proverbial emphasis on coercion ... the
role of Sufi tradition in bridging the gulf between Islam and Hinduism
or laying the foundations of a composite culture has been greatly
exaggerated."

All this and more only in order to expose "the mad propaganda of
composite culture" and to prove that "Muslim culture cannot be said to
be an integral part of Indian culture and must be regarded as an
anticulture or counter culture in our body politic." This is no
different from the RSS chief's demand (November 22, 1998) that the
minorities Hinduise themselves.

The author turns his attention to Jainism ("failed to develop any
cultural identity of its own") and Buddhism ("basically a life-
negating religion, having little interest in social order, strictly
speaking"). Conclusion? "Our national culture, Indian culture, is a
unity describable as Aryan culture, Hindu culture... Indian culture is
Hindu culture... Muslim and Christian cultures are counter-cultures."
And Parsi culture is "something like" a sub-culture.

So "Hindu culture alone deserves the credit of recognition as the
national culture (abhimanin) of this country, as the culture owning
and possessing this great nation, along with other Indian-born
cultures like Buddhist and Jain cultures as its sub-cultures; Muslim
and Christian cultures being in the nature of tenant-cultures. The
distinction of master-possessor-owner culture and tenant-parasitic
culture has its own significance." One can guess what he is hinting
at.

Sita Ram Goel writes in the same vein. His ardour is reflected in his
three books Catholic Ashrams, Papacy and History of Hindu-Christian
Encounters (304-1996). His preface to the second edition (1996) of the
book on Hindu-Christian encounters explains a lot: "The Sangh Parivar,
which had turned cold towards Hindu causes over the years, was
startled by the rout of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1984
elections, and decided to renew its Hindu character. The
Ramajanmabhumi Movement was the result. The Movement was aimed at
arresting Islamic aggression. Christianity or its missions were hardly
mentioned. Nevertheless, it was Christianity which showed the greatest
concern at this new Hindu stir, and started crying 'wolf'. Its media
power in the West raised a storm, saying that Hindus were out to
destroy the minorities in India and impose a Nazi regime. The storm is
still raging and no one knows when it will subside, if at all." Thus
"the storm" was unleashed for reasons of power through election
victories.

Goel's writings alone prove that the Parivar's ire against Christians
is decades old. In an article published in March 1983 he had asserted
that the ancient Hindu precept sarva dharma samabhava (all religions
are equal) should not be applied to Christians or Muslims.

IT is with some hesitation that one turns to Goel's book Jesus Christ:
An Artifice for Aggression (1994); so wantonly offensive it is. The
focus now is not on the missionaries, or politics, or history. The
target is the faith itself; Christianity as a religion. Why? Because
hitherto "we Hindus have remained occupied with the behaviour patterns
of Muslims and Christians and not with the belief systems which create
those behaviour patterns. We object to Christian missions, but refuse
to discuss Christianity and its God, Jesus. We object to Islamic
terrorisms, but refuse to have a look at Islamic and its prophet,
Muhammad. I see no sense or logic in this Hindu habit."

Is there any other country in the world where such theses are written
for such a purpose? One wonders. "Now, I could see why the history of
Christianity had been what it had been. The source of the poison was
in the Jesus of the gospels."

The Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is attacked wantonly. There
are chapters on Jesus of history, of fiction and of faith. The thesis?
He did not exist in history. "The quantum of crimes committed by
Muhammad's Islam was only slightly smaller than that of the crimes
committed by the Christianity of the Jesus Christ... The parallel
between Jesus and Hitler was seen as still more striking. The Nazi
creed, as laid down by Hitler, did not sound much different from the
Christian creed as preached by Jesus in the gospels."

Goel is dismayed to find that Jesus Christ "should continue to retain
his hallow" (sic) in India. "Christianity is accepted as a religion
not only by the westernised Hindu elite but also by Hindu saints,
scholars, and political platforms."

Jesus Christ has been "praised to the skies, particularly by Mahatma
Gandhi." But, "it is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolises no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more
than an artifice for legitimising wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture. The West where he flourished for long, has
discarded him as junk. There is no reason why Hindus should buy him.
He is the type of junk that cannot be re-cycled. He can only poison
the environment."

THE virulence of the language reveals the depths of the hatred. This
is what Indians are up against - a powerful hate group, enjoying the
patronage of many politicians in power and in the administration,
which is out to wipe out all traces not only of secularism and
democracy but of religious tolerance, religious and cultural diversity
and, indeed, of decency itself from India.

It shall not come to pass. The answer lies not in forging a united
front of the minorities; it lies in a renewal of the secular ideal in
our politics and in the nation at large.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1526/15261230.htm

Volume 19 - Issue 09, Apr. 27 - May 12, 2002
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

Plumbing new depths

No Indian Prime Minister has justified a communal pogrom the way
Vajpayee has. The BJP's Goa conclave marks the lowest point in
Hindutva's hardline evolution, underlining the need to punish the BJP
politically.

ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE'S public address at the April 12 BJP National
Executive meeting in Goa has rudely convulsed the secular conscience
of India's citizens. Many were jolted out of the complacent
assumption, promoted by sections of the media, that Vajpayee is some
kind of "moderate" or "liberal" - "the right man in the wrong party" -
a leader "secular" at heart, whose political "compulsions" regrettably
drive him from time to time to compromise with Hindutva. Yet others
attributed the tone and tenor of his speech to his interaction with
the party's young "hardliners" immediately before the Goa meeting,
such as Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and M. Venkaiah Naidu, or to the
temporary "influence" of L.K. Advani, which made him reverse the
stance he adopted during his April 4 Gujarat visit.

The significance of Vajpayee's address goes much beyond his personal
"unmasking". His adoption of a virulent communal posture - which looks
at Indian society in terms of a division between Hindus and Others,
and accords social and political primacy to the majority community -
is shocking, but not really surprising. Vajpayee has never claimed to
be secular in the sense of separating religion from politics, or even
to have cut his umbilical cord to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Several public statements can be readily cited, which indicate
Vajpayee's ideological-political inclinations: for instance, "the
Sangh is my soul" (1995), "I will always remain a
swayamsevak" (September 2000), the Ram temple agitation is a "national
movement", not a sectarian-parochial one (December 2000), and his
Uttar Pradesh election speech in February 2002, in which he chided
Muslims for not voting for the BJP, but also warned them it could come
to power without their support. These are not aberrations. Nor is his
annual obeisance to the Sangh in the form of guru dakshina. Vajpayee
is as dedicated to Hindutva or "cultural nationalism" as any RSS
pracharak.

The true significance of Vajpayee's disquisition in Goa lies in its
relationship to the BJP's recent rightward evolution, and secondly, in
the new low political depths it plumbs. Never before has a Prime
Minister of India, of whatever persuasion, descended to making a hate-
speech against Muslims or Christians, castigating them as "outsiders".
Never before were our religious minorities humiliated by a Prime
Minister who would want them to feel grateful for being "allowed to
pray" - that is, for exercising their fundamental constitutional
right.

Never before has an Indian Prime Minister used such aggressive body
language to justify the Gujarat pogrom by citing the "who-cast-the-
first-stone" argument. Vajpayee blamed the victims of India's worst
communal pogrom for their own suffering. No other Prime Minister has
so blatantly undermined public confidence in the rule of law and in
the possibility of minimal justice for all in this society.

We now know, from numerous independent media accounts, and from
several highly credible and sensitive reports*, that the Godhra
killing of 59 Hindus was not, causally, "the first stone". The post-
February 27 carnage in Gujarat, which has claimed upwards of 850
lives, would probably have occurred even if the Godhra incident had
not. The conditions were ripe for the massacre of Muslims in that
"Hindutva laboratory" State. Elaborate preparations had been under way
for weeks before the massacre, in particular after kar sevaks were
dispatched daily to Ayodhya following the stepping up of the temple
campaign.

For instance, according to sources in Vadodara, lakhs of anti-Muslim
leaflets were illegally printed on slow treadle machines - which must
have taken months. Bombs and trishuls were stockpiled over a period of
weeks. The gap, exceeding 24 hours, between the "trigger event" and
the anti-Muslim violence - in contrast to, say, the immediate reaction
in Delhi to Indira Gandhi's assassinatio - only confirms the
organised, unspontaneous, planned nature of the pogrom.

Reconstruction of the Godhra incident, for example in the Citizens'
Forum report, suggests that it was a spontaneous, rather than an
elaborately planned, over-reaction to the daily harassment of local
Ghanchi Muslims (oil-pressers by occupation) by communally charged kar
sevaks returning from Ayodhya. Had there been serious preparation for
the attack on the Sabarmati Express, scheduled to reach Godhra at 2-55
a.m., there would have been a large crowd on the railway platform at
dawn. There was not.

When the train rolled in five hours late, there were only a handful of
vendors, porters and passengers on the platform. An altercation broke
out between the kar sevaks and Muslim tea vendors. It was only when a
rumour spread that young Sophia Khan had been dragged into coach S-6
that a crowd gathered near Signal Fadia, a basti known for communal
tension and criminal activities.

Seven weeks on, the government has failed to provide credible evidence
linking the Godhra episode to a "conspiracy" involving Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence or even an organised group in Gujarat or
elsewhere. Nor can it explain why towns such as Ratlam, which are
physically far closer to Godhra, and which have a similar composition
of Hindus, Muslims and Adivasis, did not register any "retaliatory"
violence, while distant Ahmedabad did.

The reasons are self-evidently Gujarat-specific and political. They
have to do with the Narendra Modi government's conscious decision to
support the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's February 28 bandh call and the
authorities' decision to transport the bodies of the Godhra victims by
train to Ahmedabad in a ceremonial manner calculated to inflame
passions. It is impossible to separate the post-February 27 violence
either from the Modi government or Gujarat's communalised context.

The fact that Vajpayee stooped to endorse Modi's "action-reaction"
logic to justify violent retribution upon a falsely constructed
collective culprit (Muslims) speaks of an utterly debased mind. The
logic of such revenge is ultimately the logic of "getting even" with
history, of Nazism, of barbarism. That is now unfolding before our
eyes.

Clearly, the BJP has decided to embrace a virulent form of Hindutva,
one that bases itself on a contemporary version of the "Two-Nation"
theory. Its disgraceful defence of Modi, its coercive tactics in the
NDA, its prolonged refusal to discuss Gujarat under Rule 184 in the
Lok Sabha, and its wholly unapologetic, brazen, attitude towards the
continuing climate of fear, intimidation and terror in Gujarat all
confirm this. The very fact that the BJP seriously threatened to hold
mid-term Assembly elections in Gujarat in a vitiated atmosphere, and
used it as a bargaining chip in negotiating with its allies, testifies
to its cynicism.

The consequences of this stance are already apparent. Thus, BJP
spokesman V.K. Malhotra made a revoltingly aggressive statement
likening the Congress to the pre-Partition Muslim League - merely
because the Congress expressed concern at the butchery of Muslims
(although not to the exclusion of concern for Hindus too). And one
cannot fail to note Modi's deviousness in transferring honest police
officers who tried to maintain a semblance of impartiality, or his
gross insensitivity to traumatised Muslim children in thrusting
examinations on them at centres located in areas where Muslims were
butchered.

Gujarat is a fit case for compelling the State government to abide by
the Constitution under Article 355 and for imposing President's Rule
under Article 356. True, Article 356 has been repeatedly misused to
dismiss Opposition governments. The demand for its use is being voiced
by forces with an extremely dubious record. But there could be no
fitter case than Gujarat to which the following description from the
Constitution applies: "a situation has arisen in which the government
of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of
the Constitution."

The constitutional machinery patently broke down in Gujarat on
February 28 when scores of citizens were massacred with the full
complicity of the state, and when it could not even protect a guardian
of the constitutional order, a High Court Judge, who happened to be a
Muslim.

It is precisely for such contingencies that President's Rule was
envisaged. The Gujarat situation cannot get normalised with Modi's
replacement alone. If hardcore sanghis like Goverdhan Zadaphia or
Ashok Bhatt were to take over, it could worsen. It is essential, but
not enough, that Modi be sacked. The whole government must be
dismissed and Gujarat placed under President's Rule with advisers of
impeccable integrity and experience, recommended by Parliament as a
whole.

It will take months for Gujarat to recuperate and achieve normalcy in
any real sense. Such normalcy must include reconciliation between
estranged neighbours and communities, full physical, psychological and
economic rehabilitation, and restoration of public confidence in the
impartiality of the government as regards different religious groups.

The danger of half-hearted reconciliation should be obvious. If the
one lakh Muslims who are in relief camps - and three or four times as
many, whose livelihoods have been affected - are forced to fend for
themselves without state and community assistance, they will probably
leave Gujarat altogether, or create "safe" ghettos for themselves. The
greater the ghettoisation, the greater the mutual estrangement of
religious groups, the lesser their social interaction - and the
greater the scope for conflict.

That is the last thing Gujarat needs. Indeed, it would be a recipe for
another communal pogrom. That is precisely what Hindutva craves most.
If the BJP succeeds in its game plan in Gujarat, by whipping up anti-
Muslim hysteria, it will replicate the same trick nationally - if
necessary, by staging another Godhra. If the Nazis could stage the
Reichstag fire, the BJP can create a Godhra-II, through agents
provocateurs.

These comparisons are not far-fetched. In foundational premises of its
ideology and politics, the BJP shares a great deal with the Italian
fascists, the German Nazis and the Taliban. They all reject the
emancipatory heritage of the Enlightenment. They privilege tradition
(itself ill-defined and distorted) over modernity. They are profoundly
intolerant of difference. They hate democracy and equality. And they
do not believe in just and fair means to achieve just ends. They are
prone to despotic methods and barbaric violence.

It will take a lot of effort to fight a force like the BJP-RSS-VHP. It
has already captured a number of institutions and key positions in
government and civil society. It has a dedicated, if fanatical, cadre.
Even in the short run, it will not be possible to isolate the Hindutva
forces unless the perpetrators of the Gujarat violence are severely
punished for their grave crimes, along the lines described in the
previous Frontline column (issue of April 26), and unless the BJP is
politically punished, that is, made to pay a heavy price through
systematic boycott and isolation.

One wishes this would happen both nationally, in the National
Democratic Alliance, and in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is about to
form a government with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Regrettably, the BSP
leadership seems to be bent on using its Dalit base as virtual common-
fodder for Hindutva - for dubious, at best petty, short-term gains.

Fighting Hindutva will be a long haul. But the struggle would not even
have been joined unless the Opposition mounts relentless pressure on
the NDA, both inside and outside Parliament, through dharnas, rallies,
public meetings and mass mobilisation. The People's Front should
consider launching a relay dharna in Gujarat's major cities.

The Opposition will do well to join hands with citizens' groups such
as SAHMAT, Aman Ekta Manch, People for Secularism and the Citizens'
Initiative (Ahmedabad), which have done a great deal to highlight the
Gujarat issue and collect donations for the victims' relief. For
instance, SAHMAT mobilised artists to donate their paintings and
raised Rs.5.5 lakhs through their sale.

One thing is clear: it will be a crying shame if the BJP is allowed to
go unpunished for its grievous assault on India's secular-democratic-
constitutional order, and on the foundations of this plural, diverse,
multi-cultural society.

*Citizens' Forum: Gujarat Carnage 2002, by an independent fact-finding
mission composed of S.P. Shukla, K.S. Subramanian, Achin Vanaik, and
Kamal Mitra Chenoy; State-Sponsored Carnage in Gujarat, Report of a
CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation; The Survivors Speak, by a Women's Panel
sponsored by Citizen's Initiative, Ahmedabad; Ethnic Cleansing in
Ahmedabad, by SAHMAT; and A Report on the Gujarat Carnage, prepared by
the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1909/19091280.htm

Undermining India

Sitting here in our village home, keeping in touch with the world
through the Internet, the newspapers and magazines like yours, we ask
ourselves, how many fires can we fight? And yet it appears that there
is really no option except to keep fighting them and to stand up for
what we see as the values and beliefs which are intrinsic to the
foundations on which this civilisation (if indeed we can use that term
any longer) is based.

We have been reading the comprehensive coverage in your magazine of
the ghastly and inhuman murder of members of the Staines family in
Manoharpur and the hard-hitting articles on the politics of hate
("Undermining India", February 12). We have also read (on the
Internet) the highly slanted report of the murders (from Rashtradeep -
Orissa) with its not so oblique insinuations that Staines and his
family deserved what they got. What a coincidence that the Santhals
and the Kolhas apparently lost their patience 34 years after Graham
Staines came to work and live in Keonjhar and decided to attack him
when there is a BJP Government at the Centre, and the Sangh Parivar
has targeted Christians as the new enemies! It is hard to believe that
the so- called educated people hold these views and, more sinister,
use their power and technology to propagate these views in the most
dangerous fashion on the Internet from their comfortable spaces in
American universities. It is also interesting that the fact that
millions of dollars are sent by non-resident Indians to support
fascist activities in the name of Hindutva is not questioned or
attacked.

If only we can learn from history, we would see that we are moving
inexorably towards fascism - and the silence of the majority can only
hasten this process.

We too are Hindus, comfortable in the freedom of thought that it
provides, and because of this we can also look at our own tradition
critically and see and understand all the warts and distortions that
it accommodates. But what is propagated in the name of Hinduism is a
far cry from the philosphy to which we subscribe. Had we been born
Dalits or tribal people, or experienced oppression and discrimination
in the name of religion, we too might have opted for Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism or any faith which promised us a better deal and the
hope of social justice and dignity. Certainly, India's Constitution
guarantees each of us that freedom.

In all the polemics and passion that we see around us, one hears
little, if any, questioning or critiquing of the built-in inequities
of Hinduism - only the shrill and fearful howls of the advocates of
Hindutva with its distorted and dangerous ideology of linking religion
with nationalism and patriotism. If we believe that it is the spirit
of inquiry and search for truth that is the hallmark of both science
and religion, then let us stop blaming others and begin looking
inwards in the real quest for self-knowledge and encourage our people
to bring about the changes within, rather than demonising other
faiths, other denominations. But the politics of hate is so much
easier to practise than the quest for truth. It has always been
convenient to mobilise mobs - be it against masjids or mandirs,
Dalits, tribal people, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, 'Madrasis',
'Bangladeshis', 'Pakistanis'. We continue to rely on fanning the
flames of hatred for 'the other', to exercise power instead of coming
to grips with the real issues of this country - poverty, education,
employment and all-pervasive inequality. The issue is not one of
conversions or Christianity, but of how to exploit people who have no
identity or no hope of getting a space under the sun, as the foot
soldiers in the service of the armies of destruction and mayhem who
can terrorise, garner votes when needed, and ensure political power at
all costs. Ultimately, it is through economic policy decisions and the
right kind of education in our classrooms that we can hope to build
the kind of India that our Constitution has promised. For now, we can
only ask and hope that the right-thinking majority of people in this
land, regardless of their religious affiliations, will speak up before
it is too late.

Admiral Ramu Ramdas
(former Chief of the Naval Staff)
Lalita Ramdas
Bhaimala, Maharashtra

* * *

Your crusade against the diabolical designs of the Sangh Parivar is
commendable.

The riots in Suratkal, the persecution of Christians in Gujarat, and
the outrage against a missionary in Orissa expose the Parivar's game
plan. When the Babri Masjid was demolished, people in authority
remained passive spectators. They remain so when the minorities are
attacked. As long as the minorities have insufficient representation
in the police force and secular values are not instilled in the
guardians of law, there is no hope.

The biggest irony is that L.K. Advani, one of the accused in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, has become the Home Minister of this country.
A.B. Vajpayee has proved to be the weakest Prime Minister of India.
During his visit to Gujarat, instead of assuaging the hurt feelings of
Christians, he suggested a national debate on conversions. With this
he dropped his mask of moderation.

Ubedulla
Mysore

* * *

It was with a sense of dismay and shame that one watched the Home
Minister making a humiliating trip to Mumbai to pacify the Shiv Sena's
"paper tiger". It is a pity that the BJP Government with all the power
at its command could not counter the threat to a visiting cricket
team. The Shiv Sena's attack on the BCCI's office or threats to
release poisonous snakes into the playground only proved its
cowardice. If India is to progress, the culture of violence and
terrorism should give way to goodwill, harmony and peace.

Dr. A.K. Tharien
Oddanchatram, Tamil Nadu

* * *

January 23, the day Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were
burnt alive, was the blackest day in the history of our country. One
is at a loss to understand why such a harrowing punishment was meted
out to the missionary who had served leprosy patients in India since
1965.

Why does the Prime Minister hesitate to take stringent action against
Bal Thackeray, at whose instigation the cricket pitch at the
Ferozeshah Kotla stadium was damaged and the BCCI office in Mumbai was
ransacked? Is the Sena chief so indispensable?

Mani Natarajan
Chennai

* * *

It was a unique and informative Cover Story. The need of the hour is
unity, integrity and peaceful coexistence of various communities. We
should uphold our secular values and fulfil the hopes and aspirations
of every citizen.

Shaik Rafeeq Ahamed
Rayachoty, Andhra Pradesh

* * *

The expectation that the experience of heading a government in a
modern democracy will soften Hindu fundamentalists, has been belied.
With the assumption of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
process of undermining India started. The aim is to throw the country
back into an era when power, wealth and education were concentrated in
the hands of people who belonged to the upper strata of society. But
we have come a long way. A government which owes allegiance to the
Constitution has to go by the principles enshrined in the
Constitution.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Vellore, Tamil Nadu

Arundhati Roy

Indian culture is rich and vibrant and Dalits' contribution to it is
no less than that of any other section of our society. Unless this
aspect is researched and brought out, Dalits will not get the kind of
respect they deserve. In this context, Arundhati Roy's proposal to the
Dalit Sahitya Akademi on the publication of the Malayalam translation
of her novel was really pathbreaking ("In solidarity", February 12).

Dhiraj Kumar
Delhi

Role of bureaucrats

I read with great interest A.G. Noorani's article on Admiral Bhagwat's
case in your February 12 issue. As usual Noorani's article is very
scholarly and unbiased and would serve as reference material. I would,
however, like to point out two references made to me in the article.

First, Noorani should have mentioned that I had also said in my letter
to The Times of India that "he will therefore have to look for another
Cabinet Secretary". This would have clarified that my intention was
that I would rather vacate the post of Cabinet Secretary than sign the
notification.

Secondly, the reference to the 1989 general elections. I do not know
the basis on which it is mentioned that "and that the announcements in
that behalf should be made by the Commission forthwith and before 2.00
p.m. on that date, in any case". This was not my belief at all. In an
article I wrote on T.N. Seshan, published in November 1994, I have
said that "I can only write about late Peri Shastri because I knew him
well. It required a lot of courage to stand up to a strong Prime
Minister like Rajiv Gandhi who decided to appoint two Election
Commissioners obviously to control Peri Shastri. Seshan may say that
he was not consulted here but he went out of his way to force the Law
Ministry to issue the notification urgently. When Rajiv Gandhi decided
to announce the general elections, an urgent Cabinet meeting was held
when the Cabinet approved the proposal. Seshan as Cabinet Secretary
should have been sent to Peri Shastri to convey the decision, but
Rajiv Gandhi said, 'let us not send the bull into the China shop. Let
Deshmukh go and settle it in his own quiet way.' I accordingly went
across after sending a message to Peri Shastri. When I entered his
room, I found him agitated, saying that he would not be dictated to by
the Government in fixing the dates for the elections. There was a
sharp exchange between us and tempers rose. I then decided to keep
quiet and let Peri Shastri blow off steam. When he quietened down I
convinced him that the Government was right in suggesting the dates as
it had to make various administrative arrangements. Ultimately, the
notification was issued accordingly."

This should make it clear that I was not the "civil servant who was
sent as an errand boy". My brief was to persuade Peri Shastri to agree
to the Government's suggestion. It should also be added that at that
time I was not a serving civil servant but was re-employed to hold the
post in the Prime Minister's Office.

B.G. Deshmukh
Mumbai

A.G. Noorani writes:

I was not called upon to mention, as B.G. Deshmukh insists, that he
had asked the President "to look for another Cabinet Secretary". His
intimation to President Zail Singh that he would not notify any order
dismissing Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 as Prime Minister, was wrong enough.
It was not his place to do so; least of all ask the President "to look
for" a substitute especially since the office is in the bounty of the
Prime Minister.

As for the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the words in quotes are taken
from Justice P.B. Sawant's judgment in the case brought by one of the
two Election Commissioners whom Rajiv Gandhi appointed to overrule
Peri Shastri, the CEC (S.S. Dhanoa vs Union of India & Ors. (1991) 3
Supreme Court Cases 567 at pages 581-582, para 22).

Deshmukh confirms my comment. It was based on Justice Sawant's
reference to his mission as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
It is pointless to shift the blame to T.N. Seshan, then Cabinet
Secretary, when he himself carried out an order he knew to be illegal
and politically immoral. On his own showing, there was "a sharp
exchange" between him and the CEC Peri Shastri and "tempers rose".

This would not have happened unless a zealous Deshmukh had tried to
force the upright Peri Shastri to accept the election dates
peremptorily urged by Rajiv Gandhi. He relented because the two
Election Commissioners had been appointed to overrule him. "The bull
in the China shop" could hardly have performed worse than Deshmukh
himself did at the meeting. Significantly, Deshmukh has not a word of
criticism of the man who sent him, Rajiv Gandhi. His Cabinet's
decision was palpably illegal and politically immoral.

Judging by his own account, Deshmukh was far worse than the "civil
servant who was sent as an errand boy". Both Seshan and Deshmukh
carried out an illegal order with competitive enthusiasm. Servitors
while in service, lecturers on retirement. The Constitution makes the
CEC an umpire between the ruling party and the others. It is his
prerogative to fix the dates. Two of the foremost civil servants of
the day tried to suborn him.

Ban all Senas

The twin massacres by the Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district are a
testament to V.D. Savarkar's call to "'militarise Hinduism". As the
blood of 12 Dalits (from Khoja Narayanpur, February 10) and of 23
Dalits (Shankarbigha, January 25) flows in central Bihar, the Sangh
(more like, Jang) Parivar offers its regret from one side of its
mouth, while it is gleeful on the other.

The Progressive Forum of India (PFI) condemns the Ranvir Sena for its
violence as well as the Jang Parivar (notably the BJP) and the
erstwhile Bihar Government for their studied negligence.

The Ranvir Sena, like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra three decades
earlier, was set up in 1994 to counter the growth of Left
organisations in central Bihar. From the first, the organisation was
prone to violence. Before its formation, landlords (many of whom are
Bhumihars) formed private militias that massacred, for instance, seven
Dalits in Sawanbigha village in Jehanabad in 1991. In December 1997,
the Ranvir Sena killed over 60 people in Lakshmanpur-Bathe, again in
Jehanabad. Further, on January 9, 1999, a Ranvir Sena leader announced
that his fascist band planned to conduct a massacre larger than that
in Lakshmanpur in the near future. Neither the State Government nor
the Jang Parivar did anything against him. Progressive forces in Bihar
and elsewhere underscored the danger, but nothing was done. In fact,
The Times of India reported that Vinod Sharma (Ranvir Sena) travelled
with a police officer to Arwal at the time of the massacre. The PFI
condemns this nexus between the landlord militia, the Jang Parivar and
the institutions of the state.

The Ranvir Sena has been set up to undermine popular movements. It
resorts to violence and to authoritarian acts against the oppressed.
The PFI offers its support to those who feel the strong arm of such
organisations and we call upon all progressive people to condemn and
challenge such fascist bands.

Vijay Prashad
(for the Progressive Forum for India)
received on e-mail

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1605/16051120.htm

Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

ANALYSIS

HOW ADVANI WENT SCOT-FREE

A.G. NOORANI

The Rae Bareli court judgment in the Ayodhya case discharging Deputy
Prime Minister L.K. Advani is against the weight of the entire
evidence and violates the law as declared by the Supreme Court.

VINO JOHN

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.

THE Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna
Advani's discharge in the Ayodhya case on September 19, 2003, was no
"honourable acquittal" after a full trial on the merits. It was a
gross miscarriage of justice, which precludes a proper trial. A
perusal of the English translation of the 130-page judgment in Hindi
by Vinod Kumar Singh, Special Judicial Magistrate, Rae Bareli, reveals
that the grounds for his discharge could well apply also to other
accused such as Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Uma Bharati. Conversely, the grounds on which charges
will be framed against them apply also to Advani. The judgment is
utterly unconvincing in the distinction it draws between him and the
other accused, including Ashok Singhal, V.H. Dalmiya, Giriraj Kishore,
Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara.

The judgment is against the weight of the entire evidence and violates
the law as declared by the Supreme Court. The reasoning is laboured to
a degree. It must be emphasised that what the Magistrate pronounced
was an order of discharge at the stage of framing the charge not an
acquittal on merits after a trial. A discharge does not bar another
prosecution, an acquittal does.

In the face of such a judgment the behaviour of the Central Bureau of
Investigation, the prosecuting agency, was true to form. It did not
move the High Court for quashing the order. The prescribed period of
limitation is three months. The CBI bestirred itself ostentatiously
thereafter in view of public censure. Rajnish Sharma reported in The
Hindustan Times (December 31, 2003) that "CBI sources claim that the
agency's top-brass still differ on whether to move the High Court or
not. Initially, it was decided that the CBI should not go in for an
appeal against Advani. However, faced with mounting criticism for
having failed to appeal against the lower court order, the opinion
seems to have changed.

RAMESH SHARMA

Murli Manohar Joshi.

"While announcing its decision, even the Rae Bareli court had strongly
criticised the agency's role as it felt the CBI had deliberately
weakened the case against Advani. Agency sources now claim that once
the courts reopen, they will file a petition explaining the reasons
for the delay."

IT is necessary to recall the background in order to appreciate the
judgment. The CBI had filed a charge-sheet in court against Advani and
other accused, on October 5, 1993, charging them with conspiring to
demolish the mosque. Two courts found that a prima facie case on this
charge did exist - Special Judicial Magistrate Mahipal Sirohi on
August 27, 1994, while committing the accused to the Sessions Court,
and the Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow, Jugdish Prasad Srivastava,
on September 9, 1997, while framing the charges.

The Sessions Judge concluded that "in the present case a criminal
conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of Ramjanmabhoomi/Babri
Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990 and
was completed on 6.12.1992". Advani and others hatched criminal
conspiracies "to demolish the disputed premises on different times at
different places". A prima facie case was found to charge Bal
Thackeray, Advani and others, including Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma
Bharati, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Advani and his colleagues, Joshi and Uma Bharati, faced two charges in
two courts - delivering inflammatory speeches on December 6, 1992,
prior to the demolition, and hatching a conspiracy to demolish the
mosque from 1990. Immediately after the mosque was demolished, two
first information reports were filed in the same police station. One
was filed at 5-15 p.m. against "lakhs of unknown kar sevaks" for
offences committed at 12-15 p.m.; mainly the demolition. Spread of
communal hate was one of them. Very properly, conspiracy was not
alleged since the facts were not known then and no particular person
was cited either. This was Crime No. 197 (demolition).

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Uma Bharati.

The next FIR, filed only 10 minutes later, was Crime No. 198
(speeches) against eight named persons - Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharati,
Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, V.H. Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar and
Ritambara. It alleged that they had delivered communally inflammatory
speeches at 10 a.m. prior to the demolition (Section 153A IPC). This
charge was common to both FIRs. FIR 198 (speeches) said also that
"during the speeches of these leaders, repeated indications (sic:
"incitement") were given to demolish the mosque. As a result, lakhs of
kar sevaks attacked and pulled down the disputed structure". The
leaders were named because their identities were known. Conspiracy was
properly not alleged in either FIR because it requires a long probe.
There were 47 other FIRs for offences against the media.

After the imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, the
demolition case (197) was assigned to the CBI while the State police
dealt with the speeches case (198). Both were parts of the same
transaction and were linked inseparably. Eventually, the CBI was
assigned the speeches case as well. It, therefore, submitted a
composite, damning charge-sheet in court on October 5, 1993. But there
was a technical flaw in the assignment of the cases to courts, which
was pointed out by Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court
on February 12, 2001. He struck down as invalid the reference of Case
198 (speeches) to the Lucknow court from the Rae Bareli court. His
judgment of February 12, 2001, upheld everything else, including the
joint charge-sheet. He thrice said that the defect was "curable" by
another notification after consulting the High Court. Obviously,
justice required that the two cases, 197 (demolition) and 198
(speeches), be tried together in one court.

Neither the Rajnath Singh government nor the succeeding Mayawati
regime had any intention of "curing the defect". Nor has Mulayam Singh
Yadav's government now. The High Court issued a notification on
September 28, 2002, assigning Case No.198 (speeches) to the Rae Bareli
court. On November 29, the Supreme Court upheld it, holding that no
one had a right to insist on a particular venue. It overlooked the
background, the mala fides and the obvious miscarriage of justice. A
review petition has been filed against this order. (vide the writer's
article, `Reprimand for delay', Frontline, March 30, 2001).

To be precise, Justice Bhalla upheld: 1) the Sessions Judge's order of
September 9, 1997, framing the charges in Case No. 197 (demolition);
2) the validity of Vijai Verma's appointment as Special Judge and his
cognisance of all cases (save No.198); 3) the notification of the
Special Court in Lucknow; 4) the CBI's investigation; and 5) the
consolidated charge-sheet of October 5, 1993. Even if the one
concerning the speeches of December 6, 1992, is dropped, the
conspiracy case survives.

C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Ashok Singhal.

But let alone a notification to cure the defect and ensure trial of
both the connected cases in one court, in the interests of sheer
justice, the course which the two cases took subsequently in different
courts was, to say the least, surprising. The High Court's ruling was
set at naught by the Sessions Judge at Lucknow, Srikant Shukla, on May
4, 2001, which he had no right to do. Justice Bhalla had merely struck
down the transfer of the speeches case (198) from Rae Bareli to
Lucknow. Shukla went beyond it and dropped even the conspiracy charge
in Case No.197(demolition) before him. The reasoning was tortuous. He
confined FIR 197 (demolition) to kar sevaks alone; ignored the
conspiracy charges and exonerated the leaders. They were held
accountable only in FIR 198 (speeches) - which he could not try. He
wrote: "Two distinct cases were registered which are different. In the
first FIR were kar sevaks who pulled down the structure... and in the
other FIR are conspirators/abettors who instigated the kar sevaks.
This way, the State has considered both the cases different and
separate and has treated them so."

This was in flat contradiction to Justice Bhalla's judgment. What
Shukla did was to transpose the conspiracy charge, which properly
belonged to the demolition case (197) which he was trying, to the
speeches case (198), which he could not try. Having done so, he
dropped proceedings on the conspiracy charge against the eight accused
leaders who also figured in the speeches case and 13 others besides
who did not. Thrown back at the Rae Bareli court like a shuttle cock,
the conspiracy charge was buried there by the CBI two years later in
its charge-sheet of May 30, 2003. On September 1, the apex court
issued notices to Advani and other accused on a petition challenging
this omission. The CBI had curiously moved the High Court on June 19,
2001, against Shukla's order. On August 6, 2003, Justice N.K. Mehrotra
ordered stay of proceedings in the Lucknow court till September 24.

But the conspiracy charge cannot vanish so easily. It covers events
since 1990. Abetment by incitement occurred on December 6, 1992.
Shukla's reference to "conspirators/abettors who instigated" truncates
the conspiracy charge - and drops it. The CBI's joint charge-sheet of
October 5, 1993, explicitly said: "Investigations revealed that on
5.12.1992, a secret meeting was held at the residence of Shri Vinay
Katiyar which was attended by S/Shri L.K. Advani, Pawan Pandey, etc.
Wherein a final decision to demolish the disputed structure was
taken." Sessions Judge J.P. Srivastava's order of September 9, 1997
also mentioned this very date. He traced the beginning of the
conspiracy to 1990, how it picked up speed in 1991 and the stages
leading to its culmination with the demolition of the mosque. In each
stage Advani's role was narrated in detail. "Conspiracy is planned
secretly," he remarked. It cannot be limited to the public speeches on
December 6, as Shukla did. The High Court upheld the validity of the
conspiracy charge.

TWO recent disclosures support the charge. It has been revealed that
on October 1, 1993, the Home Ministry itself sanctioned the CBI's
charge. It mentioned an interesting detail: "In pursuance of the
criminal conspiracy", Pramod Mahajan and Ashok Singhal met Bal
Thackeray on November 21, 1992, and secured the Sena's participation
in the "kar seva". On June 7, 2003, five of the accused alleged
instigation by the leaders. R.N. Das, one of the priests at the site
where the idols were placed inside the mosque before its demolition,
told the media: "I was a witness in a meeting held by Advani and
others... on December 5 night" - and spilled the beans. Justice Bhalla
remarked: "According to the prosecution, the accused persons are
either rich, influential or politically strong." He recalled the
Supreme Court's remarks in the case of the former Chief Minister of
Karnataka, S. Bangarappa: "The slow motion becomes much slower motion
when politically powerful or rich and influential persons figures as
accused."

The demolition case (197) was thus put out of the way. All that the
leaders faced was the speeches case (198) alone. On May 30, 2003, the
CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the Rae Bareli court trying
the speeches case. On July 5, the CBI's advocate, S.S. Gandhi, opened
the case and cited statements by witnesses testifying to inflammatory
speeches and to instigation of the kar sevaks to demolish the mosque.
He said he would produce audio and videocassettes as evidence. On July
30, astonishingly, the CBI said that "the video cassettes did not show
them giving any speech". Special Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar Singh
delivered judgment on September 19, 2003, in this case.

He begins by reproducing the FIR in case No. 198 which is revealing:
"I, Sub Inspector Ganga Prasad Tewari, in-charge of the police post
Ramjanmabhoomi, police station Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, was engaged
today, on 06.12.92, in maintenance of peace and order during the kar
seva organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Checking duty near the
disputed Ram Chabutara and Sheshavatar Mandir, I reached the meeting
place in Ram Katha Kunj at about 10 a.m. where the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad General Secretary Shri Ashok Singhal, Joint Secretary Shri
Giriraj Kishore, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi,
Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and BJP M.P. from Faizabad and Bajrang Dal
convenor Shri Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara, etc. all
the speakers were seated on the dais. The above mentioned speakers
were inciting the kar sevaks by their incendiary speeches; their
slogan was `Ek dhakkar aur do, Babri Masjid tod do,' and destroy this
khandahar (rubble) that is symbolic of the Mughal age slavery. Incited
by their incendiary speeches, the kar sevaks were now and then raising
slogans - "Jab katue kaate jaayenge, tab Ram Ram chillayenge; and
Ramlala, hum aayenge, Mandir yahin banayenge." The intention to
destroy the mosque was again and again indicated (in) these leaders'
speeches. As a consequence, lakhs of kar sevaks broke through the
barricades and destroyed the disputed structure, which has hurt the
national unity seriously. The said event was seen, apart from the
police and administration officials and employees, by the audience and
journalists. Therefore, the report must be entertained and necessary
action taken."

The secret meeting of December 5 was followed by the speeches on
December 6 which incited the demolition. The rest followed as planned.
The judgment recites statements by eyewitnesses on the leaders'
speeches, before the Babri mosque was demolished, as recorded by the
police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, four video
cassettes, three audio cassettes, photographs and news reports. It is
well settled that at the stage of framing the charges all that the
court has to consider is whether a prima facie case is made out. It is
not to enter into a trial on the merits. Section 227 of CrPC says that
if the Judge considers "that there is not sufficient ground for
proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused", as
distinct from an acquittal which can follow only after a trial on the
merits of the charges.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that "even a very strong suspicion
founded upon material before the Magistrate, which leads him to form a
presumptive opinion as to the existence of the factual ingredients
constituting the offence alleged, may justify the framing of charge".
Nor is the court bound to consider evidence produced by the accused.
It has to consider whether the prosecution case, if unrebutted,
establishes a case in law. That is what a prima facie case means in
law.

KAMAL NARANG

Sadhvi Ritambara.

The sole issue before the Magistrate, therefore, was whether the
police statements produced before him by the prosecution established
such a case. Thirty-odd such statements are reproduced in the
judgment; some contradict others. The contradiction is to be resolved
only in the trial proper; not while framing the charges unless, of
course, the ones against the accused are manifestly untrue or absurd.
In this case, they were not.

Consider the very first two statements which the judgment quotes:
"Shri Ram Kripal Das, disciple of Mahant late Bharat Das, PS
Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, has made, in the main, the following
statement under Section 161 CrPC: "On 6.12.1992 I remained near my
temple the whole day. Through my door and the windows inside, sounds
coming from the Ram Katha Kunj and words (like) Sheshavatar Mandir,
vivadit dhancha (disputed structure) vivadit chabutara (disputed
platform) can be heard. That day, a crowd of kar sevaks had started to
gather since morning. The kar sevaks were raising slogans and loudly
saying: today we would not stop even if some leader tries to stop us.
We will demolish it today... On the Ram Katha Kunj side, leaders were
making speeches one by one that a temple has to be built. There was a
lot of noise. Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Murli
Manohar Joshi, etc. spoke. All the leaders were making enthusiastic
speeches. I had seen with my own eyes the above leaders going towards
the temple. When there was a hullabaloo and they were demolishing the
disputed structure, none of the leaders was preventing them. If these
leaders had told the kar sevaks not to break any dome, they would have
obeyed it, because they had called the kar sevaks to come here. Vinay
Katiyar was much active from the very beginning and was prepared to do
everything right or wrong for temple construction" (emphasis added,
throughout).

Dhanpat Ram Yadav made the following statement under Section 161 CrPC:
"On 6.12.92, I was on the roof of the Sita Rasoi (Sita's kitchen) from
early morning. That day I saw Vinay Katiyar, Lal Krishna Advani, Uma
Bharati, etc. coming in a crowd of kar sevaks. They were making
speeches that were provoking the kar sevaks, saying Mandir bana kar
jaayenge, Hindu Rashtra banayenge (we will leave after building a
temple and we will build a Hindu Rashtra). When the kar sevaks had
climbed the domes in large numbers and were demolishing them, none of
the leaders prevented anyone or told to stop. All stood silent... "
Another 10 statements were in the same vein followed by that of
Chandra Kishore Mishra who said "inflamed by the very speeches of
these leaders, the kar sevaks brought down the structure". Advani was
specifically mentioned by him as one of them.

The Additional Superintendent of Police, Faizabad, Anju Gupta was
detailed to provide security to Advani. She saw people running towards
the mosque with tools in their hands. If she could see that so, one
would think, could "the leaders". She said "Then Shri Lal Krishna
Advani asked me what was happening inside the temple. I asked the
control room and came to know that kar sevaks had entered it and were
busy demolishing the structure; then I told him the same. I also told
him that many people had got injured and were being brought near the
Ram Katha Kunj for treatment. Then Advani told me: I want to go and
tell them to come down. I conferred with S.P. Intelligence and
Commandant of the 15th Battalion who were with Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi. He said it was not proper to go into the crowd as these people
were inflamed. Shri Advani talked to his comrades and told me that he
won't go but somebody would have to be taken there. Then I sent Uma
Bharati and two others there. The crowd surrounded my jeep near Dorahi
Kuwan and did not allow us to go ahead. Then Uma Bharati and we
proceeded on foot. I saw after sometime that people had come down from
the domes. They were talking of doing the kar seva from below, not
from above. Advani told me he wanted to talk to the DM. He also told
about talking to the Chief Minister, but I pleaded helplessness. One
person, who had come with Uma Bharati, was making fun of the Supreme
Court. After some time, Advani and Joshi went to the office of Ram
Katha Kunj, and told me they were talking to the Chief Minister. I saw
fire and smoke rising at all sides in Ayodhya. Advani told me... [page
92 bottom: seems some lines are missing here]... began to distribute
sweets... . Advani came back at about six and a half. With him there
were Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal and Vinay
Katiyar etc. About the speeches from the stage, I have already told. I
remember the atmosphere became surcharged with Advani's arrival.
People were raising slogans, but I could not hear any other slogan
because of being busy with other works. Joshi had spoken earlier, he
had said whatever Narasimha Rao could say, the temple would be
constructed here. I did not see these leaders making any attempt to
prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure. Advani
was sad that people were falling from the domes and dying... on the
fall of the first, second and third domes, Uma Bharati and Ritambara
had embraced each other; sweets were also distributed. The two had
also embraced the males. Embracing Advani, Joshi and S.C. Dixit, Uma
Bharati and Ritambara were expressing their happiness. On the fall of
the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were
congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness."

Vinay Katiyar.

Renu Mittal confirmed reports in The Hindu and The Indian Express
(December 7, 1992): "L.K. Advani began to address the kar sevaks over
the mike from the protection of the Ram Katha Kunj platform. In the
rush of shouts and the milling confusion he could be overheard telling
the kar sevaks to block all entry points to Ayodhya to stop anyone
entering the town. He also announced that the kar seva that begun
today would only end once the mandir nirman was completed... . At 3-30
p.m. the left dome of the Babri Masjid was demolished. Many of the kar
sevaks were injured and some of them were buried under the falling of
the debris of the dome."

Triyugi Narayan Tewari told the police: "The RSS workers also climbed
the domes and demolished the disputed structure. Sh. Ashok Singhal,
L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya
Dharmendra, Sadhvi Ritambara were also present there and were inciting
the kar sevaks."

A few statements, about 5 or 6, averred that Advani urged the kar
sevaks to climb down; evidently for their own protection. For, some
were buried in the debris.

Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.

The Magistrate's observations on the course the case took are
significant. "This is an indisputable fact that the High Court had
before itself a combined charge-sheet in cases 197/92 (demolition) and
198/92 (speeches) and, compared to this court, the High Court was
presented with much more evidence/statements of witnesses. Apart from
it, the High Court had before it the charge under Section 120 IPC
(conspiracy), which was not included in the charge-sheet filed in this
court. After the said judgment, an order was passed by the Special
Judge (Ayodhya Prakaran), Lucknow, in which 21 accused were recognised
as accused in case 198/92 (speeches) and proceedings against them were
ordered to be stopped. These included the eight accused named in the
charge-sheet filed in this court. Thereafter, the CBI requested the
State government to rectify the said shortcoming in the notification
dated 8/10/93, but the said shortcoming was not rectified by the State
government. After that, special writ petitions were filed by Bhure Lal
and three others against the said judgment of the High Court, on which
the Supreme Court issued its judgment/order on 29/11/2002. Under the
said order of the Supreme Court, a petition has been filed by the CBI
in this court constituted under the former notification, on which the
CBI was directed to get the papers in case 198/92 (speeches) and
present in this court. The record of case 198/92 (speeches) was
received and then the CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet. At
present the case is being heard in this court under the Supreme Court
order dated 29/11/2002. Thus this court has considered the material
presented to it about this charge. Statements of some more witnesses
were considered after the CBI filed a charge-sheet and some evidence
along with it and, later, after its advance investigation."

THUS the CBI itself dropped the conspiracy charge (Section 120 IPC).
The Magistrate lists some 19 considerations for framing the charges.
Two of them read thus: (2) "If the case falls in the area of doubt, it
cannot take the place of proof at the conclusion of the hearing. But
if there is serious doubt in the initial stage and it leads the court
to think that there is ground to believe that the accused has
committed the offence, then the court is not allowed to say that
enough ground is not there for proceeding against the accused... (8)
If material has been presented before the court and that creates
serious doubt against the accused and has not been adequately
explained, it is justified for the court to frame charges and start
hearing." He violated both.

He recorded: "In the videocassettes presented to the court, no leader
is seen making a speech during the demolition of the said structure on
6/12/92. From a perusal of all the statements under Section 161 CrPC
and the available material, it appears prima facie that there were two
groups during the event - one was demolishing the disputed structure
while the other was, along with the security forces, attempting to
prevent the demolition of the disputed structure. The prosecution
witness Shri Ram Kripal Das has said in his statement, among other
things, that the kar sevaks were greatly excited and loudly telling
that (they) would not stop even if some leader tried to stop them.

AJIT KUMAR/AP

Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

"In her statement, Anju Gupta has specifically said that on 6/12/92
she was deployed for Lal Krishna Advani's security. She has also said
that the S.P. Intelligence and the Commandant of the 15th Battalion
were with Murli Manohar Joshi Ms. Anju Gupta is an IPS officer and, as
is evident from her statement, she was deployed for Lal Krishna
Advani's security. Therefore, Anju Gutpa's statement is extremely
important regarding L.K. Advani. She has said the following in her
statement: "I had seen some boys advancing towards the disputed
structure from the Kuber Tola side, with tools in their hands. Then
Shri Lal Krishna Advani asked me what was happening inside the
temple... ."

"From this statement, the prima facie conclusion emerges that at that
time L.K. Advani did not know that demolition of the disputed
structure had started. Besides, Advani's contention in Anju Gupta's
statement that `I want to go and tell them to come down' generates
another view contrary to the prima facie charge against him. In her
statement, Anju Gupta has not indicated any such contention by any
other leader. She has also said Advani had asked her what was
happening at other places and she had said she did not know. The fact
of Advani inquiring about what was happening at other places prima
facie reveals his ignorance." How does his ignorance of what was
happening at "other places" in the city prove his ignorance of what
was happening before his and everyone else's eyes - demolition of the
mosque. His reasoning is palpably wrong. First, there were no "two
groups" of leaders, implying that Advani belonged to one that tried to
pacify the mob while the rest instigated it. Who were Advani's allies
in the pacificatory effort or was he alone in this? There were in fact
two sets of statements before the court. It is not the number but the
quality that matters. Even so, the overwhelming majority explicitly
implicated Advani along with the rest as an instigator. The minority
is not only small but pathetically laboured in its apologia.

Secondly, from a mere query by Advani to Anju Gupta, Vinod Kumar Singh
jumps to the astonishing conclusion that "L.K. Advani did not know
that demolition of the disputed mosque had started." The demolition
was surely there for all to see. The query was "what was happening
inside the temple" (sic.). His concern was not to stop the demolition,
else he would not have urged barricading of the roads to prevent
Central forces from arriving. The reason for his disquiet was
different as she clearly mentioned: "Advani was sad that people were
falling from the domes and dying."

DOUGLAS E CURRAN/AFP

Kar sevaks stop the Babri Masjid five hours before the structure was
demolished on December 6, 1992.

Thirdly, the Magistrate holds that "Anju Gupta has not indicated any
such contention (sic.) by any other leader." On the strength of this
solitary statement, Advani alone is exonerated. Her statement itself
is palpably misconstrued. Lastly, the Magistrate embarked on the
evaluation of the evidence. He singles out her statement, misconstrues
it, and ignores the enormous bulk, which clubbed Advani with the rest.
This is in clear breach of the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.

The Magistrate holds: "On the basis of the material presented to the
court, and having considered the extensive possibilities and the total
impact of the evidence in the light of both sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that two views appear probable only about the prima facie
charge brought against the accused Lal Krishna Advani. One view is
that, prima facie, the crime was caused by Lal Krishna Advani to be
committed and the other view is that, prima facie, the crime was not
caused to be committed by him. After having considered the available
material and the two sides' arguments, in my opinion, suspicion but no
serious suspicion, seems to exist about the accused Lal Krishna Advani
having caused the crime to be committed under Sections 147/149/153A/
153B/505 IPC. On the contrary, having considered the available
material on record in the light of the two sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that serious suspicion exists about the crime having been
caused under Section 147/149/153A/153B/505 IPC by the other accused
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya
Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi
Ritambara, which the said accused have been unable to explain... . As
per the above discussion, as two views are possible regarding the
accused Lal Krishna Advani's offence and there exists only suspicion
(keval sandeh) that he caused the said crime to be committed,
therefore under the said ruling the accused Lal Krishna Advani
deserves to be acquitted from the charge in the case in question.

"As per the above discussion, serious suspicion (ghor sandeh) exists
that the crime was caused to be committed by the accused Dr. Murli
Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya Giriraj
Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara, which
the said accused have been unable to explain, therefore in the light
of the said ruling, a prima facie case is made against the accused Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi, and the rest."

The Magistrate, in effect, tried Advani on the merits instead of
framing charges against him since a prima facie case was disclosed
warranting a full trial. Only at the end is the accused entitled to
benefit of the doubt. The reasoning is tortuous in the extreme. The
conclusion is manifestly demonstrably wrong. Magistrate Vinod Kumar
Singh's judgment prevents Advani's trial on grounds that are
manifestly wrong. Criminal proceedings in the Ayodhya case have taken
a bizarre course. In the Sessions Court at Lucknow, the Judge Srikant
Shukla drops the conspiracy charge on May 4, 2001, in breach of the
High Court's ruling on February 12, 2001. In the Rae Bareli court the
CBI drops that charge in its "supplementary" charge-sheet on May 30,
2003. What are we coming to? The civil proceedings are as disquieting;
especially after the order for excavation by the Special Bench of the
High Court last March. As for the CBI's role the less said the
better.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130002204700.htm

Resolved Question
Hindu Hate Crimes?

Why doesn't anyone ever point out the Hindu hate crimes against
Muslims in India and Pakistan while they are talking about Religious
Extremism?
3 years ago

Additional Details
Thomas, please see answer below, thanks
3 years ago

by Thomas B Member since:
June 12, 2007
Total points:
5188 (Level 5)


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Dear Please list some.

Most Hindu attacks in India are retaliation to what the stupid Muslims
start.

Please show us a proof of Muslim oppression with facts to support your
claim.

Whatever Kalebow has stated comes from an extremist platform christian
news network. I am a Christian and still don't buy this BS spread by
the Evangelical Christian Media. Just the same I don't buy that
Muslims in Pakistan want peace.

All what Kalebow has said has supposedly happened in Burma and Sri
Lanka, he does not answer your question about India, please provide
proof of Hindu crimes against Muslims in Pakistan? are you joking.

When India and Pakistan were separated in 1947 Hindu population in
Pakistan was more than 14% today entire Pakistan is has less than 2%
minorities Pakistan is 98% Muslim State.

Where as India at Sepration had a 7% Muslim population which today is
more than 12% and 12% Muslims in India equal to the entire population
of Pakistan.

Please check your facts about ethnic cleansing then talk.
3 years ago
60% 3 Votes

Other Answers (4)

by MikeInRI Member since:
July 06, 2006
Total points:
87738 (Level 7)

Because for most people in the west they never hear about them and
lets face it Hindus are not mass killing Christians and Jews like
Muslims have been trying to do - it just does get the interest of most
in the west. Most actions taken by Hindus - although are bad - are
usually retalitory in nature which makes thems to a certain extent
seem justified to some.

Good Luck!!!
3 years ago
0% 0 Votes
3 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by Cathy
Member since:
May 09, 2007
Total points:
10890 (Level 6)

Because there comes a point in discussing Religious Extremism where
you just have to start leaving religions and incidents out--EVERY
religion has zealots that commit such crimes.
3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by wwhy
Member since:
May 03, 2007
Total points:
1734 (Level 3)

The Buddhist state of Burma openly plans to Abolish Christianity and
nobody calls them terrorists ?

The Burma Government May Move to Abolish Christianity With Buddhist
Support ?

Government officials have shut down churches in this capital city and
have disallowed the construction of new church buildings. The number
of bibles allowed for import is limited and in-country printing of
bibles and Christian literature is restricted.

"Some Buddhist monks came and started shouting, 'don't worship God
here – he has nothing to do with us,'" David said. "They said we were
trying to establish Christianity in the village and they did not want
it. The monks and others threw stones at us. They hit us like a hard
rain. Some of us were hit in the cheek, the neck and the forehead."

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/012607Bur

Report: Burma Plans to Wipe Out Christianity

A leaked secret document claims to reveal plans by the Burmese
military regime to wipe out Christianity in the southeast Asian
country.

Inside the memo were detailed instructions on how to force Christians
out of the country, according to Telegraph.

Instructions included imprisoning any person caught evangelizing,
capitalizing on the fact that Christianity is a non-violent religion.

"The Christian religion is very gentle," read the letter, according to
Telegraph, "Identify and utilize its weakness."

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has a Christian population of about four
percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Persecution against
Christians have come in the form of church burnings, forced conversion
to the state religion of Buddhism, and banning children of Christians
from school.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/200

Christian children forced to become Buddhist monks.

CHILDREN from Christian families in Burma, between the ages of five
and ten, have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist
monasteries. Once taken in, their heads have been shaved and they have
been trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_s

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ch

Buddhist Extremists Attack Christian-Run Children's Home in Sri Lanka

A 200-man mob, accompanied by extremist Buddhist monks, has attacked a
children's home, which was being run by the Dutch Reformed Church in
central Sri Lanka at the beginning of August.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation
which specialises in religious freedom, has reported that the mob
fiercely attacked the home, following which, they climbed to the roof
and planted a Buddhist flag on the roof.

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(CSW), said: "We are extremely concerned about the continuing violence
against Christians in Sri Lanka. This latest incident, in which child
care workers have been threatened, is unacceptable and we urge the Sri
Lankan authorities to bring the perpetrators of such violence to
justice."

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/bu

Hindu and Buddhists united to opose Christian evangelism

Hindu and Buddhist priests from across Asia are uniting to oppose
Christian proselytism. The 1,000 delegates to a three-day conference
in Lumbini, Nepal, discussed Pope John Paul II's recent call to
evangelize Asia. Evangelism constitutes "a war against Hindus and
Buddhists" and is a "spiritual crime," they said.

Hindus attacking Christian churches and
Reports of Christian persecution in Nepal continue

http://www.wtcf.org/www.viamission.org/n

Buddhist Cambodia Limits Christian Activities :

Cambodia's government issued a directive preventing Christians from
promoting their religion in public places, or using money or other
means to persuade people to convert, officials said Tuesday.

Cambodian Buddhists generally tolerate other religions, but last year
about 300 Buddhist villagers DESTROYED a partially built Christian
church near Phnom Penh.

Also last year, a group of Christian worshippers was caught
distributing sweets to young people in the countryside while trying to
convert them, Sun Kim Hun said. Such activities are illegal.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire

INDIA (Newsroom) – Six Christian missionaries participating in a
gospel campaign called "Love Ahmedabad" were beaten so savagely in the
state of Gujarat last week that one of the men may lose his arms and
legs.

Members of the Hyderabad-based Operation Mobilization (OM) were
distributing Bibles and religious tracts in Ahmedabad, about five
miles from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, the afternoon of May 5
when they were attacked by members of the Hindu extremist groups
Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Operation Mobilization
ships tons of Christian literature around the country. The assailants
also burned copies of the Bible and tracts.

http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/

Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus

Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the
two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur
town.

News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making
him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The
crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and
handed them over to police.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/

The violence of Buddhist extremists it's being compared to the killing
fields of Cambodia. In Sri Lanka religion has become mixed with
politics and nationalism - creating a toxic brew of hatred and fear.
They are…… forcibly trying to convert people to Buddhism and forcing
people to kneel down to declare Buddha is our god! Read about it

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=7

3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 2 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by
anser_qu... Member since:
January 22, 2007
Total points:
1489 (Level 3)

great answer Thomas...
Unfortunately these bigots that make these false calims only see
though their lens and are not mature enough to realise the facts..
3 years ago

Any my Hindu brother will accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru,
after his crime...? if s why..?.?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As4N.azjWH.QVon7PCP20wjd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072451AAYK8du
Any one accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru, after his crime...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AotF_sqWOe_Lk7tfFDNher7d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072237AAd8GeG

Christians, can you give several examples of scriptures (to add to
this) that show us how precious...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnF9GzIAaTjwzchT.UEaegHd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072220AAxqgd2

Why do religious people think that suicide is a sin?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApdmH190JzBD8onJU9H2_W3d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072151AAI7dpX

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070724133507AAtHOJI

THE OTHER HALF
From the land of hate
KALPANA SHARMA

`We have found a lot of happiness here,' said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?....
The story of 19 young Muslim women from Gujarat.

ON the surface they looked like any group of college girls. A little
conservative, perhaps, compared to their counterparts in Mumbai. But
these were not just college girls. You could tell if you looked more
closely, if you looked into their eyes, if you noticed the anxiety.

Nineteen young Muslim women from Gujarat with 19 stories to tell. All
of them unexceptionally disturbing and tragic. They were invited to
visit Mumbai by Aawaz-e-Niswan, a remarkable organisation that works
with Muslim women in Mumbai and is now extending its work to women in
other cities. The very ordinary, mostly lower middle class Muslim
women from this organisation, many of whom have been personally seared
by communal riots such as those that tore Mumbai apart in 1992-93,
decided to reach out to their sisters in Gujarat after the communal
carnage of 2002. They visited some of the worst affected areas; they
heard the stories from women who did not know how they would pick up
the threads of their lives again. And they decided that they would do
something for the younger women, many of whom expressed a
determination to continue with their education, to seek professional
qualifications and to work and be independent.

For some of the girls from Dahod, Fatehpura, Jalod and Vadodara, even
travelling in a train was a novel experience. The five from Fatehpura,
a small town bordering Rajasthan, had never seen a film in a cinema
theatre. The women from Jalod said there was a theatre in their town,
but women never went there. So one of the highpoints of their visit to
Mumbai was seeing a film in a theatre. They could not get over the
fact that as women they could do this.

Also for the first time, these women travelled around the city by
night. Mumbai by night, or any city by night, was something they could
not have imagined doing in their wildest dreams. Yet they went around
and no one looked at them strangely. They were just some among
thousands of men and women who inhabit Mumbai's public spaces till all
hours of the night.

"We have found a lot of happiness here," said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?
"The love we see on the faces here we don't see there," said another.
"We never get izzat (respect) anywhere in Gujarat," said another. It
was interesting to see how the very anonymity of a big city can mean
so much to people who live surrounded by hate.

That hate lurks around every turn, they said. Everyday they see on the
streets the perpetrators of the crimes that led to the death and
destruction of their community. "Even now if we pass by, they shout at
us, use bad language," said a primary school teacher from Godhra. "We
can see our things, our furniture, even our clothes, being used by
other people," said a student from Fatehpura. She broke down as she
spoke of how her house was burnt and looted, forcing her family to run
across the border to Rajasthan.

If there is one good thing that has come out of this evil, say many of
the girls, it is the increasing emphasis on women's education. "We
girls thought that if we had been educated, we could have taken a good
job and supported our families," said one. Families with no earning
member left did not get anything more than a meagre compensation.
This, she said, forced many parents to realise the value of education
and professional training.

So what did they want to do once they graduated? Most said they wanted
to become teachers. But at least two said they wanted to join the
police.

But the down side is that many girls never had a chance to make that
choice. With parents worried about the future of their daughters in
the immediate aftermath of the violence, many girls were married off
to men they had never met at the relief camps. It is unlikely that
these young women will have the freedom to travel to Mumbai at the
invitation of a women's group, to go to the theatre, to wander around
the city at night, to travel in trains and buses.

Life for the Muslim women of Gujarat, as was evident from the way
these 19 spoke, consists of "earlier" and "now". "Earlier", they had
Hindu friends, went to each other's homes, even celebrated each
other's festivals. "Now" this is not possible, they are even afraid to
go through Hindu areas and the question of enjoying each other's
festivals does not arise. "Even today we are told, Pakistan is yours,
go to Pakistan. The Hindus have come back to the city, the Muslims
have moved out. India has already been divided but now even our city
of Vadodara is divided into India and mini-Pakistan," said Nilofer.

Just a day before we met these women, the Supreme Court had ordered
the reopening of over 2,000 cases filed during the communal trouble of
2002 that the local police had closed. A 10-member committee has been
set up.

The process is forcing all of us to revisit the horror of those days.
The arrest of Police Sub-Inspector R.J. Patil, for instance, who
admitted that he had burnt 13 bodies of the victims of what is known
as the Ambika Society massacre, without sending specimens for forensic
analysis, is only the beginning of more gruesome details that will
emerge.

Yet, even this tentative beginning represents hope for many Muslims in
Gujarat. Said Nilofer from Vadodara, "Even if these cases are
reopened, and regardless of whether there is justice or not, at least
in front of society these people will be named." She felt that the
arrest of men like Patil was an important gesture for her traumatised
community.

E-mail the writer ksharma@thehindu.co.in

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/09/05/stories/2004090500290300.htm

No time for coffee in Copenhagen

TABISH KHAIR is not writing about the numerous lives lost in a
senseless and criminal act of violence on September 11. Instead, he
writes about the voices he has heard thereafter; a sound that has a
certain tone to it and which has set him wondering about abstract
hatred and prejudice.

THERE are moments that cleave Time into two. Everything that happens
afterwards happens in a different world. World War II was one such
moment for Europe. The suicide-hijack-crashing of four passenger
planes and the destruction of the World Trade Center is such a moment
for the world.

I will not write about the 5,000 lives lost in a senseless and
criminal act of violence. Such human loss escapes the limits of
language and representation. One can only stand silent in front of the
monuments of sorrow that tens of thousands - relatives, friends,
colleagues - will carry in their hearts for the rest of their lives.
It is a sorrow the rest of us can only share in silence.

I cannot write about silence. And I should not for, in Copenhagen, I
have been deluged with sound: the opinions of ordinary people, the
film-like coverage of the tragedy by Cable News Network (CNN), the
voices of commentators and politicians. Much of this sound had a
certain tone to it and that tone set me wondering. Is there much of a
difference between the terrorists who struck back at a group of
politicians by targeting tens of thousands of innocent people and
those voices that seem to be using the cruel act of a handful of
presumed Islamic terrorists to tarnish and blame entire populations of
Muslims and Arabs? Do not both the acts demonstrate the same type of
abstract hatred and prejudice?

But the questions never end. On the margins of time, in the split
space between worlds, one is always deluged with questions.

For example, the first Danish person who brought me news of the
tragedy said that he was against violence of any kind and added that
he would understand it if Americans decided to hit back. Why is it
that we always justify our own violence, while the violence of the
enemy is sheer sacrilege? Isn't that why there were shocking pictures
of some Palestinians celebrating: people who have become so used to
the idea of missiles being launched at their own buildings by Israeli
forces and the notion of reciprocal violence that they could not feel
the inhumanity of their celebration?

But, then, is this what we can write about: this spiral of violence
and inhumanity? Is this immense tragedy going to remain at such a
general level of discourse?

The answer seems to be "yes" if various media discussions in the West
are to be believed. But it has to be "no" if we are to salvage some
sense from the wanton destruction.

It is easy for us to sit here in our cosy sitting rooms in Copenhagen,
holding a cup of coffee, munching a biscuit, watching the tragedy
unfold almost as fluently as a film on the idiot box, and speak in
general terms. What we are doing is celebrating our own humanity, and
all human beings - even terrorists - are convinced of their own
superior humanity. Many of the most inhuman acts known to humanity
have been the consequence of such a conviction. We need to go beyond
it. We owe it to the victims of the tragedy to go beyond it.

The second person who called me with news of the tragedy was my
father: a devout Muslim doctor who has lived most of his life in a
small town in Bihar. He was shocked by the news. How could anyone do
this, he said again and again. The word he used was "anyone". I went
back to the TV and, in spite of the fact that no one knew anything
about the identities of the terrorists, I did not hear too many people
say "anyone". I heard "Muslim", "Islamic", "Middle Eastern", "Arab".

These were people who had already decided to exclude entire
populations from the circumference of their definitions of humanity.
My father's "anyone" had been reduced by many of these contributors to
"Arab" or "Muslim", even to the very type of an Arab or Muslim. I
could feel the irreligious "Muslim" in me cringe every time I heard
such discussions. I could feel my father being put in the dock.

It is so comfortable, this celebration of our own humanity. It can be
so inhuman, this celebration of our own humanity.

But what about violence?

Thomas Burnet, the late 17th century English divine, wrote that the
Roman Catholic Church persecuted prophets of Apocalyptic violence
(even though Apocalypse and the millennium were prophesied in the
Bible and, as such, should have been welcome to the church), because
it was in those days a church of privilege. Apocalyptic violence,
Burnet argued, was always the last resort of the persecuted and would
be disliked by those who "have lived always in pomp and prosperity".

Violence, in other words, is seldom a free choice. It is predicated
upon most individuals by circumstances. These individuals are usually
those who labour under an overpowering feeling of injustice and
deprivation. However senseless it might be, behind all violence lies
the rubble of shattered hopes, of real and imagined injustices, of
human desperation and, consequently, inhuman hatred. Let us not take
refuge in the easy excuse that we are against violence. For all of us,
given certain circumstances, are capable of violence or sympathy with
violence. While a thousand candles have been lit in Copenhagen for
those who died in the United States, let us also light a candle or two
for those who die - and thousands do every day, with or without
"Western" complicity - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda .... Let
us not traffic in the worth of human lives.

No, large descriptions like "violence" do not help if we stay confined
to that general level. Neither does the kind of cry for vengeance that
one heard in the voice of many Americans and Europeans. It is true
that we have to take a stand against violence. Not just violence of
one kind, we have to take a stand against all kinds of violence - the
violence of terrorists as well as the violence of State agencies,
physical violence that leads to the death of bystanders as well as
economic violence that leads to the starvation of millions in a world
that has enough to go around. More than enough.

It is time we in the West think a bit before we bite into the cake of
our affluence and drink the coffee of our civilised condemnation.

If general sentiments will not do, what, then, about the specific
lessons that we can draw from this tragedy?

One of the things that this outrage has demonstrated is the
ineffectiveness of any kind of military shield. The only shield that
can be effective is the shield of a more just world. And for the world
to be made just and equal, it not only needs some of the resources of
the affluent, it also has to be made democratic.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has made itself into the target of extremist
groups largely because it has tried to go solo or exert undue
influence in certain international quarters. The internal democracy of
the U.S. seldom gets translated into international democracy. Had
certain decisions been taken through the channels of the United
Nations (not a military alliance of the privileged, like the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)), the U.S. would have been only
one nation among many. The burden, the "blame" and the risks would
have been shared. There are advantages to democracy at the
international level, but it has to be true democracy. And the final
lesson is that of the dangers of abstract hatred and prejudice. The
act of one leader or a group cannot be blamed in a generalised way on
an entire people or country, as the terrorists seem to have done. But
this is a lesson that we should also remember every time someone uses
the dastardly act of a handful of presumed Islamic terrorists to
implicitly or explicitly blame entire populations of Muslims and
Arabs.

The crashes that reduced the World Trade Center to rubble and the two
terror-inducing plane crashes elsewhere have cleft our age into two.
On the other side of this smoking chasm of blood and bitterness, lies
another world. It can be a world in which all the mistakes of the past
- global inequality, socio-economic exploitation, lack of
international democracy, lack of national democracy and literacy in
some nations, prejudice, hatred - all these mistakes are consolidated
into a world of greater violence and suffering. Or we may, finally,
learn to work towards a world, a very different world, where we will
tackle not the consequences of senseless tragedies but the reasons for
them. A world in which we will condemn not only a certain kind of
violence, but all violence; a world in which we will love not only our
humanity, but all humanity.

In order to make this choice we have to look deep into our own hearts
before we tidy away the tea things and swap the channel in places like
Copenhagen.

People who commit hate crimes against Americans with Middle Eastern
backgrounds in the wake of the terrorist attacks will be prosecuted
"to the fullest extent of the law", according to a top Justice
Department official.

According to new federal hate crime statistics released recently:

* Hate crimes accounted for nearly 3,000 of the roughly 5.4 million
victim-related crimes examined in a study which looked at cases
reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by local police
in more than a dozen states from 1997 to 1999.

* Among the racially motivated incidents, 60 per cent targeted Blacks,
30 per cent targeted Whites and the rest targeted Asians and American
Indians. Forty-one per cent of the incidents involving religious bias
targeted Jewish people.

* Violent crime was the most serious offence in 60 per cent of the
hate crimes, typically involving intimidation or simple assault.

* More than half of the violent hate crime victims were 24 years old
or younger. Among the offenders, 31 per cent of violent offenders and
46 per cent of property offenders were under age 18.

Source: Internet

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Copenhagen
University, Denmark.)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/07/stories/13070612.htm

...and I am Sid Harth


==============================================================================
TOPIC: WHY THE BIG FUSS OVER ONE MUSLIM LEADER CONDEMNING TERRORISTS?
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/54e137b93f3610de?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 3:07 am
From: bademiyansubhanallah


Actions belie his words

There is a popular saying about the newly appointed president of BJP,
Nitin Gadkari … that he manages to elicit results with the least of
efforts. It was with great pomp that Gadkari had raised the apt issue
in Indore that the party was in need of combative people, not of
sychophants or yes-men. But it is not hidden from anyone as to how
serious the gentleman, whom Gadkari himself kept portraying as Mr
Genius from Indore to Delhi, is about political issues. Even
otherwise, in Gadkari's regime the people who were first appointed to
various posts are all known to be the flagbearers of the practice of
doing the rounds of the powers that be. For example, the newly-
appointed president of Punjab BJP Ashwini Sharma or Khimi Ram,
Himachal's executive president who has been made a full president by
Gadkari. The BJP president wanted to send Prabhat Jha as the president
of Madhya Pradesh BJP; in Bihar he is advocating the need of handing
over the reins to another loyal-tag owner Mantoo Pandey alias Mangal
Pandey. One Alok Kumar has been appointed the chief of the all India
training camp of the party. Or the saffron flag of aggression of the
yes-brigade is flying high during the Gadkari rule.

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%AEactions-belie-his-words

Gadkari's Govindacharya

BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started the process of selecting his
team. But for Gadkari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is the most important
person right now and if sources are to be believed then Gadkari's is
moving fast forward on Sahasrabuddhe's brains. In a way Sahasrabuddhe
is working as the political secretary of Gadkari. This association is
exactly like the relationship Govindacharya once shared with Advani.
Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte are also going to play an important role in
identifying and selecting the new team for Gadkari. In view of the
importance of the forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar, Leader of
Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley is being made the in-
charge. One finds it difficult to recall if earlier a Leader of
Opposition had played the role of an election in-charge. What kind of
a precedent is being set by Gadkari?

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%b8%e0%a4%b9%e0%a4%b8%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a5%87-%e0%a4%95%e0%a5%80-%e0%a4%ac%e0%a5%81%e0%a4%a7%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%bfgadkari%e2%80%99s-govindach

Poll

Is BJP a sinking boat?

Yes (67.12%)
No (32.88%)

http://www.gossipguru.in/gossipguru/%e0%a4%85%e0%a4%ac-%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%82%e0%a4%9f%e0%a5%87%e0%a4%97%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%9a%e0%a4%bf%e0%a4%a6%e0%a4%82%e0%a4%ac%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%ae-%e0%a4%95%e0%a4%be-%e0%a4%ad%e0%a5%8d%e0%a4%b0%e0%a4%aechidamb

BJP too trying to earn some brownie points

Anita Saluja
First Published : 07 Mar 2010 03:49:00 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Sensing that history may be created on the centenary of
International Women's Day in India, if the Rajya Sabha succeeds in
passing the controversial Women's Reservation Bill, enabling 33
percent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, the BJP on Saturday lent a helping hand to the UPA
Government.

The BJP core group meeting, which was convened by BJP president Nitin
Gadkari, appealed to all political parties to vote in favour of the
Women's Reservation Bill.

After the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, "The
BJP was the first party to demand one-third reservation for women in
Parliament and state Assemblies. It has promised the Centre full
support to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha." Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was optimistic of the passage of the
Women's Bill in the Upper House and said that on its own, the BJP was
mobilising support for the Bill.

Claiming that the BJP has always stood for empowerment of women, being
the first party to give one-third reservation to women in the party
organisation, Gadkari said that it had issued whip to all the party
members of Rajya Sabha.

He said that it was the NDA Government, which first moved the Bill in
Parliament and mooted the idea to set apart 33 percent of the total
seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for women in BJP National
Council meeting at Vadodara.

Unlike in 1996, when the BJP was riven with dissensions on the Women's
Reservation Bill, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti opposing the
legislation inside the Lok Sabha, this time around, there is no
dissenting voice.

Uma Bharti is no more in the BJP and with Sushma Swaraj leading the
party in the Lok Sabha, no one dares to challenge her ruling. "We have
to prove our own credibility," remarked a senior leader from the Rajya
Sabha.

Apart from the three Yadavs, Mulayam Singh of the SP, Lalu Yadav of
RJD and Sharad Yadav of JD (U), the BJP alliance partner in
Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, is also opposing the Bill in its present
form.

Comments

Right & time demand step by leading political parties in national
interest.
By Kapil Pathak
3/7/2010 10:04:00 AM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=PM+confident+of+women%E2%80%99s+quota+Bill+passage&artid=0wcbTOGE2j4=&SectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&MainSectionID=b7ziAYMenjw=&SEO=Women%E2%80%99s+Reservation+Bill&SectionName=pWehHe7IsSU=

I don't want to make a show of it

BJP youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan spills the beans on why she
skipped her brother's big fat TV wedding

By Anand Holla and Vickey Lalwani
Posted On Monday, March 08, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM

The Mahajans have a way of making it to the headlines. This time it is
Rahul, who tied the knot, for the second time, with a 21-year-old
Bengali model and item girl in a televised event on Saturday which was
attended by his mother, but not his sister.

Poonam Mahajan-Rao

Poonam Mahajan-Rao, who had always stood by her elder brother during
the darkest phases of his life - the drug scandal for instance – was
missing from the scene.

This sent the media and commentators in a tizzy, as Rahul and his
spokespersons found themselves struggling to deal with speculations
that Poonam, who is a BJP youth wing leader, wanted to stay away from
the reality drama.

After considerable effort, Mirror managed to speak to Poonam. "I am a
very private person, and for me, an event like a marriage is a private
affair." However, Rahul's 'private affair' was a high-voltage mega-TRP-
driven event with millions watching it live as it unfolded. When asked
why she didn't join in the much-watched ceremony, Poonam defended, "I
am the kind of person who prefers to sit at home rather than make a
show out of things. I even keep my son's birthday party as private as
possible. That's how I am."

Incidentally, Poonam was very much around when Rahul married his
childhood sweetheart Shweta in a private ceremony in 2006. They
divorced two years later.

Speaking about her own wedding which was a low-key affair, Poonam
said, "Ten years ago, I made a choice of getting married to the person
I wanted to. Now, Rahul has made his choice and being his sister
support him entirely."

Rahul with his newly-wedded wife Dimpy Ganguly after the reality show
concluded

When asked if there are any differences within the Mahajan family over
Rahul's choice and decision, Poonam said, "Rahul is my elder brother
and his decisions are totally his. I will be there for him just like
I've always been there for him, even during the tough times. I wish
him all the luck with this marriage. Together, we want to take forward
our father's legacy by helping each other."

Not just Poonam, missing from what was purported to be Rahul's big day
was his uncle Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary and MP.
Munde has been constantly by the side of late BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan's family since he was shot dead three years ago by younger
brother Pravin.

BJP sources said Munde along with national president Nitin Gadkari and
leader of state legislature Eknath Khadse were in Nashik for their
felicitation. "The felicitation programme was finalised few months ago
and Munde had accepted the invitation. In fact he made it a point to
attend the Nashik event as his absence at previous felicitation event
in Aurangabad was being blamed on intra party tussle with Gadkari,'' a
party leader remarked.

But the speculations over Poonam's absence refuse to die down. "Poonam
may have deliberately avoided not to attend the much publicised
wedding show for political reasons. She is keen to establish herself
politically and does not want to get embroiled in any controversy,''
the source said.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/15/201003082010030803124526953f94fde/I-don%E2%80%99t-want-to-make-a-show-of-it.html

Parties divided, but government determined to push women's bill

PM says the Centre is moving towards providing one-third reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures

By PTI
Posted On Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 04:12:40 AM

New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women's empowerment, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Government is moving
towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and
state legislatures.

Inaugurating the women's leadership summit here, he said the
Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment
of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.

Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development,
Krishna Tirath welcomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
inauguration of the Women's Leadership Summit 2010

The Women's Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of
seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come
up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has
revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, "We hope
to give this movement of political participation of women further
fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and
city and town governments to 50 per cent.

"More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third
reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures," he
said.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by Women and Child
Development Minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have
broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to
avail of many opportunities.

LS Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high
status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practise is reversed
in society.

The three-day summit being held as part of women's day celebrations
would be attended by women achievers from all fields.

JD-U divided

However, sharp divisions have emerged among the opponents of the Bill
with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure, pitting himself
against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.

SP also opposes

The Samajwadi Party, which opposes the Bill in its present form, on
Saturday said it will register its "protest" on Monday. The SP has
suggested reservation within reservation for OBC women, not more than
20 per cent.
BJP supports

Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of the Bill, BJP
sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since
the UPA coalition was in minority in the RS, the onus of getting it
adopted was with the main opposition.

BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting
of the party Core Group to discuss the Bill.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article&sectname=News -
Nation&sectid=3&contentid=2010030720100307041240664ef9a81db

JD(U) Hints At Softening of Opposition to Women's Bill

New Delhi, March 7 – With the numbers favouring the passage of the
women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha Monday, the Janata Dal-
United (JD-U), a prominent party opposing it, Sunday indicated a
softening of its position.

JD-U chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Ali Anwar Ansari said the party
will consider the opinion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in
support of the bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women
in parliament and state legislatures.

'A meeting of JD-U MPs will be held at party president Sharad Yadav's
residence Monday morning. We will take a unanimous decision,' Ansari
told IANS.

The JD-U has not issued a whip to its MPs to either support or oppose
the bill.

Ansari said the bill is expected to be passed by the upper house of
parliament and 'there is no point of opposing it for the sake of
opposition'.

'We are taking the opinion of all our members and a decision will be
taken,' he said.

Ansari, who spoke to both Yadav and Nitish Kumar Sunday, ruled out the
possibility of the party abstaining from the vote on the bill.

Nitish Kumar, who will lead the JD-U charge in campaign for Bihar
assembly elections later this year, Saturday spoke in favour of the
bill.

With more and more parties coming out in favour of the legislation,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained
its only two vocal opponents. Both parties are demanding quotas for
backward classes and minorities within 33 per cent reservation for
women. While the SP has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, the RJD has
four.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 12 members in the upper
house, has not opened its cards yet with regards to the bill.

For the bill to be passed, it has to be supported by two-thirds of
those present and voting. This figure should also be at least 50
percent of the total number of members in the house.

With an effective strength of 233, the Constitution (108th Amendment
Bill), 2008, needs support of 155 members in the Rajya Sabha if all
the members are present.

While the combined strength of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Left – three main supporters of the bill – comes to 138
in the upper house, many other parties, including the DMK, AIADMK,
Biju Janata Dal, National Conference, Nationalist Congress Party and
Shiromani Akali Dal have expressed their support for the path-breaking
legislation.

With the ruling Congress having timed the consideration of the bill
with the International Women's Day and party president Sonia Gandhi
making a strong pitch for its passage, the BJP too has joined the race
to claim credit.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who appealed to all parties to support
the bill, said the party was conscious that the ruling coalition was
in minority in the Rajya Sabha. He said the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government had first moved the bill in parliament.

The Constitution (108th Amendment Bill), 2008, provides for
reservation of one-third seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
for 15 years from the date of commencement of the Act on rotation
basis.

The proposal to provide such reservation to women has been pending for
the last 13 years due to lack of political consensus.

Posted by Vamban on Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

Latest News

•Lok Sabha Adjourned for Fourth Time
http://www.vamban.com/lok-sabha-adjourned-for-fourth-time/
•BJP Condemns SP, RJD for Tearing Up Women's Bill
http://www.vamban.com/bjp-condemns-sp-rjd-for-tearing-up-womens-bill/
•Women's Bill Moved, Torn to Shreds in Rajya Sabha
http://www.vamban.com/womens-bill-moved-torn-to-shreds-in-rajya-sabha/
•JD-U Joins SP, RJD to Protest Women's Bill
http://www.vamban.com/jd-u-joins-sp-rjd-to-protest-womens-bill/
•85 Million Women Missing in India, China: UNDP
http://www.vamban.com/85-million-women-missing-in-india-china-undp/

http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/

BJP to oppose any proposal for autonomy to Kashmir
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Tuesday said his party will oppose any proposal for granting autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at a function here to mark 20 years of exodus of Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley, he said a solution to the Kashmir problem
should be found within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.

"We will oppose autonomy with full force. If such a proposal comes to
Parliament, we will be against it," he said.

Gadkari termed as "dangerous" the report of Justice Saghir Ahmad - who
headed the working group on Centre-State relations - recommending
giving autonomy to the state. The report was submitted to the Jammu
and Kashmir government last month.

The BJP chief blamed the Congress for the problems in Jammu and
Kashmir. "Congress has messed up things in the state," he said, adding
that the "mistakes" should not be repeated.

The function was organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/bjp-to-oppose-any-proposal-for-autonomy-to-kashmir-13998/

Dhumal ordered tap on Virbhadra Singh's phone, CD tells
By IANS
January 19th, 2010

SHIMLA - In another twist to the corruption cases against union Steel
Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a new audio
compact disc (CD) from an unknown source was circulated here Tuesday
in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is purportedly directing the
vigilance chief to tap the phones of the couple.


Two other CDs were also released here — one audio in which Dhumal was
heard talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar
and the other video in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parliamentarian Virender Kashyap was shown accepting some cash in
regard to granting permission to an educational institute in the
state.

In the alleged conversation recorded in the first CD, Director General
of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas asked Dhumal regarding Singh and his
wife's phone tapping. At this Dhumal replied: "Do it."

Manhas then said: "Yes, we will do it, we will do it. If the CID
(Criminal Investigation Department) is doing it, its staff will leak
it." Dhumal replied: "This is right."

Dhumal and Manhas allegedly also talked about some Rs.25 crore (Rs.250
million).

However, a senior police official said there was no proof of the
authenticity of the CD. "It is released when the vigilance is almost
ready to start within a month the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh
and his wife," he said.

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009,
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh
alleges misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when
he was the chief minister of the state in 1989.

Interestingly, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released
by Singh's political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007.

Meanwhile, Dhumal refuted the allegations in the new CD. He told IANS
on phone from Delhi Tuesday: "Right now I am not in the state. I have
not seen the CD and not even heard about it. I am not in a position to
comment on it."

"The government machinery is not involved in phone tapping of Singh
and his wife. It's just a white lie," he added.

The CD that showed BJP parliamentarian Virender Kashyap talking to
someone on the issue of granting permission to an educational
institute in the state was recorded April 17, 2009 when Kashyap was
only a party activist.

In the conversation, Kashyap was insisting and telling the person
sitting opposite to him to first complete the formalities and then
seek formal permission. The CD also showed Kashyap being offered some
cash, which he hesitantly accepted.

However, Kashyap was not available for comments.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/19/dhumal-ordered-tap-on-virbhadra-singhs-phone-cd-tells-13989/

Prosecution against Virbhadra likely within month: Police
By IANS
January 1st, 2010

SHIMLA - Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution
against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha
Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said
here Friday.

"We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against
Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month," Director
General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.

Regarding the questionnaires sent to the couple, Manhas said: "We got
the replies to the questionnaire. Both the questionnaires have about
25 questions."

The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009, by
the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau under the Prevention of
Corruption Act.

The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his official position
and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in
1989.

According to police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD
released by Singh's political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.

In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on
the phone with former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer
Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his
wife and some industrialists.

Manhas said that four of the nine people identified in the CD are
dead.

"Four are dead out of the nine accused. It is still to be decided that
who is the main accused," the police official added.

Singh has already refuted the allegations, saying the state's ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to malign him.

http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/01/01/prosecution-against-virbhadra-likely-within-month-police-11083/

Revival of Friends of BJP
March 8th, 2010

I was part of a small team from Friends of BJP that was invited to
attend the BJP National Council meet in Indore in mid-Feb. It was
quite a gathering - over 5,000 people brought together from all over
the country.

Among the announcements made was that of the revival of Friends of
BJP.

Here is what Nitin Gadkari said in his Presidential Address: "We are
also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate organisation of
the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All patriotic citizens,
especially all young professionals who look forward to BJP as an
instrument of making India a resurgent republic are welcome to join
this forum."

We will be back with more details soon. My hope is that we can help
bring about a change in India's political and policy climate in the
coming years.

3 responses so far ↓

1 Santosh // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:29 am

Rajesh,
I was one of the individuals who wanted BJP voted back to power in
2004 because of what they achieved in their last term. And I firmly
believe that BJP was pro-reforms in their term.

But seeing what India has been able to achieve in last 6 odd years
shouldn't be undermined. Ofcourse, Congress isn't the reformist that
most urban Indians want and India has managed the growth because of
sheer efficiencies of private enterprise.
For what we have achieved in last 6 years, I don't go all out against
them. Today, I don't see any reason why BJP should be supported -
There is no great leader remaining whom we can trust to take our
country forward. They don't play the role of constructive opposition
at all. They find baseless arguments in blocking/ criticizing every
Congress move.

I fail to understand what is it that you see so strongly in BJP to go
& support them. I don't to vote for a government shouts from roof-top.
I want a clear plan of what they would do & who is the team that is at
work. Unfortunately, I don't see either.

2 Alok Mittal // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:17 am

What is really needed is not revival of Friends of BJP, but revival of
BJP itself. I think Congress has won a lot of erstwhile BJP supporters
over the past 6 years; and BJP has lost a lot of supporters over the
past 2 years. There is a critical distinction between the two, and the
latter can only be addressed by the BJP leadership itself.

3 Adarsh Jain // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm

Alok and Santosh,

I think for the future of the country there should be a worthy
opposition. After Nitin Gadkari became party president, I believe BJP
is ready for transformation and play the role of constructive
opposition till next election

http://emergic.org/2010/03/08/revival-of-friends-of-bjp/

India's women quota bill triggers uproar in parliament
Foreign 2010-03-08 17:23

NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) - An attempt by India's government to pass
legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament
provoked uproar on Monday as opposition politicians forced repeated
adjournments.

The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill,
which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes
to pass in the upper house on Monday after being presented on
International Women's Day.

The upper house was adjourned twice on Monday as politicians opposing
the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction
of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate.

The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but
several socialist parties oppose it.

They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for
women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly
by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious
minority Muslims.

"We are not anti-women but we want reservations for women hailing from
minority and backward classes first," Mulayam Singh Yadav, a leader of
the pro-Muslim Samajwadi (Socialist) party said outside parliament.

Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political
groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from
Muslim and low-caste communities.

Yadav said the bill was an attempt by the Congress and the BJP to
appease the rich and the influential upper class.

The controversial proposal to reserve 33 percent of seats, first
introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women's
membership in both houses of parliament where they now occupy about
one in 10 seats.

Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the
approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house after which
it will go before the lower house where it also requires a two-thirds
majority.

Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There
are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.

"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving
towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state
legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women's leadership
summit on Saturday.

Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India's
most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill,
saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.

It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and
passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last
week.

Political analysts said the government was testing the waters by
introducing it in the upper house first instead of the lower house,
where most proposed legislation is sent.

Some accused the government of playing politics by seeking to appease
women by proposing the legislation but without having any realistic
chance of it passing.

Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now
hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia
Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

Panchayats -- local governing bodies in towns and villages -- already
reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move
has given women greater status in their communities. (By Rupam Jain
Nair/ AFP)

MySinchew 2010.03.08

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/36074

Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Prime Minister is holding emergency meetings with his senior
ministers to discuss the Women's Bill and the impact of Lalu Prasad
and Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing they will withdraw their support to
this government. (Read & Watch: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to
govt)

Lalu and Mulayam have said the Women's Bill is being forced upon them
by the Congress, and that it does not protect the interest of Dalit
and Muslim women.

The Rajya Sabha is meant to vote on the bill today.

For the Women's Bill, the government is not worried about the numbers
because the Opposition - the BJP and the Left, along with smaller
parties, are in favour of the bill.

However, the Finance Bill has not yet been passed. And that's what the
government is worried about.

The UPA government believes that without Lalu and Mulayam's MPs, it
can still count on 274 votes in favour of Pranab Mukherjee's budget.
The number of votes required to pass it is 273. So the government's
margin is tiny. And that's what the BJP and Left will try to exploit.
Both have already attacked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the
budget, in particular, over the hike in petrol and diesel prices. The
government's key allies including the DMK and Mamata Banerjee have
also expressed their concern over the fuel hike, and the government's
new numbers weaken its position if it finds it must negotiate with
these allies.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/why-lalu-mulayam-exit-worries-government-17380.php

Women's Bill: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to government

NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

The Congress-led UPA government finds itself in a spot. Set to table
and get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, it now
has to contend with the threat of withdrawal of support from two
traditional opponents of the Bill - the Samajwadi Party and the RJD.

Both parties have announced they are withdrawing support to the UPA
government over the Bill. While the government does not need their
support to pass this Bill, since the BJP and the Left will vote in
favour, it will find itself on an uncomfortable, wafer-thin majority
for other legislation, like the crucial Finance Bill, without the
buffer of the 22 Samajwadi Party MPs and 4 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha.
(Read: Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government)

Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav have said they oppose the Women's
Bill because it does not protect the interests of minorities and Other
Backward Castes.

The bill reserves 33% seats for women in Parliament and in state
assemblies.

"Reservation should be for Muslims and Dalits," said Mulayam Singh
Yadav.

"The government is trying to force the bill upon us. The Congress
does not listen to anyone. The bill must bring the Asli Bharat
forward...the Congress is leaving women and Muslims behind, " said
Lalu.

The government is in a huddle right now on what next steps should be.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding meetings with senior
colleagues like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary
Affairs Minsiter PK Bansal to evolve a strategy.

Not to press ahead with the Women's Bill today will mean a big loss of
face, especially given that the Bill is close to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi's heart and the many statements that she and other
Congress leaders and ministers have already made. But the party cannot
risk Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav actually carrying out
their threat and officially withdrawing support.

Along with the BSP, the two parties have already ensured that
Parliament proceedings are anything but smooth. As Lok Sabha opened in
the morning, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh rushed to the Well of the
House.

In the Rajya Sabha too, the SP and RJD disrupted Question Hour. Here
they demanded the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report first. (Read: Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill)

Both Houses reconvened at noon only to be adjourned again.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mulayam-lalu-to-withdraw-support-to-government-17373.php

Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill

Press Trust of India, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi

Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav have announced the withdrawal of
their outside support to the UPA government over the Women's
Reservation Bill.

The government is attempting history in the making, but the
proceedings have got off to a very rocky start. There was chaos in
both the houses when they opened on Monday morning.

Rajya Sabha:

The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecendented scenes leading to an
adjournment for the third time on Monday as determined SP, RJD, LJP
and BSP members entered the well of the House, ripped off mikes and
tore up papers in an attempt to stall the Women's Reservation Bill
from being taken up for consideration.

An attempt was made to snatch the Bill from the Chairman's table which
was prevented by marshals. However, they snatched some papers from the
Secretary General's table and tore them up.

Mr Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party, Mr Sabir Ali of LJP and Mr
Gangacharan Rajput of BSP along with other party members spearheaded
the stalling tactics. Some of them then got on the reporters' table in
the well of the House.

All members of various political parties were on their feet. Seeing
these antics many looked shocked.

The ruling Congress party members, especially women, were seen making
a protective ring around Law Minister M Veerappa Moily who will move
the Bill for consideration.

Shocked over these developments, the Chairman adjourned the House till
3 pm.

Earlier, the House was adjourned twice within minutes of assembling as
members of the SP, RJD, LJP, and BSP raised slogans from the well of
the House demanding implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report.

Lok Sabha:

The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the third time on Monday afternoon
when SP, RJD and JD(U) members trooped into the well protesting the
Women's Reservation Bill in its present form.

When the House, which was earlier adjourned twice on the same issue,
reassembled at 2 pm, members of these parties led by RJD chief Lalu
Prasad, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav,
stormed the well shouting slogans.

As the slogan-shouting continued, Trinamool Congress members including
its chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, were seen singing the
famous song - "We shall overcome some day".

Other Trinamool members, including Minister of State for Health Dinesh
Trivedi, chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay and cine-star turned MP
Shatabdi Roy, were heard singing the song in the House.

As the din continued, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House
till 3 pm.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/rajya-sabha-adjourned-after-uproar-over-womens-bill-17368.php

BJP too to quit JAC?

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:43:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP is contemplating quitting the Telangana political
JAC and evolve its own programme of action to rouse public opinion in
favour of separate Telangana State.

The State leadership of the party wants to strengthen the party's base
at ground level in villages. It will have `Jai Telangana' slogan in
Telangana areas and `Jai Andhra' in Andhra districts.

The party's approach to Telangana that all legislators should resign
and force a constittutional crisis has changed after it encountered
opposition within the party. Those who opposed it argued that MLAs of
neither the Congress nor the TDP resigned.

This was the reason why these elements got together and ensured the
election of Kishan Reddy as the party's State president who too
subscribed to the idea and refused to resign. In such an event, the
point that is being discussed at length is why stay in the JAC when
the party is not in a position to honour its decisions (of quitting
the Assembly).

To make this easy for Kishan Reddy's supporters, the BJP National
Committee too expressed displeasure over the BJP continuing in the JAC
and wanted it to make an honourable exit from the panel so that it
would not be misconstrued by the people.

Already, the ABVP, which has an ideological affiliation with the BJP,
is carrying on the movement for Telangana without joining the JAC and
has already made a mark. The BJP wants to toe the same line so that it
will be able to preseve its identity and strengthen its base.

The Stare party leadership has asked the district units to organise
Telangana programmes in districts only in the name of the party and
will not have anything to do with the JAC. This apart, the JAC leaders
are not on good terms with the new chief of the State unit.

Comments

PEOPLE AND STUDENTS OF T-REGION REJECTED KCR/TRS & TRAITORS IN
TELANGANA CONGRESS FOR PUBLICITY STUNTS AND RESIGNATION DRAMAS AND KCR/
TRS MP NOT RESIGNED AGAINST THEIR OWN ADVISE TO OTHERS AND KCR
ATTENDING RAJ BHAVAN DINNER EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE WITH SRI KRISHNA'S
TOR- SEPARATE-T NOT FEASIBLE HAS GONE AGAINS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
TRS/KCR WILL REALISE THIS IN BYE-ELECTION RESULTS THAT IS WHY KCR/TRS
MP NOR RESIGNED.

By JAC-T= KCR/TRS+KO-DANDA ONLY.
3/8/2010 1:19:00 PM

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+too+to+quit+JAC?&artid=FPykUG9SeSM=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

BJP demands bill on bifurcation

Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:42:00 AM IST

HYDERABAD: The BJP State Council has demanded that the Centre
introudce a bill in Parliament for bifurcation of the State.

The council, which met here yesterday, said in its political
resolution that the constitution of the Justice BN Srikrishna
Committee was intended to prolong the issue and saw no need for the
party to make a presentation to the Srirkrishna panel since it
beleived that the committee's purpose was other than formation of two
States.

"Bifurcation of the State is the only answer to backwardness of the
two regions,'' it said and criticised other parties for their
dichotomy on the issue.

By another resolution the council expressed concern over the
deteriroration of administration which led to increase in the prices
of essential commodities as well as breakdown of law and order.

The murder of Sri Vaishnavi in Vijayawada and the hooch tragedy in
East Godavari district were indicative of the breakdown of the law and
order machienry, the council said. It alleged that the State
Government had miserably failed to come to the rescue of people
affected by the unprecedented floods in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar,
Krishna and Guntur districts.

Though the Centre annoucned Rs 1,000 crore for mitigation of the
suffering of the flood-affected people, the funds had so far not been
transferred, it pointed out.

A resoultion said that the adminsitraion was in a state of suspended
animation with Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was asked to step into
the shoes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash,
being unable to perform.

By another resolution the party demanded that the State should take
immediate steps for controlling the prices of essential commodities
which have been going through the roof and supply power for nine hours
to the farm sector to save standing crops.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=BJP+demands+bill+on+bifurcation&artid=7oMMyEgPRtw=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=

Lalu declares 'war' against women's Bill
TNN, Mar 8, 2010, 05.42am IST

Women's Bill: 'Conspiracy to eliminate minorities'PATNA: RJD chief
Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared he will fight tooth and nail against
women's reservation Bill. "Yuddh hoga (There would be a war)," he
thundered and added the OBC brigade will roll up sleeves against the
move.

Lalu said BJP and Congress are making a 'historical blunder' by
issuing a whip to their MPs to vote for the Bill in its present form.
"If they (Congress and BJP) think they will get women's votes, they
are mistaken. It's a male-dominated society (where women go by what
their menfolk say while voting). If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote
for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?"
he asked at a presser and added nowhere in the world women get
reservation in legislative bodies.

Even if it has to be given, there should be quota for deprived
sections within this reservation, Lalu said and added the faces of
women belonging to minority community, backward castes, Dalits and
tribals should be visible through this reservation. "The quota should
be for those who cannot enter the legislative bodies on their own," he
said.

By introducing the Bill, the RJD leader said, the Congress is trying
to divert people's attention from main issues like price rise,
unemployment, growing regionalism and threat to national security.
"The BJP and Congress want to get votes of Muslims, Dalits and OBCs,
but they do not want to safeguard their interests," he said.

Lalu hit out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for changing tack on
the issue. "Nitish is a `bahurupiya' (a master of disguise)," Lalu
said, recalling Nitish earlier gave a note of dissent as a member of
the parliamentary committee which looked into this issue.

Also, Nitish's party colleague and JD(U) national president Sharad
Yadav once declared he would consume poison if the women's reservation
Bill in its present form was introduced. "By advising Sharad to ensure
the passage of the Bill now, Nitish has shown his real face to the
Muslims, Dalits and OBCs," Lalu said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5656141.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Lalu-declares-war-against-womens-Bill/articleshow/5656141.cms

. BJP, Justice Sagheer in agreement on Kashmir Accord
Working Group Report on Centre-State Relations-V

Syed Junaid Hashmi

JAMMU, Mar 7: The historical comment of former Prime Minister late
Indira Gandhi "The clock could not be put back in this manner" is
central theme of 'some kind of restoration of autonomy' recommended by
Justice Sagheer Panel on centre-state relations and clearly, in
contrast to vehement claims of ruling coalition.

The recommendation is in agreement with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
led union cabinet's decision on Autonomy resolution of Jammu and
Kashmir on July 5, 2000. The then union cabinet while rejecting
autonomy resolution of then National Conference (NC) led government in
Jammu and Kashmir had accepted that there is a clear case for
devolution of more financial and administrative powers and functions
to the states alongside taking suitable steps to ensure harmonious
centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.

Interestingly, the union cabinet had then rejected autonomy resolution
by referring to Kashmir accord, more commonly known as Indira-Sheikh
Accord. It had said that issue of restoring constitutional situation
in Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 position had been discussed in
detail by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah with former Prime Minister
late Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. The decision had noted that agreement
signed after these negotiations had affirmed that provisions of the
Constitution of India already applied to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.

Justice (Retd) Sagheer in his report on Pages 93 and 94 has referred
to speech of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in the
parliament on February 24, 1975 in which she had remarked, "The
constitutional relationship between state of Jammu and Kashmir and the
union will continue as it has been and extension of further provisions
of constitution to the state will continue to be governed by procedure
prescribed in Article 370."

Justice Sagheer further notes, "Sheikh Abdullah was very anxious that
to start with, the constitutional relationship between the state and
the centre should be as it was in 1953 when he was in power. It was
explained to him that the clock could not be put back in this manner.
Mirza Afzal Beg pressed for transfer of provisions relating to
fundamental rights to state constitution, removal of the supervision
and control of Election Commission of India over elections to the
state legislature and the modification of Article 356 to require the
state government's concurrence before imposing president's rule in the
state."

Late Indira Gandhi while outrightly rejecting these demands had said,
"It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must
say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on
these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusion." After this,
Justice (Retd) Sagheer has referred to clause 3 and 4 of the Kashmir
Accord.
The panel while referring these two clauses has concluded that if any
provision of the constitution of India had been applied to the state
of Jammu and Kashmir without adaptations and modifications, then such
modifications are unalterable. But with respect to provisions applied
with adaptations and modifications, it was agreed that they can be
altered or repealed by an order of President under Article 370 but
each individual proposal in this behalf would be considered on its
merits;

"With a view to assuring freedom to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
have its own legislation on matters like welfare measures cultural
matters, social security, personal law and procedural laws, in a
manner suited to the special conditions in the State, it is agreed
that the State Government can review the laws made by Parliament or
extended to the State after 1953 on any matter related to the
Concurrent List and may decide which of them, in its opinion, needs
amendment or repeal. Thereafter, appropriate steps may be taken under
Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The grant of President's
assent to such legislation would be sympathetically considered,"
Justice Sagheer has noted from the Kashmir Accord as relevant to
present discourse on autonomy.

Concluding debate on autonomy, Justice Sagheer Ahmed has referred to a
Supreme Court decision in Sampat Prakash vs. State of Jammu and
Kashmir in which it was held that inspite of the dissolution of
constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional
provisions could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir with
such adaptations and modifications as the president may deem fit. It
is after these referrals that Justice Sagheer has recommended for
examining the question of autonomy in the light of Kashmir Accord.

Interestingly, the ruling coalition through 10 page recommendatory
notes of report had claimed that Justice Sagheer had recommended what
National Conference (NC) led government had proposed central
government through a resolution properly passed and vetted by more
than 60 members of state legislative assembly on June 26, 2000. The
resolution which was rejected by the then BJP led NDA government on
July 5, 2000.

[Kashmir Times]

Related news

:. Saghir reports to Omar, 24 Dec 2009
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261696873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Webmaster

http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1268044174&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news

...and I am Sid Harth


== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 8:41 am
From: chhotemianinshallah


COLUMN

Between despair and hope
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Rae Bareli court's discharge of L.K. Advani in the Ayodhya
demolition case is a mockery of justice, but the Supreme Court's
intervention in the Best Bakery matter revives hopes that the Indian
legal system might prevail in bringing the perpetrators of communal
hate crimes to book.

THE waywardness of India's police and justice delivery systems has few
parallels when it comes to punishing communal offences and hate
crimes. What began as a devious process of manipulation of the first
information reports in the Babri mosque demolition case, and the
totally illegitimate dropping of conspiracy charges against the
principal accused, turned into a grotesque parody of justice on
September 19 when the Special Court of Magistrate Vinay Kumar Singh in
Rae Bareli framed charges against seven persons, including Murli
Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and other Vishwa Hindu
Parishad leaders, but discharged Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.
Advani is the man who spearheaded, planned and ideologically inspired
the raucous agitation that led to the razing of the mosque on December
6, 1992.

Precisely what charges are framed against the remaining seven will be
only known on October 10. The list of offences filed by the CBI under
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) is not long: Section 147 (rioting), 149
(committing a crime), 153A and 153B (spreading communal hatred) and
505 (creating ill will). But it is clear that the indictment will not
include the all-important charge of criminal conspiracy, nor offences
under Sections 295 and 295A of the IPC (defiling places of worship and
indulging in acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any
class).

Thus, the perpetrators of one of the worst hate crimes in India's
history - who pulled down a monument which had become a symbol of
pluralism - will not even stand trial for destroying a mosque and
exploiting communal hatred, which they so clearly did.

This is bad enough. What is downright outrageous is that Advani, who
was the most important leader of the anti-Babri movement which the BJP
took over in the late 1980s, and who conducted the infamous Somnath-to-
Ayodhya rath yatra and played a direct, preponderant role in the
events leading to December 6, has been let off the hook. The
ostensible reason made public for this is the curious argument that
the CBI cited two conflicting testimonies, one of which claimed that
Advani tried to calm down the restive crowd (while the other said he
did nothing to restrain leaders like Uma Bharati and Sadhvi
Ritambhara, with whom he shared the dais who made extremely
inflammatory speeches).

Basing himself on this claimed contradiction, the Magistrate gave
Advani the "benefit of the doubt". Strangely, he cited the Supreme
Court's ruling in the Praful Kumar Samal case, that if the scales of
evidence presented against the accused during a trial are "even" then
that is a fit ground for acquittal. This conforms to the canonical
rule that a person must be considered innocent until proved guilty.

Logically, this rationale can come into effect only at the conclusion
of a trial, not before it, at the stage of framing charges. It does
not stand to reason that a person against whom there is weighty prima
facie evidence should be simply let off. The Supreme Court had said:
"If an element of grave suspicion is there and the accused has
explained the doubts then he can be discharged." Advani manifestly did
not explain away any "doubts".

The Magistrate has erred in exonerating Advani. Independent
investigations have turned up overwhelming evidence of Advani's
pivotal role in the processes and events that led to the demolition,
including the happenings of December 6. The Citizens' Tribunal on
Ayodhya, comprising Justices O. Chinappa Reddy, D.A. Desai and D.S.
Tewatia documented Advani's role at length in its Report of the
Inquiry Commission (July 1993) and in the Judgement and
Recommendations (December 1993), both published by the Tribunal (K-14
Green Park Extension, New Delhi 110016).

These show that Advani was central to the build-up to the events of
December 1992 - from numerous kar sevas, the 1990 rath yatra, and
manipulation of the State government (then under the BJP's Kalyan
Singh), to misleading the courts, and organising crucial coordination
meetings of the Sangh combine. The intention to raze the mosque was
repeatedly and unambiguously stressed during these events. The very
purpose of the rath yatra was to kindle "Hindu pride" and "get even"
with history - of "conquest and humiliation" of the Hindus by
"foreigners". The main slogans of the yatra were provocative: "there
are only two places for Muslims - Pakistan or kabristan
(graveyard))".

The Inquiry Commission recorded detailed testimony of eyewitnesses to
show that plans for December 6 were launched by the BJP-VHP-Bajrang
Dal with a lalkar saptah starting November 29. By December 2, 90,000
kar sevaks had gathered at Ayodhya. By December 3, they numbered
150,000. On December 5, Advani addressed a public meeting in Lucknow
and was to go to Varanasi, reaching Ayodhya/Faizabad on December 5.
He, however, altered his plans so as to reach Faizabad to join an all-
important closed-door meeting at Vinay Katiyar's house, where the
ultimate, detailed, nuts-and-bolts plans for December 6 were
finalised.

Among those present were the RSS' H.V. Seshadri and K.S. Sudershan,
the VHP's Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar and Acharya Dharmendra, the
Shiv Sena's Moreshwar Save, and the BJP's Pramod Mahajan. Meanwhile, a
rehearsal of the demolition operation took place the same day near the
Babri mosque.

According to the Commission, on December 6, Advani arrived at the site
at the same time as Joshi (10-30 a.m.). He, among others, addressed
the kar sevaks. His speech was intemperate. Meanwhile, some kar sevaks
had breached the security cordon and were in a highly excited state.
At 11-30 a.m., Uma Bharati made a highly inflammatory speech,
including slogans "tel lagao Dabar ka, naam mitao Babar ka", "Katue
kate jayenge, Ram-Ram chillayenge", and so on.

At 11-45, Advani reportedly announced, "We don't need bulldozers to
pull down the mosque; [we can do it manually by removing chunks of its
wall]". The assault on the mosque began. Advani then ensured that the
demolition would continue and be completed without the intervention of
Central paramilitary forces stationed nearby. At 3-15 p.m., he urged
kar sevaks "to block all entry points to Ayodhya to prevent Central
forces from entering, and warned the armed forces not to touch the kar
sevaks." The eight accused were present at the site for a full seven
hours and made no gesture to distance themselves from the destructive
and illegal actions of the day.

The December 6 events were videographed and photographed by numerous
journalists, by Indian and foreign TV channels and, above all, by the
Intelligence Bureau, which reportedly has nine hours of tapes.
(Curiously, the CBI did not present all of these to the special
court).

Yet, the Sangh Parivar has launched a disinformation campaign which
claims that Advani did his best to restrain the kar sevaks and shed
tears at the demolition! It is relevant to ask if these were tears of
sorrow or of joy: Advani has consistently described the anti-Babri
agitation as a "national" movement for Hindu self-assertion, which
finally removed what he called the "ocular" insult in the form of the
mosque.

The disinformation and evasion of responsibility speaks of monumental
cowardice on the part of Advani & Co. They revelled in the
destruction, and hugged one another in exultation and mutual
congratulation.

The BJP rode to political power at the Centre on the anti-Babri Masjid
movement. In all honesty, its leaders must face trial and declare
either that they stand by their role or that they regret and repent it
and apologise. They cannot both take credit for the act and attribute
its planning and execution to mysterious, unknown and unknowable
forces - as Sangh ideologue K.R. Malkani once did, by blaming the
CIA.

There was a clearly identifiable human agency behind December 6: the
BJP-VHP-RSS-Bajrang Dal-Shiv Sena's top leadership, including Advani
and Joshi. But cowardice is a Sangh characteristic. Following Gandhi's
assassination, the RSS was banned. Thousands of its members quickly
stopped participating in its activities and claimed they were never
its members.

The Rae Bareli order is odious. But Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav has decided not to appeal against it - on the
grounds that "I am a firm believer in the judiciary and of the view
that the court verdict on Ayodhya should be acceptable to all ... I
welcome the court's decision and have nothing more to say ... " Amar
Singh has gone even further to say that the government cannot appeal
against it. This strengthens the suspicions of a secret collusive deal
between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party. Mulayam Singh Yadav has
decided to accept the BJP's Kesarinath Tripathi as Speaker and not to
poach on the party's MLAs. This makes the whole matter all the more
sordid. It sets back hopes of a just trial and further shakes the
public's confidence in India's justice delivery system.

IN contrast to this comes the Supreme Court's intervention in the Best
Bakery case. Through two hearings on September 12 and 19, the court
effectively began piloting and guiding the Gujarat government in its
handling of the consequences of a "fast-track" special court's
judgment exonerating all the accused for the burning of 14 Muslims.
While questioning Gujarat's Chief Secretary and Director-General of
Police directly, Chief Justice V.N. Khare obtained an assurance that
Gujarat's Advocate-General would now take full charge of the matter.
He would redraft the appeal against the "fast-track" court verdict.

The Supreme Court tried to establish three things: the Best Bakery
investigation was faulty because 37 of the 43 witnesses turned
hostile; there was miscarriage of justice; and there is a case for re-
trial of the accused outside Gujarat. The Gujarat government did admit
that there was miscarriage of justice and there is a case for re-trial
(although that should not be outside Gujarat). It also claimed the
investigation was not faulty. However, the Supreme Court asked it to
file an affidavit on October 9 to say on what lines its appeal would
be drafted. This suggests close supervision or stewardship of the
process of litigation.

Welcome as this intervention is, the Court needs to go beyond the Best
Bakery case and look at the horrendous crimes committed during the
Gujarat pogrom in their totality. Crimes Against Humanity, the report
of the Concerned Citizens' Tribunal, comprising eminent jurists and
scholars, concluded, after examining 2,094 statements and 1,500
witnesses, that the pogrom that lasted several weeks amounted to
genocide in the strict sense of the term. The pattern of violence
shows: selective targeting of Muslims, inhuman forms of brutality,
military precision and planning, and use of Hindu religious symbols.
This was planned, sustained and prolonged through hate speech,
intimidation and terror by the RSS, the BJP and the VHP-Bajrang Dal,
with the complicity and participation of policemen and bureaucrats,
encouraged by Narendra Modi.

It is clear that Muslims were targeted not because they did this or
that act, but simply because they were Muslims. The killer mobs'
declared intention, as revealed by their own slogans, was to
liquidate, mentally harm, humiliate and subjugate Muslims and "destroy
them", "wipe them out from Gujarat", and cleanse the state of Islam.
The physical violence directed against Muslims, the calculated
destruction of the economic basis of their survival, and sexual
assaults against Muslim women as an instrument of terror, all point to
genocide.

Article II of the International Convention on Genocide, 1948 defines
genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group" like: "(a) killing [its] members; (b) causing [them]
serious bodily or mental harm; (c) deliberately inflicting on the
group conditions ... calculated to bring about its physical
destruction... ; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births
within the group; (e) forcibly transferring [its] children ... to
another group."

The Gujarat pogrom unambiguously fits the definition. As a signatory
to the Convention, India is obliged to punish the perpetrators of
genocide through a competent court. This demands a special independent
National Tribunal for hate crimes and genocide. This alone can meet
the ends of justice.

For this to happen, we must see the numerous cases of violence not as
discrete acts, but in their totality as genocide. This sui generis
process of litigation will need special agencies for investigation and
prosecution as well as victim protection. It would be a historic
tragedy if the Indian state once again fails to bring the perpetrators
of hate crimes to book.

Volume 20 - Issue 20, September 27 - October 10, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2020/stories/20031010005312500.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 16 :: No. 04 :: Feb. 13 - 26, 1999

COVER STORY
A bitter aftermath

The pattern set in the aftermath of the Staines killing shows that
there are enough voices in positions of authority willing to justify
heinous crimes committed in the name of religion.

SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN

SENSITIVITY to public opinion was at a premium in the aftermath of the
grisly murder of Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his
two young boys by a lynch mob in Orissa on January 23. Union Home
Minister L.K. Advani put on record his strong condemnation of the
event, as did Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, the latter
describing it as a "crime against humanity". But for each such
concession to the demands of rectitude, there was a gesture that
tended to work to the contrary purpose. One such act was Advani's
preemptive exculpation of the Bajrang Dal - his claim that he had
authoritative information that the organisation was not involved in
the crime. Another was BJP president Kushabhau Thakre's assertion that
Christian missionaries were inviting trouble through their activities.
He said: "I appeal to the missionaries that they are sitting on a
stack of hay. They better be careful."

Thakre's remarks conformed to a pattern of morally dubious conduct by
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate organisations
after the Staines murder. In what could only be construed as a gross
act of dishonouring the dead, Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice-president
Giriraj Kishore asserted that the work of Graham Staines amidst
leprosy sufferers was a facade, since there were no such people within
a wide radius of where he lived and worked. As an intervention in an
emotionally fraught situation, this was only slightly less coarse than
that of Hindu Jagran Manch's Orissa unit president Subhash Chouhan. He
said that Graham Staines was killed because he was engaged in
proselytisation. The pattern set in the aftermath of the killing was
very clear. Adherents to the RSS worldview who happen to be in the
Government felt obliged to issue deprecatory noises. But those outside
the Government felt few such restraints.

EASTERN PRESS AGENCY
Australian Christian missionary Graham Stewart Staines with wife
Glade and children Philip, Esther and Timothy, in a picture from the
family album.

A three-member team of Cabinet Ministers visited the site of the
murder as part of the Government's crisis management strategy. Prior
to his departure to the spot, Union Minister for Steel and Mines
Naveen Patnaik made it clear that he looked at the event through the
miasma of his antagonism to the Orissa unit of the Congress(I).
Defence Minister George Fernandes and Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi chose a strategy of prudence in advance
of their visit - the former because he is a key member of the BJP-led
Government's crisis management effort and the latter because of his
well-advertised proximity to hardline elements in the RSS.

The ministerial trio spent one hour at the scene of the crime. On its
return to Delhi, the team issued a statement which ascribed
responsibility for the crime to an "international conspiracy" by
"forces which would like this Government to go". If this effectively
ruled out the culpability of the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates, the
team also urged that a judicial commission of inquiry be constituted
to look into the murder in order to uncover the conspiracy.

Shortly afterwards the Government announced, on the advice of the
Chief Justice of India, that a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court,
Justice D.P. Wadhwa, had been appointed as a one-man commission of
inquiry into the Staines killing. Union Minister for Information and
Broadcasting and Cabinet spokesman Pramod Mahajan said that the
inquiry report would be completed by April, so that it could be placed
in Parliament in its next session.

The Director-General for Investigations in the National Human Rights
Commission, D.R. Karthikeyan, visited the scene of the crime. His
report is expected to be submitted by the middle of February, though
with the appointment of the judicial commission it could become an
input for the broader inquiry. Certain suggestions that he made in the
context of the local police investigation, such as entrusting it to
the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the State police and
putting an officer of the rank of Superintendent in charge of it, have
been accepted.

A two-member team from the National Commission on Minorities
comprising James Massey and N. Neminath also went to the site. Its
report is also expected to be an important input into the inquiries of
the judicial commission.

AP
During their visit to Manoharpur village in Orissa a few days after
the murder of Graham Stewart Staines and his sons, members of the
Cabinet team, Defence Minister George Fernandes, Human Resource
Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister for Steel and
Mines Naveen Patnaik, make inquiries.

IN the midst of these exertions, the ambivalence of official
utterances continues to cause disquiet. It is well known that the
Bajrang Dal - as in the case of most organisations in the RSS
constellation - does not maintain membership rolls. Established in
1984, just when the Ram Janmabhoomi movement was beginning to take
shape in the strategies of the RSS, the Bajrang Dal honed its
agitational and inflammatory skills in the lethal campaign to bring
down the mosque in Ayodhya. The slogans it crafted as part of this
campaign still ring with menace and were often chanted by the riotous
mobs which took a heavy toll of human life during the six years
leading up to the demolition.

Many modern legal systems have a category of offence known as "hate
speech". Slogans and declamations that tend to engender a sense of
antipathy towards any group of people are an offence in themselves.
And if they are issued in close temporal or spatial connection with
actual incidents of violence against these groups, a direct
association is drawn. The onus is then on those who raise the
inflammatory slogans to prove that there is no connection with the
actual act of violence.

By this reasonable benchmark, the BJP spokesmen who have, at every
juncture since the cycle of anti-Christian violence began, exerted
themselves in the cause of strife rather than harmony bear a share of
the blame for the Staines killing. And their conspicuous lack of
remorse after the event has certainly contributed to the sustenance of
an atmosphere of violence. This has been most recently exemplified in
the alleged gang-rape of a Catholic nun on February 3 in Mayurbhanj
district in Orissa. Heinous crimes have been justified by the supposed
sense of rage at the incursions of alien religions into what is deemed
to be Hindu territory. For the BJP leaders who today represent
governmental authority, this has concurrently become an alibi for a
complete abdication of responsibility.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1604/16040220.htm

Volume 24 - Issue 08 :: Apr. 21-May. 04, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COLUMN

Politics of intimidation
PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Bharatiya Janata Party is trying to browbeat the Election
Commission and its critics on the anti-Muslim CD issue.

SUBIR ROY

BJP State president Kesri Nath Tripathi with senior leader Lalji
Tandon in Lucknow on March 30.

NO Indian political formation can even remotely match the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) when it comes to violating norms of political
decency, defying the law, and pursuing an outrageously divisive and
sectarian agenda. The latest instance is its release on April 3 of a
viciously anti-Muslim compact disc (CD) entitled Bharat ki Pukar (the
call of India) as part of its campaign material for the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections.

The BJP has disowned the CD and feigned ignorance of how it got to be
commissioned, written, approved and released — without sincerely
apologising for it. Worse, it has tried to turn the tables on a
constitutional authority, the Election Commission, as well as its
political opponents. It has also used threats and intimidation to
resist reasonable pressure to play by the ground rules of electoral
politics.

Even more disgracefully for the Indian political system, the BJP has
for all practical purposes got away with its offensive conduct. As
this is being written, during the third round of polling in the seven-
phase U.P. elections, it seems highly unlikely that the BJP will be
made to pay politically for its defiance of the prohibition against
using hate speech to win votes, itself a crime against democracy.

The Election Commission issued the BJP a notice asking the party to
explain why it should not be punished under the Representation of the
People Act, 1951 and its Model Code of Conduct, which was in force
when the CD was released. But the BJP, true to type, launched a
counter-offensive and tried to divert attention from this central
issue by demanding that Naveen Chawla, one of the Election
Commissioners, recuse himself from hearing its case. It took this
secondary issue to the Supreme Court on April 13, which has deferred
its hearing to May 8.

Regrettably, the BJP has thus succeeded in getting any resolution of
the issues raised by the CD postponed until it ceases to matter for
the all-important election campaign in U.P.

Now, it can hardly be disputed that the CD is flagrantly anti-Muslim.
It perversely portrays all Muslims as anti-Hindu and anti-national.
They are depicted as duplicitous devils: they trick Hindus into
selling them cows by pretending they will look after them, only to
butcher them in a gory way. They oppress their own women and turn them
into mere reproductive machines - so as to change India's demographic
balance.

The CD shows Muslim men abducting innocent Hindu girls and eloping
with them - only to convert them forcibly. (The effect of this was
reinforced in real life by the systematic hounding of mixed couples
from Bhopal and elsewhere, and by orchestrated "protests" against
their marriage, including a typical Hindutva-style attack on a Star
News studio in Mumbai.)

The CD was clearly calculated to incite hatred against a religious
community, divide citizens, and provoke a militant reaction - probably
with a view to triggering a Hindu-communal backlash. There is nothing
vague or unambiguous of its purpose: it is to win votes in U.P., where
the BJP faces a double-or-nothing prospect.

It simply will not do for the BJP to pretend that the CD was
unauthorised and produced by a junior-level "worker" without prior
approval by the party's top leaders, including Lalji Tandon and State
unit president Kesri Nath Tripathi. According to Virendra Singh,
director of the Bulandshehr-based Fakira Films, which produced the CD,
the State BJP leadership was consulted "at every stage of the writing
of the CD" and whenever the script was "modified... and fine-tuned...
" This stands to reason. Withdrawing the CD cannot mitigate the
original offence because the disc is in circulation and has been
viewed by large numbers of people - in excerpts aired on television,
as well as original copies.

V.V. KRISHNAN

The controversial CD.

Prima facie, there is an irrefutable case against the BJP for
violating the election law in a depraved manner and for offending
Sections of the Indian Penal Code that pertain to spreading hatred
against a particular group or using appeals to religious identity and
which prohibit and punish the use of inflammatory communal material.

The Election Commission was not only right to issue a notice to the
BJP, it was duty-bound to act against it. Logically, such action can
take many forms: publicly reprimanding the BJP, imposing a hefty fine,
and derecognising it at least so far as the use of the lotus symbol is
concerned. The E.C. is not merely meant to disqualify a candidate in
retrospect for communal propaganda. Article 324 of the Constitution
gives it a broad mandate, which includes preventing, precluding and
punishing the use of such propaganda during elections.

The "retrospective" argument just does not stand up to scrutiny. The
E.C.'s core job is to do all it can to prohibit effectively the use of
unfair electoral practices. That is why it is empowered to requisition
police and paramilitary forces, transfer and appoint civil servants,
and set rules for the conduct of the electoral process in its minutest
details.

Implicit in, and central to, the E.C.'s function as a statutory
authority is preventive and pre-emptive action so as to guard the
sanctity of elections. To use an analogy, its principal task is not to
punish arsonists but to prevent fires, which vitiate the selection of
the people's representatives - a process vital and indispensable to
democracy. The E.C. would be perfectly within its powers to demand an
explicit, binding commitment from any political party that it will not
use communal means of canvassing electoral support, a breach of which
would automatically entail disqualification and derecognition.

The case for doing so is especially strong because only last December,
the BJP officially released a CD similar to the April avatar. This was
done during its National Council meeting in Lucknow, where the CD
featured as part of the press kit. The BJP fully owns and stands by
this CD. It cannot claim innocence about its cousin/derivative.

It has since produced equally obnoxious advertisements questioning the
patriotic intentions of Muslims through the caption: Kya inka irada
Pak hai? (Are their intentions pure). Several of its top leaders,
including its chief ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh, have publicly
defended their content as "truthful".

The plain truth is that the BJP has tried to browbeat its opponents -
by raising a diversionary issue and by resorting to the melodramatic
(but mercifully aborted) tactic of courting arrest and launching a
self-righteous protest agitation against the E.C.'s notice. (It is
another matter that it also put up a dummy candidate in Tandon's
constituency - his own son - in case the U.P. BJP's topmost leader
faces punitive action.)

This is not the first time that the BJP has resorted to bluff and
bluster, by threatening a "mass agitation", by pretending that any
E.C. action against it would amount to an "electoral emergency", and
by creating a climate of fear. This is a familiar tactic. It takes
recourse to majoritarianism and arouses concern that should a Hindutva
force be even brought to book, the consequences in the form of
disruption of order would be unacceptable.

The BJP did exactly this after the Babri Masjid was demolished in
December 1992, when it prevailed upon the Centre to allow the patently
illegal makeshift Ram-Lala temple built on its rubble to remain.
Indeed, even before that ghastly episode, our courts were reluctant to
take pre-emptive action except of a tokenist variety against it. So
was the government, which retreated each time the BJP adopted an
aggressive posture.

Here too, the fear of a "majoritarian backlash" trumped all
considerations of constitutional propriety, defence of secularism and
plain legality. Since December 1992, no government has dared to assert
the law of the land. Nor have the demolition's planners and
perpetrators been brought to book.

A similar fear gripped the Establishment after the Gujarat pogrom. The
Centre failed to dismiss the BJP-ruled State government although it
had caused, and continued to preside over, a total breakdown of all
constitutional order: even High Court judges and senior police
officers had to flee their homes in fear. The Opposition too failed to
mount enough pressure on the Centre to impose President's Rule, for
which there has never been, and could not have been, a fitter case.

Worse, elections were allowed to be held while a whole community had
been terrorised, democratic governance had collapsed, and free and
fair canvassing, polling and exercise of rational choices had become
impossible — given the continuing harassment and intimidation of
Muslims, inflamed Hindu-communal sentiments, the BJP-VHP's (Vishwa
Hindu Parishad) goonda raj, and the prevalence of a generalised
climate of fear.

All that the E.C.'s initial and salutary intervention in Gujarat
resulted in was postponement of the elections by a few months - when
the obvious remedy was President's Rule, followed by full return to
normalcy and systematic prosecution of the pogrom's perpetrators. The
Supreme Court's off-the-cuff pronouncements indicating its opposition
to deferring elections did not help.

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami flanked by Election
Commissioners S.Y. Quraishi and Naveen Chawla, in New Delhi.

The Establishment, in effect, has repeatedly permitted the BJP to hold
and exercise a veto over vital political processes, exercise of police
and prosecution powers, and the running of the administration in
crisis situations such that it would be suborned by the forces of
Hindu communalism.

This does not argue that the Indian government/Establishment has
turned actively communal over the years, only that it has made
deplorable compromises with Hindu communalists or passively accepted
that they deserve to be treated differently from other communalists,
as well as secularists. It is both noteworthy and shameful that the
worst abuses of freedom and the most ferocious attacks on democracy,
secularism and the rule of law in India's recent history have occurred
in situations where Hindu communalism was ascendant or rampant.

Similarly, the Establishment has allowed the BJP and its associates
virtual veto power on a number of policies, especially those
pertaining to religion and politics, to Kashmir, to relations with
Pakistan and other neighbours, and to defence and national security.
BJP leaders have arrogantly begun to assert such "primacy". Three
years ago, L.K. Advani claimed: "The BJP alone can find solutions to
our problems with Pakistan because Hindus will never think whatever we
have done is a sell-out."

The underlying assumption seems to be that by virtue of being
majoritarian or Hindu-communal, the BJP or the Sangh Parivar is a more
authentic representative of Indian opinion than other political
currents or parties. Nothing could be more false. Looked at
historically, the BJP has been a minority current in Indian politics
until the 1990s. Even at its peak, it has never commanded more than a
quarter of the national vote.

Even more important, the assumption is dangerously misguided and
unbecoming of a society and state that aspires to be secular by
drawing a line of basic demarcation between religion and politics. It
simply cannot accord primacy to a particular religious group by virtue
of its large numbers.

This situation must be remedied. That can only happen when progressive
political opinion and civil society pressure is mounted on the
Establishment so that it stands up to the bullying tactics of the
majoritarian communalists. One must hope that the E.C. will set a
positive example in the CD case.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2408/stories/20070504002810800.htm

Volume 17 - Issue 13, June 24 - July 07, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

COMMUNALISM

An assault on Christians

Emboldened by the weak response of governments to attacks against
Christian places of worship, the affiliates of the Sangh Parivar
unleash a new wave of terror against the community.

PARVATHI MENON
in Bangalore

EVER since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance
government assumed power at the Centre, there has been a low-intensity
war against Christians in India, especially nuns and priests, by
groups and organisations loyal to the Sangh Par ivar. A wave of
attacks against Christian evangelists and places of worship through
1998 culminated in the murder of the Australian missionary Graham
Staines and his two sons on January 23, 1999. Dara Singh, a Hindutva
fanatic with links to the Sangh Par ivar, has been arrested in that
connection. A second wave of terror against Christian missionaries,
that extends now to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and
Andhra Pradesh, has culminated this June in a series of bomb blasts in
churches in Ka rnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

SHERWIN CRASTO/AP
During a peace march in Mumbai on June 17, Christian priests carry a
portrait of Brother George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in
Mathura.

The bombs that went off in churches in the towns of Vasco in Goa, Wadi
in Karnataka, and Ongole and Tadepalligudem in Andhra Pradesh, point
to a qualitatively new phase in the campaign of organised violence
against Christians in the country. Although the identity of the forces
behind the blasts is yet to be established, the nature of the attacks,
their target and timing, point the finger of suspicion at the Sangh
Parivar. In fact, the month of May alone saw two bomb attacks in
Andhra Pradesh; the first in Machlipatnam where 30 persons were
injured in a bomb blast at a prayer meeting on May 21, and another in
Vikarabad where an explosive device planted in a church was
fortunately defused in time. The simultaneous bomb blasts in the four
towns suggest th at the perpetrators have been emboldened by what has
been seen as a weak and non-serious state response to the terror
campaign so far.

At 6 a.m. on June 8, a bomb exploded on the precincts of the St. Ann
Catholic Church in the industrial town of Wadi in Gulbarga, shattering
glass panes. A second blast occurred at 9 a.m. after the police had
reached the spot, surveyed the area and recove red residual material
of the earlier blast. When a car parked in the church precincts was
moved, a tin box was found protruding from the ground. But it exploded
before the bomb disposal squad could defuse it. One person was injured
in the blast. Wadi has a Christian population of about 80 families.

Around the same time a blast at the St. Andrews Church in Vasco in
south Goa shattered windowpanes and twisted grills out of shape. At
8-15 a.m. that day, the Gewett Memorial Baptist Church in Ongole was
the scene of a bomb blast which because it took pl ace after the
morning service, only injured three persons. A bomb went off at the
Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West Godavari
district, around the same time.

The police have already established certain significant facts with
regard to the blasts. "We are now certain that the same group of
conspirators were behind all the three blasts," C. Dinakaran, Director-
General of Police, Karnataka, told Frontline . In all the cases, he
said, the timing device and the detonators used were of the same type.
While in Andhra Pradesh the explosive had a plastic casing, in Goa and
Karnataka the explosives were encased in tin. The bombs were placed,
in all the cases, ne ar the gates or windows of the church. Gelatine,
an explosive commonly used for blasting in the stone quarries and
cement factories of Gulbarga in Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh was the
raw material used. "The other significant fact is that all the towns
have railway stations and we suspect that this may have determined the
choice of place. The conspirators possibly took trains from one place
to another," said Dinakaran.

K. RAMESH BABU
Inside the Mother Vannini Catholic Church at Tadepalligudem in West
Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh which was damaged in a bomb blast
on June 8.

THE serial blast mark a new phase in the continuing two-year-long
violence against the Christian community in the country. The fact of a
conspiracy is now clearly established. This points not only to careful
and coordinated planning, but also to new leve ls and strategies of
planned violence suggestive of a deadly seriousness of purpose. No
longer need mobs be mobilised in the destruction of places of
Christian worship as in the past. The terrorism of the bomb gives the
criminal a degree of invisibility, and widens the range of attack. The
serial bombs were in the nature of a message of intimidation, not just
to those who work for Christian organisations but to Church
congregations, from prayer meetings to Sunday school gatherings. With
the perpetrators of the crime distanced from the scene of the crime,
it is much easier for a compliant state machinery to give them
protection. The fear of indiscriminate strikes anywhere and at any
time has already created a sense of panic amongst Christians. After
all , ifa bomb can be planted in a town as innocuous as Wadi, it could
happen anywhere in the country.

"I read in all this a pattern of violence. These were similar
explosive devices that were used, " Fr. Dr.H.R. Donald De Souza,
deputy secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India
told Frontline. "We suspect an organised movement b y fundamentalist
groups who have been emboldened by the inaction of the government," he
added.

The serial blasts give the lie to the theory of 'secular violence'
that the BJP and the government it heads have put out regarding the
recent attacks on minorities in different parts of the country.
Despite evidence to the contrary, the government held t hat the
innumerable acts of violence against members of the Christian
community, in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and elsewhere, was not communally
motivated but were incidents of "dacoity and loot" by "criminal
gangs".

According to the United Christian Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR),
there have been 35 recorded anti-Christian crimes between January and
June this year. The most recent of these was the murder of Brother
George Kuzhikandam, who was bludgeoned to death in the Paulus Memorial
School in Navada, Mathura, in U.P. on June 7. Within days of this
incident, a group of nuns were attacked in Mathura by a couple of
scooter-borne assailants. In the case of George Kuzhikandam, U.P.
Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta ins isted that money was the motive
behind the murder. "The BJP and the State government reach conclusions
even before the police start investigation," John Dayal, national
convener of the UCFHR said. "Why would a gang of thugs choose to kill
a poor priest i n his school during the holidays ? Or attack nuns who
run a convent school that charges the lowest fees in the area?" Dayal
said that the U.P. Police had promised to post police units at
Christian institutions but these were soon withdrawn. "A police out
post was stationed at the nuns' ashram in Agra. They proved more of a
nuisance as they insisted on being fed and looked after, and were in
any case taken off duty a few days later!" The U.P. government's stand
on the attacks received support from an unexpected quarter. The
National Minorities Commission (NMC) sent an investigative team to the
Agra-Mathura region and its report upheld the official view that the
cases of physical viol ence and murder were committed by anti-social
elements. "The NMC report was prepared by nominees of the present
government. So it is not surprising that they arrived at the
conclusion they did,"said Fr. Donald De Souza. "A group of Christian
parliamentar ians led by P.C. Thomas conducted another enquiry and on
the basis of the same evidence wholly disagreed with the NMC report,"
he added.

THE BJP responded to the serial blasts even before the government did.
While the Home Ministry "waited for reports from the States," the BJP
announced that the blasts were the handiwork of Pakistan's Inter-
Services Intelligence (ISI), which, it said, is bent on fomenting
hatred between Hindus and Christians in the country. Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee had no information to give as to what action the
State governments had taken when a delegation from the UCFHR called on
him three days after the bl ast. By then police investigations could
not establish any ISI involvement.

K. RAMESH BABU
The facade of the church.

Preliminary investigations into the blasts appear to discount the
theory of ISI involvement. "We cannot rule out anything," said DGP
Dinakaran. "But if an organisation as well-funded as the ISI is
involved, we expect they would use more sophisticated bom bs. Why must
they depend on gelatine and not the more expensive and deadly RDX
(research department explosive)?"

Christian leaders attach importance to the proliferation of hate-
literature that has provided the fuel for the attacks, and which also
provides evidence, for a law enforcing agency that wishes to use such
evidence, of who is behind the violence. Hate-lit erature is freely
printed and distributed in States where the Sangh Parivar is active,
and in States where the BJP is in government or is an ally of the
government, as in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Most hate-pamphlets do
not carry the name of an organis ation that has an address. For
example, there are pamphlets signed by the 'Hindu Jagaran Manch,
Kashi', or by 'Supporters of Dara Singh, the God Who Descended from
Heaven'. While some of the books are directly incendiary, others come
in the garb of work s of historical 'research', and yet others are
books/pamphlets on how to harass Christian missionaries in order to
prevent them from proselytising. For example, a booklet published in
Gujarat suggests that one way to prevent missionaries from working is
to foist false cases on them so that they are always tied up in the
courts.

These are faceless, addressless, front organisations of the Sangh
Parivar. If the law enforcing mechanism is slow in apprehending the
culprits in an attack of communally motivated violence, it is even
slower in tracing and taking action against the print ers and peddlers
of hate-literature. The environment in all the three States where the
serial blasts occurred has been vitiated by the activities of the
Sangh Parivar. "We are alarmed at the statements of important people
in the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamseva k Sangh) and the BJP, such as B.K.
Modi and Ashok Singhal, who have been talking of the need to build a
pan Buddhist-Hindu alliance against Christianity and Islam in South
Asia," said Dayal. "The RSS chief speaks of an "Epochal War". What
does all this m ean?" he asked. The NDA government has already swept
the uncomfortable issue of the serial blasts, which they were briefly
confronted with, under the carpet. A passing worry presented itself
when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu was reported to
have tol d a delegation of Christian leaders that he would even
consider withdrawing support to the BJP-led government if the rights
of the minorities were not protected. But that concern too was
dispelled when the Telugu Desam Party leader denied that he had sai d
anything of the sort.

To the Christians in the country, the targets of a sustained two-year-
long cycle of violence, there is little room for comfort. And for
assurances there are few positive measures that have been taken for
their protection.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1713/17130210.htm

India's National Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
Vol. 15 :: No. 26 :: Dec. 19, 1998 - Jan. 01, 1999

COLUMN
RSS and Christians

The Sangh Parivar's violent hatred against Christianity is deep-rooted
and decades old, as is the case with its animosity against several
other communities.

A. G. NOORANI

ON December 4, 1998, nearly 23 million Christians across the country
observed a protest day demanding that the governments at the Centre
and in the States check the growing violence against members of the
community. A letter of protest, drawn up by the United Christians'
Forum for Human Rights (UCFHR), said: "Since January 1998 there has
been more violence against the Christian community than in all the 50
years of the country's Independence. Nuns have been raped, priests
executed, Bibles burnt, churches demolished, educational institutions
destroyed and religious people harassed." This is persecution in the
strict dictionary meaning of the word "pursue with enmity and ill-
treatment". Mabel Rebello of the Congress(I) told the Rajya Sabha that
day that "50 per cent of these (incidents) have occurred in Gujarat
where the BJP is in power".

On October 8, Gujarat's Director-General of Police, C.P. Singh,
confirmed in an interview to Teesta Setalvad, co-editor of Communalism
Combat (October 1998): "One thing was clear in the pattern of
incidents. It was the activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and
Bajrang Dal who were taking the law into their own hands, which posed
a serious danger to peace in Gujarat. Many of the attacks on the
minorities were after these organisations had whipped up local
passions of conversions (by Christian missionaries) and allegedly
forced inter-religious marriages... our investigations revealed that
in most cases these were entirely baseless allegations."

Two disturbing features of the campaign stand out in bold relief. One
is that the attacks mounted steeply after the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led Government assumed office in March 1998. The Archbishop of Delhi,
Alan de Lastic, said: "What I have noticed is that ever since this
Government came to power at the Centre, the attacks on Christians and
Christian missionaries have increased" (Sunday, November 22). The
other is the Government's wilful refusal to condemn them. Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's remarks on December 5 were virtually
forced out of him. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani has been false to
his oath of office ("do right to all manner of people in accordance
with the Constitution and the law without fear or favour, affection or
ill-will"). He said in Baroda on August 2 (The Hindu, August 3):
"There is no law and order problem in Gujarat." Three days later the
DGP said, according to The Hindustan Times (August 6), that "the VHP
and the Bajrang Dal were taking the law into their own hands." He also
said that incidents of communal violence had increased manifold over
the last few months; recently the crime rate in the State had
increased by as much as 9.6 per cent. On an average, 39 crimes of
serious nature like murder, rape and dacoity were reported in the
State every day." A member of the investigation team sent by the
Minorities Commission revealed: "After initial reluctance, the
officials named VHP and Bajrang Dal allegedly involved in the mob
attacks on Christians and Muslims" (The Indian Express, August 12).
Advani's certificate of good conduct speaks for itself.

Christians did not rush to register their protest, as they did on
December 4, but for long kept pleading for succour. On October 1, the
national secretary of the All India Catholic Union (AICU), John Dayal,
pointedly remarked: "The AICU is surprised that Union Government and
members of the ruling coalition, including the BJP, have not come out
categorically in denouncing the violence against Christians."

The Bajrang Dal has threatened Christian-run educational institutions
in Karnataka with dire consequences if they did not "Hinduise" them.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Rajendra Singh declared at an RSS
camp in Meerut on November 22: "Muslims and Christians will have to
accept Hindu culture as their own if Hindus are to treat them as
Indians" (an Agence France Presse: report in The Asian Age; November
23). The UCFHR bitterly complained in an open letter published on
November 19: "The state has failed to do its duty in protecting the
life, dignity and property of the victims. At many places, it seems as
if the Centre and the State governments have tacitly supported the
communal groups. How is it otherwise that the State governments have
not taken any action against the virulent and anti-national statements
of the VHP, RSS, Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal?" (emphasis added,
throughout).

While the Sangh Parivar's animosity towards Muslims is well-known, its
attitude towards Christians has taken many people by surprise. But,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad general secretary Giriraj Kishore said in
Chandigarh on November 25: "Today the Christians constitute a greater
threat than the collective threat from separatist Muslim elements."
Describing G. S. Tohra, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak
Committee, as a "separatist", he said, "all minorities including
Muslims and Christians must accept that their ancestors were Hindus."
Ergo, they must all return to the Hindu fold.

Violence in speech inevitably inspires violent acts. As the Jaganmohan
Reddy Commission that went into the Ahmedabad riots (1969) noted, once
communal tension is created in a city, all that is needed is "only a
match to set on fire and a fan to fan the city ablaze." Riots erupt
over trifling incidents only because the atmosphere has been fouled
up. Hence, the need for "a proper appreciation of the communal
atmosphere in a State, in a town or in any particular area," the
Commission stressed. Those who spread hate are the real perpetrators
of violence. The ones who wield the weapon are their mindless agents.

We have tended to ignore a fact that brooks no neglect - the real
cause of the communal riots is the rise of the Sangh Parivar. There
was communal peace even in the early years after Partition. A Home
Ministry review presented to the National Integration Council in 1968
noted: "From 1954 to 1960, there was a clear and consistent downward
trend, 1960 being a remarkably good year with only 26 communal
incidents in the whole country. This trend was sharply reversed in
1961. "That was when riots erupted in Jabalpur - thanks to the Jan
Sangh, the BJP's ancestor. Communal violence has not "looked back"
since.

Justice P. Venugopal, a former Judge of the Madras High Court, who
inquired into Hindu-Christian clashes in Kanyakumari district in March
1982, noted: "The RSS adopts a militant and aggressive attitude and
sets itself as the champion of what it considers to be the rights of
Hindus against minorities. It has taken upon itself the task to teach
the minority their place and if they are not willing to learn their
place, teach them a lesson. The RSS has given respectability to
communalism and communal riots and demoralise administration (sic).
The RSS methodology for provoking communal violence is: (a) rousing
communal feelings in the majority community by the propaganda that
Christians are not loyal citizens of this country..." Report after
report has indicted the RSS specifically or its affiliates (Ahmedabad
1969; Bhiwandi 1970; Tellicherry 1971; Jamshedpur 1981; and Mumbai
1993).

VIOLENCE is an integral part of the RSS credo. "It should be used as a
surgeon's knife... to cure the society... Sometimes to protect non-
violence itself violence becomes necessary," RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar
said in 1952. (Spotlights: Guruji Answers, pages 110 and 188). In his
fine work India as a Secular State, Donald Eugene Smith recalled the
desecration of a church in Bihar in 1955 and the almost total
destruction in 1957 of the Gass Memorial Centre at Raipur.

V.D. Savarkar wrote repeatedly in his book Hindutva (1923): "Hindutva
is different from Hinduism." For once, he was right. Hinduism is a
great religion, it is ancient. Hindutva is an ideology of hate. It is
recent. He grouped Muslims and Christians together as ones who do not
share "the tie of the common homage we pay to our great civilisation -
our Hindu culture." He added: "Christian and Mohammedan communities
who were but very recently Hindus... cannot be recognised as Hindus as
since their adoption of the new cult they had ceased to own Hindu
civilisation (Sanskriti) as a whole... For though Hindusthan to them
is Fatherland, as to any other Hindu, yet it is not to them a Holyland
too. Their holyland is far off in Arabia or Palestine."

They are not the only offenders: "Look at the Jews; neither centuries
of prosperity nor sense of gratitude for the shelter they found can
make them more attached or even equally attached to the several
countries they inhabit."

Golwalkar revealed on May 15, 1963 that his first book We or Our
Nationhood Defined was based on Savarkar's brother Babarao's book in
Marathi on the same theme, Rashtra Mimamsa. Golwalkar's second book,
Bunch of Thoughts, praised the book Hindutva and amplified its
ideology. The BJP has used it as a political weapon with dangerous
consequences. Chapter XII of Bunch of Thoughts is devoted to three
"Internal Threats" - Muslims, Christians and the Communists. Of the
first two he wrote: "Together with the change in their faith, gone are
the spirit of love and devotion for the nation. Nor does it end there.
They have also developed a feeling of identification with the enemies
of this land. They look to some foreign lands as their holy places."
They are asked to return to the Hindu fold.

Not that that will be of much help. "For a Hindu, he gets the first
sanskar when he is still in his mother's womb... We are, therefore,
born as Hindus. About the others, they are born to this world as
simple unnamed human beings and later on, either circumcised or
baptised, they become Muslims or Christians." The hatred is
unconcealed. They have no right to proselytise. Hindus alone have it,
for, "returning to one's ancestral faith is not conversion at all, it
is merely home-coming."

Bunch of Thoughts first appeared in 1966 but the good work has been
stepped up since. To the three "internal threats", a fourth is added -
"Nehruism" - and among the perils we face is "Macaulayism". In Delhi
functions an outfit, Voice of India, which proclaims: "We are not
general booksellers and handle only books listed in this catalogue.
Please do not ask for other books." It is an outfit with a mission.
For the catalogue has an "appeal" which reads thus: "Hindu society and
culture are faced with a crisis. There is a united front of entrenched
alien forces - Islam, Christianity, Communism, Nehruism - to disrupt
and discredit the perennial values of the Indian ethos. All who care
for India need to know what is happening, and what is to be done if a
major tragedy is to be averted. Voice of India aims at providing an
ideological defence of Hindu society and culture, through a series of
publications."

SOME people were surprised by Advani's assertion at a seminar on
November 6 at Sarnath that "the Buddha did not announce any new
religion. He was only restating with a new emphasis the ancient ideals
of the Indo-Aryan civilisation." The Buddha, he added, derived his
teaching from the Bhagvad Gita and was an avatar of Vishnu. Rebuttals
from Buddhists were swift and sharp (see "Hindutva's fallacies and
fantasies", Frontline, December 4, 1998).

However, no one familiar with the stuff churned out by this factory,
for over four decades, would have been surprised. Its literature is
intolerant of any cultural and religious diversity. It fosters a siege
mentality among Hindus and speaks disparagingly of all others - not
excluding Sikhs and Jews. That is not all. A Hindu who does not share
its bigotry is attacked as being "anti-Hindu". Its literature
represents the spirit, outlook and ethos of the Sangh Parivar. The
writings cited below reveal a revolting virulence. Its moving spirit
is one Sita Ram Goel.

The Parivar's organ Organiser only recently (October 18, 1998)
published a paper he had written in 1983. He wrote: "The English-
educated Hindu elite which controls the commanding heights in
government, educational institutions and mass media has failed the
test either because it has become indifferent to Hindu society, as a
result of having imbibed the current cosmopolitan culture, or because
it has been trained to look at Hindu society through eyes which are
not of its own ancestral culture and, as a result, has become
sceptical about, if not actually hostile to, the merits of Hindu
society. This desperate situation has been made more difficult by a
degenerate politics through which vote-hungry, sloganised, short-
sighted and nominally Hindu politicians weaken Hindu society by
dividing it on the basis of caste, sect, language and region, disarm
Hindu society by sanctimonious and one-sided appeals in the name of
traditional Hindu tolerance, strengthen alienated and aggressive
communities by supporting their separatist demands in the name of
secularism." His intolerance brings all within the sway of his
indictment, bar the Parivar itself.

TO return to Advani's notions on Buddhism, a pamphlet entitled
"Buddhism vis-a-vis Hinduism" published 40 years ago by Ram Swarup for
the outfit asserts: "Buddha, his spiritual experiences and teachings,
formed part of a Hindu tradition... A good Buddhist has perforce to be
a good Hindu too." He went on to attack "foreign" religions. "The
indigenous religions of the countries of the two Americas have been
completely overwhelmed. In the African sub-continent (sic) the local
religions are under a systematic attack from Islamic and Christian
ideologies." The Parivar takes a dim view of the United States.

Golwalkar was asked in July 1967: "What is your opinion about present-
day America?" There was lot to comment about - racial conflict,
Vietnam policy, and so on. All he could say was: "Do you not yourself
see that the American youth is fast dissipating himself in all kinds
of sensual indulgence?" Simplistic, sweeping, defamatory judgment
comes easily to the tribe.

Ram Swarup's tract Hinduism vis-a-vis Christianity and Islam continued
his refrain about "native" faiths. "What is happening in India is also
happening elsewhere. In America even the vestiges of once (sic), a
rich spiritual culture of the Indians, is no more." He developed the
theme in its sequel Hindu View of Christianity and Islam (1992). "The
two ideologies have been active and systematic persecutors of pagan
nations, cultures and religions... We have spoken here with sympathy
and respect not only of pagan Americas and Africa but also of the
pagan past of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Iran, Syria and Arabia." V.S.
Naipaul is in good company with the Sangh Parivar. Unlike him, it
indicts Christianity as well as Islam on this score.

"Hinduism can help all peoples seeking religious self-renewal, for it
preserves in some way their old Gods and religions, it preserves in
its various layers religious traditions and intuitions they have lost.
Many countries now under Christianity and Islam had once great
religions; they also had great Gods who adequately fulfilled their
spiritual and ethical needs... during the long period of neglect, they
lost the knowledge which could revive those Gods, Hinduism can help
them with this knowledge. In its simplest aspect, Europeans can best
study their old pre-Christian religion by studying Hinduism."

Ram Swarup goes on to quote approvingly: "Gore Vidal says that from a
'barbaric Bronze Age text known as Old Testament, three anti-human
religions have evolved - Judaism, Christianity and Islam'; he also
calls them 'sky-god religions'."

Ram Swarup damns all three religions as "great persecutors". The Hindu
response of old was wrong. He writes:

"First, they tried to 'reform' themselves and be like their rulers...
One God, a revealed Book and prophets.... The Brahmo Samaj, the Arya
Samaj, and the Akalis also claimed monotheism and iconoclasm ... in
the case of the Akalis, the new look has also become the basis of a
new separatist-militant politics....

"The second way the Hindus adopted was that of 'synthesis'. The
synthesizers claimed that all religions preach the same thing. They
found in the Bible and the Quran all the truths of the Upanishads and
vice versa. They culled passages from various scriptures to prove
their point... It is by such methods that they proved that the Bible
and the Quran were no different from the Upanishads...."

The wrath wells up as he proceeds and delivers a message which
explains why the country has had to undergo what it has all these
years, especially since 1990: "India became politically free in 1947,
but it is ruled by anti-Hindu Hindus. The old mental slavery continues
and it has yet to win its cultural and intellectual independence.
India is entering into the second phase of its freedom struggle; the
struggle for regaining its Hindu identity. The new struggle is as
difficult as the old one. Hindus are disorganised, self-alienated,
morally and ideologically disarmed. They lack leadership; the Hindu
elites have become illiterate about their spiritual heritage and
history and indifferent and even hostile towards their religion...
India's higher education, its academia and media are in the hands of a
Hindu-hating elite."

Note what Ram Swarup has to say of the caste system:

"Once when Hinduism was strong, castes represented a natural and
healthy diversity, but now in its present state of weakness these are
used for its dismemberment. Old vested interests joined by new ones
have come together to make use of the caste factor in a big way in
order to keep Hindus down.

"Hindus have been kept down too long. Everyone including the victims
think that it is the natural order of things. Therefore, now when the
Hindu society is showing some signs of stir, there is a great
consternation. Already a cry has gone out of Hindu fundamentalism, we
must expect more of it in future." The readers have been warned. But
India will not be the only country to be saved. "America is awaiting
to be rediscovered in a characteristically Hindu way, not the
Christian way".

THIS represents a worse-than-narrow world-view. It is redolent of the
bigotry of medieval times. This book was published in 1992. His
earlier pamphlet, "Cultural Self-Alienation and Some Problems Hinduism
Faces", also characterised "castes and denominations" as expressing a
"natural and healthy diversity". The ignorance is astounding. "To
Marx, the British conquest of India was a blessing." Hinduism faces
attacks "both from inside and outside. While the forces of self-
alienation are increasing within society, external enemies have
intensified their attack.... Communism, Islam, Christianity have
powerful international links... their World-Centres. Commu-nists have
their Comintern working overtly or covertly." By 1987, Ram Swarup
ought to have known that the Comintern was dissolved on May 22, 1943
and that the "Islamic International, a kind of Muslim Vatican, Rabitah
al'-alam al-Iscaniya" (Muslim World League) is a Saudi-sponsored non-
governmental organisation (1962) which counts for little in India.
Hindus, by comparison, are at a disadvantage, he moans. "They do not
even have a government of their own." Socially, they are falling prey
to "vulgarity"; that is, "gambling, drinking, vulgar film music...
Cinemas (sic) are becoming great moral and social pollutants."


ANU PUSHKARNA
The Christian missionary centre at Nawapara in Jhabua district,
Madhya Pradesh, where four nuns were gangraped on September 23.

So, combat these and go over to the offensive and "look at Islam,
Christianity and Communism... from the Hindu angle." Sikhs are not
spared. Ram Swarup adopts a dual approach in Hindu-Sikh Relationship
(1985). He woos them as "the members of Hindu society" and denounces
them for thinking that "they were different". Base motives are freely
attributed: "Thanks to the Green Revolution and various other factors,
the Sikhs have become relatively more rich and prosperous. No wonder,
they have begun to find that the Hindu bond is not good enough for
them and they seek a new identity readily available to them in their
names and outer symbols. This is an understandable human frailty."

He defends the storming of the Golden Temple. It "became an arsenal, a
fort, a sanctuary for criminals. This grave situation called for
necessary action which caused some unavoidable damage to the
building." There followed "protest meetings, resolutions", which he
deprecates. "The whole thing created wide-spread resentment all over
India which burst into a most unwholesome violence when Mrs. Indira
Gandhi was assassinated. The befoggers have again got busy and they
explain the whole tragedy in terms of collusion between the
politicians and the police. But this conspiracy theory cannot explain
the range and the virulence of the tragedy. A growing resentment at
the arrogant Akali politics is the main cause of this fearful
happening."

This is of a piece with the Organiser's defence of Mahatma Gandhi's
assassination in its editorial (January 11, 1970) - "turned the
people's wrath on himself." Its editor then, K.R. Malkani, is now vice-
president of the BJP.

SITA RAM GOEL does not lag behind. His pamphlet "Hindu Society under
Siege" (1981) paints a frightening future: "The death of Hindu society
is no longer an eventuality which cannot be envisaged. This great
society is now besieged by the same dark and deadly forces which have
overwhelmed and obliterated many ancient societies. Suffering from a
loss of its elan, it has become a house divided within itself... Hindu
society is in mortal danger as never before."

One is reminded of the loonies of California, the minutemen who lived
in dread of a Soviet conquest of the U.S. The familiar ghosts of old
are revived - "Islamism", "Christianism" and a new one to keep them
company, "Macaulay-ism" (the educated Hindu who rejects the Parivar's
voodoo credo and the mumbo-jumbo of its shrill rhetoric).

"Ideologically, Communism in India is, in several respects, a sort of
extension of Macaulayism, a residue of British rule. That is why
Communism is strongest today in those areas where Macaulayism had
spread its widest spell." In no other parts of the country, though,
are Indian languages and culture more highly respected than in West
Bengal and Kerala. "Macaulayism is wedded to Secularism and Democracy.
It has to find out for itself as to who are the enemies of Secularism
and Democracy and who their best friends. This can be done only by
looking beyond the United Front of Islamism, Communism and
Christianism."

In the U.S., the minutemen belonged to the lunatic fringe. In India,
the Parivar's ideology is espoused by the party in power, even if it
be through dubious alliances. Scruples are not the Parivar's
strongpoint. On April 4, 1980, L.K. Advani and A.B. Vajpayee endorsed
a formulation in the National Executive of the Janata Party which
pledged its members to accept "unconditionally and strive to preserve
the composite culture and secular state established in our country."
After splitting the Janata Party both rejected the concept of India's
"composite culture." On April 8, 1998, at the BJP's Agra session, its
then president, Advani, denounced the concept of composite culture -
just as the Jan Sangh had done in December 1969.

HARSH NARAIN was a Visiting Professor at Aligarh Muslim University and
Reader at the North-Eastern Hill University. His Myths of Composite
Cultural and Equality of Religions (1990) reveals the unspoken
thoughts of the Parivar; the sub-text beneath the avowed text.

"Mere permanent settlement in a country does not entitle a plunderer
to be looked upon as indigenous. It must first be seen whose interests
he is out to serve. What is his attitude towards Indians? Take an
example. European settlers entered America and ruined the original
inhabitants, whom they named 'Red Indians'. To expect the remaining
Red Indians to regard their European-born rulers as equally indigenous
would be a cruel joke beyond their understanding.

"Islam was out to deal a death blow to the equilibrium, exuberance,
and cosmopolitan character of Indian humanity, later designated as
Hindu culture in juxtaposition to Indian culture."

To him, the Taj and the Qutub Minar are specimens exclusively of
Muslim, not Indian, sculpture. For, he holds: "The Muslims have been
religiously indifferent to, if not contemptuous of, Indian sculpture.
Thanks to the taste of the Sufis, the Muslims took some fancy to
Indian music. The main gamut of Indian literature has also been
untinged with Muslim literature and historic-cultural allusions...
Urdu language and literature, the much-vaunted symbols or vehicles of
composite culture, are not the result of intermingling of Hinduism and
Islam but reflected the Muslim image in Indian garb... nor have the
Hindu heroes and servants been fortunate enough to be honoured by the
Muslim community."

This can only be deliberate falsehood, since he flaunts familiarity
with Urdu. The much-maligned Iqbal wrote whole poems in praise of the
Buddha, Ram, Guru Nanak, and Swami Ram Tirtha. He was an admirer of
the Sanskrit poet, Bhartruhari, and had drunk deep at the fount of the
Gita and the Upanishads. Another great poet, Maulana Hasrat Mohani, a
confirmed leftist, wrote nostalgically of the soil of Mathura and in
praise of Krishna. He was also an ardent admirer of Bal Gangadhar
Tilak. But this is understandable of one who stoops to libel one of
the greatest mystics and martyrs of all time, Mansur al-Hallaj. He was
beheaded and his life forms the subject of the feat of scholarship,
Louis Massignon's four-volume The Passion of al-Hallaj. He is accused
of converting to Islam "the Dudwalas and Pinjaris of Gujarat." No
authority is cited in support of the charge.

Harsh Narain holds that while "a sizable section of the Sufis had been
comparatively free from the proverbial emphasis on coercion ... the
role of Sufi tradition in bridging the gulf between Islam and Hinduism
or laying the foundations of a composite culture has been greatly
exaggerated."

All this and more only in order to expose "the mad propaganda of
composite culture" and to prove that "Muslim culture cannot be said to
be an integral part of Indian culture and must be regarded as an
anticulture or counter culture in our body politic." This is no
different from the RSS chief's demand (November 22, 1998) that the
minorities Hinduise themselves.

The author turns his attention to Jainism ("failed to develop any
cultural identity of its own") and Buddhism ("basically a life-
negating religion, having little interest in social order, strictly
speaking"). Conclusion? "Our national culture, Indian culture, is a
unity describable as Aryan culture, Hindu culture... Indian culture is
Hindu culture... Muslim and Christian cultures are counter-cultures."
And Parsi culture is "something like" a sub-culture.

So "Hindu culture alone deserves the credit of recognition as the
national culture (abhimanin) of this country, as the culture owning
and possessing this great nation, along with other Indian-born
cultures like Buddhist and Jain cultures as its sub-cultures; Muslim
and Christian cultures being in the nature of tenant-cultures. The
distinction of master-possessor-owner culture and tenant-parasitic
culture has its own significance." One can guess what he is hinting
at.

Sita Ram Goel writes in the same vein. His ardour is reflected in his
three books Catholic Ashrams, Papacy and History of Hindu-Christian
Encounters (304-1996). His preface to the second edition (1996) of the
book on Hindu-Christian encounters explains a lot: "The Sangh Parivar,
which had turned cold towards Hindu causes over the years, was
startled by the rout of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 1984
elections, and decided to renew its Hindu character. The
Ramajanmabhumi Movement was the result. The Movement was aimed at
arresting Islamic aggression. Christianity or its missions were hardly
mentioned. Nevertheless, it was Christianity which showed the greatest
concern at this new Hindu stir, and started crying 'wolf'. Its media
power in the West raised a storm, saying that Hindus were out to
destroy the minorities in India and impose a Nazi regime. The storm is
still raging and no one knows when it will subside, if at all." Thus
"the storm" was unleashed for reasons of power through election
victories.

Goel's writings alone prove that the Parivar's ire against Christians
is decades old. In an article published in March 1983 he had asserted
that the ancient Hindu precept sarva dharma samabhava (all religions
are equal) should not be applied to Christians or Muslims.

IT is with some hesitation that one turns to Goel's book Jesus Christ:
An Artifice for Aggression (1994); so wantonly offensive it is. The
focus now is not on the missionaries, or politics, or history. The
target is the faith itself; Christianity as a religion. Why? Because
hitherto "we Hindus have remained occupied with the behaviour patterns
of Muslims and Christians and not with the belief systems which create
those behaviour patterns. We object to Christian missions, but refuse
to discuss Christianity and its God, Jesus. We object to Islamic
terrorisms, but refuse to have a look at Islamic and its prophet,
Muhammad. I see no sense or logic in this Hindu habit."

Is there any other country in the world where such theses are written
for such a purpose? One wonders. "Now, I could see why the history of
Christianity had been what it had been. The source of the poison was
in the Jesus of the gospels."

The Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary is attacked wantonly. There
are chapters on Jesus of history, of fiction and of faith. The thesis?
He did not exist in history. "The quantum of crimes committed by
Muhammad's Islam was only slightly smaller than that of the crimes
committed by the Christianity of the Jesus Christ... The parallel
between Jesus and Hitler was seen as still more striking. The Nazi
creed, as laid down by Hitler, did not sound much different from the
Christian creed as preached by Jesus in the gospels."

Goel is dismayed to find that Jesus Christ "should continue to retain
his hallow" (sic) in India. "Christianity is accepted as a religion
not only by the westernised Hindu elite but also by Hindu saints,
scholars, and political platforms."

Jesus Christ has been "praised to the skies, particularly by Mahatma
Gandhi." But, "it is high time for Hindus to learn that Jesus Christ
symbolises no spiritual power, or moral uprightness. He is no more
than an artifice for legitimising wanton imperialist aggression. The
aggressors have found him to be highly profitable so far. By the same
token, Hindus should know that Jesus means nothing but mischief for
their country and culture. The West where he flourished for long, has
discarded him as junk. There is no reason why Hindus should buy him.
He is the type of junk that cannot be re-cycled. He can only poison
the environment."

THE virulence of the language reveals the depths of the hatred. This
is what Indians are up against - a powerful hate group, enjoying the
patronage of many politicians in power and in the administration,
which is out to wipe out all traces not only of secularism and
democracy but of religious tolerance, religious and cultural diversity
and, indeed, of decency itself from India.

It shall not come to pass. The answer lies not in forging a united
front of the minorities; it lies in a renewal of the secular ideal in
our politics and in the nation at large.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1526/15261230.htm

Volume 19 - Issue 09, Apr. 27 - May 12, 2002
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

Plumbing new depths

No Indian Prime Minister has justified a communal pogrom the way
Vajpayee has. The BJP's Goa conclave marks the lowest point in
Hindutva's hardline evolution, underlining the need to punish the BJP
politically.

ATAL BEHARI VAJPAYEE'S public address at the April 12 BJP National
Executive meeting in Goa has rudely convulsed the secular conscience
of India's citizens. Many were jolted out of the complacent
assumption, promoted by sections of the media, that Vajpayee is some
kind of "moderate" or "liberal" - "the right man in the wrong party" -
a leader "secular" at heart, whose political "compulsions" regrettably
drive him from time to time to compromise with Hindutva. Yet others
attributed the tone and tenor of his speech to his interaction with
the party's young "hardliners" immediately before the Goa meeting,
such as Pramod Mahajan, Arun Shourie and M. Venkaiah Naidu, or to the
temporary "influence" of L.K. Advani, which made him reverse the
stance he adopted during his April 4 Gujarat visit.

The significance of Vajpayee's address goes much beyond his personal
"unmasking". His adoption of a virulent communal posture - which looks
at Indian society in terms of a division between Hindus and Others,
and accords social and political primacy to the majority community -
is shocking, but not really surprising. Vajpayee has never claimed to
be secular in the sense of separating religion from politics, or even
to have cut his umbilical cord to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Several public statements can be readily cited, which indicate
Vajpayee's ideological-political inclinations: for instance, "the
Sangh is my soul" (1995), "I will always remain a
swayamsevak" (September 2000), the Ram temple agitation is a "national
movement", not a sectarian-parochial one (December 2000), and his
Uttar Pradesh election speech in February 2002, in which he chided
Muslims for not voting for the BJP, but also warned them it could come
to power without their support. These are not aberrations. Nor is his
annual obeisance to the Sangh in the form of guru dakshina. Vajpayee
is as dedicated to Hindutva or "cultural nationalism" as any RSS
pracharak.

The true significance of Vajpayee's disquisition in Goa lies in its
relationship to the BJP's recent rightward evolution, and secondly, in
the new low political depths it plumbs. Never before has a Prime
Minister of India, of whatever persuasion, descended to making a hate-
speech against Muslims or Christians, castigating them as "outsiders".
Never before were our religious minorities humiliated by a Prime
Minister who would want them to feel grateful for being "allowed to
pray" - that is, for exercising their fundamental constitutional
right.

Never before has an Indian Prime Minister used such aggressive body
language to justify the Gujarat pogrom by citing the "who-cast-the-
first-stone" argument. Vajpayee blamed the victims of India's worst
communal pogrom for their own suffering. No other Prime Minister has
so blatantly undermined public confidence in the rule of law and in
the possibility of minimal justice for all in this society.

We now know, from numerous independent media accounts, and from
several highly credible and sensitive reports*, that the Godhra
killing of 59 Hindus was not, causally, "the first stone". The post-
February 27 carnage in Gujarat, which has claimed upwards of 850
lives, would probably have occurred even if the Godhra incident had
not. The conditions were ripe for the massacre of Muslims in that
"Hindutva laboratory" State. Elaborate preparations had been under way
for weeks before the massacre, in particular after kar sevaks were
dispatched daily to Ayodhya following the stepping up of the temple
campaign.

For instance, according to sources in Vadodara, lakhs of anti-Muslim
leaflets were illegally printed on slow treadle machines - which must
have taken months. Bombs and trishuls were stockpiled over a period of
weeks. The gap, exceeding 24 hours, between the "trigger event" and
the anti-Muslim violence - in contrast to, say, the immediate reaction
in Delhi to Indira Gandhi's assassinatio - only confirms the
organised, unspontaneous, planned nature of the pogrom.

Reconstruction of the Godhra incident, for example in the Citizens'
Forum report, suggests that it was a spontaneous, rather than an
elaborately planned, over-reaction to the daily harassment of local
Ghanchi Muslims (oil-pressers by occupation) by communally charged kar
sevaks returning from Ayodhya. Had there been serious preparation for
the attack on the Sabarmati Express, scheduled to reach Godhra at 2-55
a.m., there would have been a large crowd on the railway platform at
dawn. There was not.

When the train rolled in five hours late, there were only a handful of
vendors, porters and passengers on the platform. An altercation broke
out between the kar sevaks and Muslim tea vendors. It was only when a
rumour spread that young Sophia Khan had been dragged into coach S-6
that a crowd gathered near Signal Fadia, a basti known for communal
tension and criminal activities.

Seven weeks on, the government has failed to provide credible evidence
linking the Godhra episode to a "conspiracy" involving Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence or even an organised group in Gujarat or
elsewhere. Nor can it explain why towns such as Ratlam, which are
physically far closer to Godhra, and which have a similar composition
of Hindus, Muslims and Adivasis, did not register any "retaliatory"
violence, while distant Ahmedabad did.

The reasons are self-evidently Gujarat-specific and political. They
have to do with the Narendra Modi government's conscious decision to
support the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's February 28 bandh call and the
authorities' decision to transport the bodies of the Godhra victims by
train to Ahmedabad in a ceremonial manner calculated to inflame
passions. It is impossible to separate the post-February 27 violence
either from the Modi government or Gujarat's communalised context.

The fact that Vajpayee stooped to endorse Modi's "action-reaction"
logic to justify violent retribution upon a falsely constructed
collective culprit (Muslims) speaks of an utterly debased mind. The
logic of such revenge is ultimately the logic of "getting even" with
history, of Nazism, of barbarism. That is now unfolding before our
eyes.

Clearly, the BJP has decided to embrace a virulent form of Hindutva,
one that bases itself on a contemporary version of the "Two-Nation"
theory. Its disgraceful defence of Modi, its coercive tactics in the
NDA, its prolonged refusal to discuss Gujarat under Rule 184 in the
Lok Sabha, and its wholly unapologetic, brazen, attitude towards the
continuing climate of fear, intimidation and terror in Gujarat all
confirm this. The very fact that the BJP seriously threatened to hold
mid-term Assembly elections in Gujarat in a vitiated atmosphere, and
used it as a bargaining chip in negotiating with its allies, testifies
to its cynicism.

The consequences of this stance are already apparent. Thus, BJP
spokesman V.K. Malhotra made a revoltingly aggressive statement
likening the Congress to the pre-Partition Muslim League - merely
because the Congress expressed concern at the butchery of Muslims
(although not to the exclusion of concern for Hindus too). And one
cannot fail to note Modi's deviousness in transferring honest police
officers who tried to maintain a semblance of impartiality, or his
gross insensitivity to traumatised Muslim children in thrusting
examinations on them at centres located in areas where Muslims were
butchered.

Gujarat is a fit case for compelling the State government to abide by
the Constitution under Article 355 and for imposing President's Rule
under Article 356. True, Article 356 has been repeatedly misused to
dismiss Opposition governments. The demand for its use is being voiced
by forces with an extremely dubious record. But there could be no
fitter case than Gujarat to which the following description from the
Constitution applies: "a situation has arisen in which the government
of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of
the Constitution."

The constitutional machinery patently broke down in Gujarat on
February 28 when scores of citizens were massacred with the full
complicity of the state, and when it could not even protect a guardian
of the constitutional order, a High Court Judge, who happened to be a
Muslim.

It is precisely for such contingencies that President's Rule was
envisaged. The Gujarat situation cannot get normalised with Modi's
replacement alone. If hardcore sanghis like Goverdhan Zadaphia or
Ashok Bhatt were to take over, it could worsen. It is essential, but
not enough, that Modi be sacked. The whole government must be
dismissed and Gujarat placed under President's Rule with advisers of
impeccable integrity and experience, recommended by Parliament as a
whole.

It will take months for Gujarat to recuperate and achieve normalcy in
any real sense. Such normalcy must include reconciliation between
estranged neighbours and communities, full physical, psychological and
economic rehabilitation, and restoration of public confidence in the
impartiality of the government as regards different religious groups.

The danger of half-hearted reconciliation should be obvious. If the
one lakh Muslims who are in relief camps - and three or four times as
many, whose livelihoods have been affected - are forced to fend for
themselves without state and community assistance, they will probably
leave Gujarat altogether, or create "safe" ghettos for themselves. The
greater the ghettoisation, the greater the mutual estrangement of
religious groups, the lesser their social interaction - and the
greater the scope for conflict.

That is the last thing Gujarat needs. Indeed, it would be a recipe for
another communal pogrom. That is precisely what Hindutva craves most.
If the BJP succeeds in its game plan in Gujarat, by whipping up anti-
Muslim hysteria, it will replicate the same trick nationally - if
necessary, by staging another Godhra. If the Nazis could stage the
Reichstag fire, the BJP can create a Godhra-II, through agents
provocateurs.

These comparisons are not far-fetched. In foundational premises of its
ideology and politics, the BJP shares a great deal with the Italian
fascists, the German Nazis and the Taliban. They all reject the
emancipatory heritage of the Enlightenment. They privilege tradition
(itself ill-defined and distorted) over modernity. They are profoundly
intolerant of difference. They hate democracy and equality. And they
do not believe in just and fair means to achieve just ends. They are
prone to despotic methods and barbaric violence.

It will take a lot of effort to fight a force like the BJP-RSS-VHP. It
has already captured a number of institutions and key positions in
government and civil society. It has a dedicated, if fanatical, cadre.
Even in the short run, it will not be possible to isolate the Hindutva
forces unless the perpetrators of the Gujarat violence are severely
punished for their grave crimes, along the lines described in the
previous Frontline column (issue of April 26), and unless the BJP is
politically punished, that is, made to pay a heavy price through
systematic boycott and isolation.

One wishes this would happen both nationally, in the National
Democratic Alliance, and in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is about to
form a government with the Bahujan Samaj Party. Regrettably, the BSP
leadership seems to be bent on using its Dalit base as virtual common-
fodder for Hindutva - for dubious, at best petty, short-term gains.

Fighting Hindutva will be a long haul. But the struggle would not even
have been joined unless the Opposition mounts relentless pressure on
the NDA, both inside and outside Parliament, through dharnas, rallies,
public meetings and mass mobilisation. The People's Front should
consider launching a relay dharna in Gujarat's major cities.

The Opposition will do well to join hands with citizens' groups such
as SAHMAT, Aman Ekta Manch, People for Secularism and the Citizens'
Initiative (Ahmedabad), which have done a great deal to highlight the
Gujarat issue and collect donations for the victims' relief. For
instance, SAHMAT mobilised artists to donate their paintings and
raised Rs.5.5 lakhs through their sale.

One thing is clear: it will be a crying shame if the BJP is allowed to
go unpunished for its grievous assault on India's secular-democratic-
constitutional order, and on the foundations of this plural, diverse,
multi-cultural society.

*Citizens' Forum: Gujarat Carnage 2002, by an independent fact-finding
mission composed of S.P. Shukla, K.S. Subramanian, Achin Vanaik, and
Kamal Mitra Chenoy; State-Sponsored Carnage in Gujarat, Report of a
CPI(M)-AIDWA delegation; The Survivors Speak, by a Women's Panel
sponsored by Citizen's Initiative, Ahmedabad; Ethnic Cleansing in
Ahmedabad, by SAHMAT; and A Report on the Gujarat Carnage, prepared by
the People's Union for Civil Liberties.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1909/19091280.htm

Undermining India

Sitting here in our village home, keeping in touch with the world
through the Internet, the newspapers and magazines like yours, we ask
ourselves, how many fires can we fight? And yet it appears that there
is really no option except to keep fighting them and to stand up for
what we see as the values and beliefs which are intrinsic to the
foundations on which this civilisation (if indeed we can use that term
any longer) is based.

We have been reading the comprehensive coverage in your magazine of
the ghastly and inhuman murder of members of the Staines family in
Manoharpur and the hard-hitting articles on the politics of hate
("Undermining India", February 12). We have also read (on the
Internet) the highly slanted report of the murders (from Rashtradeep -
Orissa) with its not so oblique insinuations that Staines and his
family deserved what they got. What a coincidence that the Santhals
and the Kolhas apparently lost their patience 34 years after Graham
Staines came to work and live in Keonjhar and decided to attack him
when there is a BJP Government at the Centre, and the Sangh Parivar
has targeted Christians as the new enemies! It is hard to believe that
the so- called educated people hold these views and, more sinister,
use their power and technology to propagate these views in the most
dangerous fashion on the Internet from their comfortable spaces in
American universities. It is also interesting that the fact that
millions of dollars are sent by non-resident Indians to support
fascist activities in the name of Hindutva is not questioned or
attacked.

If only we can learn from history, we would see that we are moving
inexorably towards fascism - and the silence of the majority can only
hasten this process.

We too are Hindus, comfortable in the freedom of thought that it
provides, and because of this we can also look at our own tradition
critically and see and understand all the warts and distortions that
it accommodates. But what is propagated in the name of Hinduism is a
far cry from the philosphy to which we subscribe. Had we been born
Dalits or tribal people, or experienced oppression and discrimination
in the name of religion, we too might have opted for Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism or any faith which promised us a better deal and the
hope of social justice and dignity. Certainly, India's Constitution
guarantees each of us that freedom.

In all the polemics and passion that we see around us, one hears
little, if any, questioning or critiquing of the built-in inequities
of Hinduism - only the shrill and fearful howls of the advocates of
Hindutva with its distorted and dangerous ideology of linking religion
with nationalism and patriotism. If we believe that it is the spirit
of inquiry and search for truth that is the hallmark of both science
and religion, then let us stop blaming others and begin looking
inwards in the real quest for self-knowledge and encourage our people
to bring about the changes within, rather than demonising other
faiths, other denominations. But the politics of hate is so much
easier to practise than the quest for truth. It has always been
convenient to mobilise mobs - be it against masjids or mandirs,
Dalits, tribal people, Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, 'Madrasis',
'Bangladeshis', 'Pakistanis'. We continue to rely on fanning the
flames of hatred for 'the other', to exercise power instead of coming
to grips with the real issues of this country - poverty, education,
employment and all-pervasive inequality. The issue is not one of
conversions or Christianity, but of how to exploit people who have no
identity or no hope of getting a space under the sun, as the foot
soldiers in the service of the armies of destruction and mayhem who
can terrorise, garner votes when needed, and ensure political power at
all costs. Ultimately, it is through economic policy decisions and the
right kind of education in our classrooms that we can hope to build
the kind of India that our Constitution has promised. For now, we can
only ask and hope that the right-thinking majority of people in this
land, regardless of their religious affiliations, will speak up before
it is too late.

Admiral Ramu Ramdas
(former Chief of the Naval Staff)
Lalita Ramdas
Bhaimala, Maharashtra

* * *

Your crusade against the diabolical designs of the Sangh Parivar is
commendable.

The riots in Suratkal, the persecution of Christians in Gujarat, and
the outrage against a missionary in Orissa expose the Parivar's game
plan. When the Babri Masjid was demolished, people in authority
remained passive spectators. They remain so when the minorities are
attacked. As long as the minorities have insufficient representation
in the police force and secular values are not instilled in the
guardians of law, there is no hope.

The biggest irony is that L.K. Advani, one of the accused in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, has become the Home Minister of this country.
A.B. Vajpayee has proved to be the weakest Prime Minister of India.
During his visit to Gujarat, instead of assuaging the hurt feelings of
Christians, he suggested a national debate on conversions. With this
he dropped his mask of moderation.

Ubedulla
Mysore

* * *

It was with a sense of dismay and shame that one watched the Home
Minister making a humiliating trip to Mumbai to pacify the Shiv Sena's
"paper tiger". It is a pity that the BJP Government with all the power
at its command could not counter the threat to a visiting cricket
team. The Shiv Sena's attack on the BCCI's office or threats to
release poisonous snakes into the playground only proved its
cowardice. If India is to progress, the culture of violence and
terrorism should give way to goodwill, harmony and peace.

Dr. A.K. Tharien
Oddanchatram, Tamil Nadu

* * *

January 23, the day Graham Stewart Staines and his two young sons were
burnt alive, was the blackest day in the history of our country. One
is at a loss to understand why such a harrowing punishment was meted
out to the missionary who had served leprosy patients in India since
1965.

Why does the Prime Minister hesitate to take stringent action against
Bal Thackeray, at whose instigation the cricket pitch at the
Ferozeshah Kotla stadium was damaged and the BCCI office in Mumbai was
ransacked? Is the Sena chief so indispensable?

Mani Natarajan
Chennai

* * *

It was a unique and informative Cover Story. The need of the hour is
unity, integrity and peaceful coexistence of various communities. We
should uphold our secular values and fulfil the hopes and aspirations
of every citizen.

Shaik Rafeeq Ahamed
Rayachoty, Andhra Pradesh

* * *

The expectation that the experience of heading a government in a
modern democracy will soften Hindu fundamentalists, has been belied.
With the assumption of power by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the
process of undermining India started. The aim is to throw the country
back into an era when power, wealth and education were concentrated in
the hands of people who belonged to the upper strata of society. But
we have come a long way. A government which owes allegiance to the
Constitution has to go by the principles enshrined in the
Constitution.

A. Jacob Sahayam
Vellore, Tamil Nadu

Arundhati Roy

Indian culture is rich and vibrant and Dalits' contribution to it is
no less than that of any other section of our society. Unless this
aspect is researched and brought out, Dalits will not get the kind of
respect they deserve. In this context, Arundhati Roy's proposal to the
Dalit Sahitya Akademi on the publication of the Malayalam translation
of her novel was really pathbreaking ("In solidarity", February 12).

Dhiraj Kumar
Delhi

Role of bureaucrats

I read with great interest A.G. Noorani's article on Admiral Bhagwat's
case in your February 12 issue. As usual Noorani's article is very
scholarly and unbiased and would serve as reference material. I would,
however, like to point out two references made to me in the article.

First, Noorani should have mentioned that I had also said in my letter
to The Times of India that "he will therefore have to look for another
Cabinet Secretary". This would have clarified that my intention was
that I would rather vacate the post of Cabinet Secretary than sign the
notification.

Secondly, the reference to the 1989 general elections. I do not know
the basis on which it is mentioned that "and that the announcements in
that behalf should be made by the Commission forthwith and before 2.00
p.m. on that date, in any case". This was not my belief at all. In an
article I wrote on T.N. Seshan, published in November 1994, I have
said that "I can only write about late Peri Shastri because I knew him
well. It required a lot of courage to stand up to a strong Prime
Minister like Rajiv Gandhi who decided to appoint two Election
Commissioners obviously to control Peri Shastri. Seshan may say that
he was not consulted here but he went out of his way to force the Law
Ministry to issue the notification urgently. When Rajiv Gandhi decided
to announce the general elections, an urgent Cabinet meeting was held
when the Cabinet approved the proposal. Seshan as Cabinet Secretary
should have been sent to Peri Shastri to convey the decision, but
Rajiv Gandhi said, 'let us not send the bull into the China shop. Let
Deshmukh go and settle it in his own quiet way.' I accordingly went
across after sending a message to Peri Shastri. When I entered his
room, I found him agitated, saying that he would not be dictated to by
the Government in fixing the dates for the elections. There was a
sharp exchange between us and tempers rose. I then decided to keep
quiet and let Peri Shastri blow off steam. When he quietened down I
convinced him that the Government was right in suggesting the dates as
it had to make various administrative arrangements. Ultimately, the
notification was issued accordingly."

This should make it clear that I was not the "civil servant who was
sent as an errand boy". My brief was to persuade Peri Shastri to agree
to the Government's suggestion. It should also be added that at that
time I was not a serving civil servant but was re-employed to hold the
post in the Prime Minister's Office.

B.G. Deshmukh
Mumbai

A.G. Noorani writes:

I was not called upon to mention, as B.G. Deshmukh insists, that he
had asked the President "to look for another Cabinet Secretary". His
intimation to President Zail Singh that he would not notify any order
dismissing Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 as Prime Minister, was wrong enough.
It was not his place to do so; least of all ask the President "to look
for" a substitute especially since the office is in the bounty of the
Prime Minister.

As for the 1989 Lok Sabha elections, the words in quotes are taken
from Justice P.B. Sawant's judgment in the case brought by one of the
two Election Commissioners whom Rajiv Gandhi appointed to overrule
Peri Shastri, the CEC (S.S. Dhanoa vs Union of India & Ors. (1991) 3
Supreme Court Cases 567 at pages 581-582, para 22).

Deshmukh confirms my comment. It was based on Justice Sawant's
reference to his mission as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
It is pointless to shift the blame to T.N. Seshan, then Cabinet
Secretary, when he himself carried out an order he knew to be illegal
and politically immoral. On his own showing, there was "a sharp
exchange" between him and the CEC Peri Shastri and "tempers rose".

This would not have happened unless a zealous Deshmukh had tried to
force the upright Peri Shastri to accept the election dates
peremptorily urged by Rajiv Gandhi. He relented because the two
Election Commissioners had been appointed to overrule him. "The bull
in the China shop" could hardly have performed worse than Deshmukh
himself did at the meeting. Significantly, Deshmukh has not a word of
criticism of the man who sent him, Rajiv Gandhi. His Cabinet's
decision was palpably illegal and politically immoral.

Judging by his own account, Deshmukh was far worse than the "civil
servant who was sent as an errand boy". Both Seshan and Deshmukh
carried out an illegal order with competitive enthusiasm. Servitors
while in service, lecturers on retirement. The Constitution makes the
CEC an umpire between the ruling party and the others. It is his
prerogative to fix the dates. Two of the foremost civil servants of
the day tried to suborn him.

Ban all Senas

The twin massacres by the Ranvir Sena in Jehanabad district are a
testament to V.D. Savarkar's call to "'militarise Hinduism". As the
blood of 12 Dalits (from Khoja Narayanpur, February 10) and of 23
Dalits (Shankarbigha, January 25) flows in central Bihar, the Sangh
(more like, Jang) Parivar offers its regret from one side of its
mouth, while it is gleeful on the other.

The Progressive Forum of India (PFI) condemns the Ranvir Sena for its
violence as well as the Jang Parivar (notably the BJP) and the
erstwhile Bihar Government for their studied negligence.

The Ranvir Sena, like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra three decades
earlier, was set up in 1994 to counter the growth of Left
organisations in central Bihar. From the first, the organisation was
prone to violence. Before its formation, landlords (many of whom are
Bhumihars) formed private militias that massacred, for instance, seven
Dalits in Sawanbigha village in Jehanabad in 1991. In December 1997,
the Ranvir Sena killed over 60 people in Lakshmanpur-Bathe, again in
Jehanabad. Further, on January 9, 1999, a Ranvir Sena leader announced
that his fascist band planned to conduct a massacre larger than that
in Lakshmanpur in the near future. Neither the State Government nor
the Jang Parivar did anything against him. Progressive forces in Bihar
and elsewhere underscored the danger, but nothing was done. In fact,
The Times of India reported that Vinod Sharma (Ranvir Sena) travelled
with a police officer to Arwal at the time of the massacre. The PFI
condemns this nexus between the landlord militia, the Jang Parivar and
the institutions of the state.

The Ranvir Sena has been set up to undermine popular movements. It
resorts to violence and to authoritarian acts against the oppressed.
The PFI offers its support to those who feel the strong arm of such
organisations and we call upon all progressive people to condemn and
challenge such fascist bands.

Vijay Prashad
(for the Progressive Forum for India)
received on e-mail

http://www.flonnet.com/fl1605/16051120.htm

Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU

ANALYSIS

HOW ADVANI WENT SCOT-FREE

A.G. NOORANI

The Rae Bareli court judgment in the Ayodhya case discharging Deputy
Prime Minister L.K. Advani is against the weight of the entire
evidence and violates the law as declared by the Supreme Court.

VINO JOHN

Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani.

THE Deputy Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, Lal Krishna
Advani's discharge in the Ayodhya case on September 19, 2003, was no
"honourable acquittal" after a full trial on the merits. It was a
gross miscarriage of justice, which precludes a proper trial. A
perusal of the English translation of the 130-page judgment in Hindi
by Vinod Kumar Singh, Special Judicial Magistrate, Rae Bareli, reveals
that the grounds for his discharge could well apply also to other
accused such as Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister Uma Bharati. Conversely, the grounds on which charges
will be framed against them apply also to Advani. The judgment is
utterly unconvincing in the distinction it draws between him and the
other accused, including Ashok Singhal, V.H. Dalmiya, Giriraj Kishore,
Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara.

The judgment is against the weight of the entire evidence and violates
the law as declared by the Supreme Court. The reasoning is laboured to
a degree. It must be emphasised that what the Magistrate pronounced
was an order of discharge at the stage of framing the charge not an
acquittal on merits after a trial. A discharge does not bar another
prosecution, an acquittal does.

In the face of such a judgment the behaviour of the Central Bureau of
Investigation, the prosecuting agency, was true to form. It did not
move the High Court for quashing the order. The prescribed period of
limitation is three months. The CBI bestirred itself ostentatiously
thereafter in view of public censure. Rajnish Sharma reported in The
Hindustan Times (December 31, 2003) that "CBI sources claim that the
agency's top-brass still differ on whether to move the High Court or
not. Initially, it was decided that the CBI should not go in for an
appeal against Advani. However, faced with mounting criticism for
having failed to appeal against the lower court order, the opinion
seems to have changed.

RAMESH SHARMA

Murli Manohar Joshi.

"While announcing its decision, even the Rae Bareli court had strongly
criticised the agency's role as it felt the CBI had deliberately
weakened the case against Advani. Agency sources now claim that once
the courts reopen, they will file a petition explaining the reasons
for the delay."

IT is necessary to recall the background in order to appreciate the
judgment. The CBI had filed a charge-sheet in court against Advani and
other accused, on October 5, 1993, charging them with conspiring to
demolish the mosque. Two courts found that a prima facie case on this
charge did exist - Special Judicial Magistrate Mahipal Sirohi on
August 27, 1994, while committing the accused to the Sessions Court,
and the Additional Sessions Judge, Lucknow, Jugdish Prasad Srivastava,
on September 9, 1997, while framing the charges.

The Sessions Judge concluded that "in the present case a criminal
conspiracy to demolish the disputed structure of Ramjanmabhoomi/Babri
Masjid was hatched by the accused persons in the beginning of 1990 and
was completed on 6.12.1992". Advani and others hatched criminal
conspiracies "to demolish the disputed premises on different times at
different places". A prima facie case was found to charge Bal
Thackeray, Advani and others, including Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma
Bharati, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Advani and his colleagues, Joshi and Uma Bharati, faced two charges in
two courts - delivering inflammatory speeches on December 6, 1992,
prior to the demolition, and hatching a conspiracy to demolish the
mosque from 1990. Immediately after the mosque was demolished, two
first information reports were filed in the same police station. One
was filed at 5-15 p.m. against "lakhs of unknown kar sevaks" for
offences committed at 12-15 p.m.; mainly the demolition. Spread of
communal hate was one of them. Very properly, conspiracy was not
alleged since the facts were not known then and no particular person
was cited either. This was Crime No. 197 (demolition).

S. SUBRAMANIUM

Uma Bharati.

The next FIR, filed only 10 minutes later, was Crime No. 198
(speeches) against eight named persons - Advani, Joshi, Uma Bharati,
Ashok Singhal, Giriraj Kishore, V.H. Dalmiya, Vinay Katiyar and
Ritambara. It alleged that they had delivered communally inflammatory
speeches at 10 a.m. prior to the demolition (Section 153A IPC). This
charge was common to both FIRs. FIR 198 (speeches) said also that
"during the speeches of these leaders, repeated indications (sic:
"incitement") were given to demolish the mosque. As a result, lakhs of
kar sevaks attacked and pulled down the disputed structure". The
leaders were named because their identities were known. Conspiracy was
properly not alleged in either FIR because it requires a long probe.
There were 47 other FIRs for offences against the media.

After the imposition of President's rule in Uttar Pradesh, the
demolition case (197) was assigned to the CBI while the State police
dealt with the speeches case (198). Both were parts of the same
transaction and were linked inseparably. Eventually, the CBI was
assigned the speeches case as well. It, therefore, submitted a
composite, damning charge-sheet in court on October 5, 1993. But there
was a technical flaw in the assignment of the cases to courts, which
was pointed out by Justice Jagdish Bhalla of the Allahabad High Court
on February 12, 2001. He struck down as invalid the reference of Case
198 (speeches) to the Lucknow court from the Rae Bareli court. His
judgment of February 12, 2001, upheld everything else, including the
joint charge-sheet. He thrice said that the defect was "curable" by
another notification after consulting the High Court. Obviously,
justice required that the two cases, 197 (demolition) and 198
(speeches), be tried together in one court.

Neither the Rajnath Singh government nor the succeeding Mayawati
regime had any intention of "curing the defect". Nor has Mulayam Singh
Yadav's government now. The High Court issued a notification on
September 28, 2002, assigning Case No.198 (speeches) to the Rae Bareli
court. On November 29, the Supreme Court upheld it, holding that no
one had a right to insist on a particular venue. It overlooked the
background, the mala fides and the obvious miscarriage of justice. A
review petition has been filed against this order. (vide the writer's
article, `Reprimand for delay', Frontline, March 30, 2001).

To be precise, Justice Bhalla upheld: 1) the Sessions Judge's order of
September 9, 1997, framing the charges in Case No. 197 (demolition);
2) the validity of Vijai Verma's appointment as Special Judge and his
cognisance of all cases (save No.198); 3) the notification of the
Special Court in Lucknow; 4) the CBI's investigation; and 5) the
consolidated charge-sheet of October 5, 1993. Even if the one
concerning the speeches of December 6, 1992, is dropped, the
conspiracy case survives.

C.V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Ashok Singhal.

But let alone a notification to cure the defect and ensure trial of
both the connected cases in one court, in the interests of sheer
justice, the course which the two cases took subsequently in different
courts was, to say the least, surprising. The High Court's ruling was
set at naught by the Sessions Judge at Lucknow, Srikant Shukla, on May
4, 2001, which he had no right to do. Justice Bhalla had merely struck
down the transfer of the speeches case (198) from Rae Bareli to
Lucknow. Shukla went beyond it and dropped even the conspiracy charge
in Case No.197(demolition) before him. The reasoning was tortuous. He
confined FIR 197 (demolition) to kar sevaks alone; ignored the
conspiracy charges and exonerated the leaders. They were held
accountable only in FIR 198 (speeches) - which he could not try. He
wrote: "Two distinct cases were registered which are different. In the
first FIR were kar sevaks who pulled down the structure... and in the
other FIR are conspirators/abettors who instigated the kar sevaks.
This way, the State has considered both the cases different and
separate and has treated them so."

This was in flat contradiction to Justice Bhalla's judgment. What
Shukla did was to transpose the conspiracy charge, which properly
belonged to the demolition case (197) which he was trying, to the
speeches case (198), which he could not try. Having done so, he
dropped proceedings on the conspiracy charge against the eight accused
leaders who also figured in the speeches case and 13 others besides
who did not. Thrown back at the Rae Bareli court like a shuttle cock,
the conspiracy charge was buried there by the CBI two years later in
its charge-sheet of May 30, 2003. On September 1, the apex court
issued notices to Advani and other accused on a petition challenging
this omission. The CBI had curiously moved the High Court on June 19,
2001, against Shukla's order. On August 6, 2003, Justice N.K. Mehrotra
ordered stay of proceedings in the Lucknow court till September 24.

But the conspiracy charge cannot vanish so easily. It covers events
since 1990. Abetment by incitement occurred on December 6, 1992.
Shukla's reference to "conspirators/abettors who instigated" truncates
the conspiracy charge - and drops it. The CBI's joint charge-sheet of
October 5, 1993, explicitly said: "Investigations revealed that on
5.12.1992, a secret meeting was held at the residence of Shri Vinay
Katiyar which was attended by S/Shri L.K. Advani, Pawan Pandey, etc.
Wherein a final decision to demolish the disputed structure was
taken." Sessions Judge J.P. Srivastava's order of September 9, 1997
also mentioned this very date. He traced the beginning of the
conspiracy to 1990, how it picked up speed in 1991 and the stages
leading to its culmination with the demolition of the mosque. In each
stage Advani's role was narrated in detail. "Conspiracy is planned
secretly," he remarked. It cannot be limited to the public speeches on
December 6, as Shukla did. The High Court upheld the validity of the
conspiracy charge.

TWO recent disclosures support the charge. It has been revealed that
on October 1, 1993, the Home Ministry itself sanctioned the CBI's
charge. It mentioned an interesting detail: "In pursuance of the
criminal conspiracy", Pramod Mahajan and Ashok Singhal met Bal
Thackeray on November 21, 1992, and secured the Sena's participation
in the "kar seva". On June 7, 2003, five of the accused alleged
instigation by the leaders. R.N. Das, one of the priests at the site
where the idols were placed inside the mosque before its demolition,
told the media: "I was a witness in a meeting held by Advani and
others... on December 5 night" - and spilled the beans. Justice Bhalla
remarked: "According to the prosecution, the accused persons are
either rich, influential or politically strong." He recalled the
Supreme Court's remarks in the case of the former Chief Minister of
Karnataka, S. Bangarappa: "The slow motion becomes much slower motion
when politically powerful or rich and influential persons figures as
accused."

The demolition case (197) was thus put out of the way. All that the
leaders faced was the speeches case (198) alone. On May 30, 2003, the
CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet in the Rae Bareli court trying
the speeches case. On July 5, the CBI's advocate, S.S. Gandhi, opened
the case and cited statements by witnesses testifying to inflammatory
speeches and to instigation of the kar sevaks to demolish the mosque.
He said he would produce audio and videocassettes as evidence. On July
30, astonishingly, the CBI said that "the video cassettes did not show
them giving any speech". Special Judicial Magistrate Vinod Kumar Singh
delivered judgment on September 19, 2003, in this case.

He begins by reproducing the FIR in case No. 198 which is revealing:
"I, Sub Inspector Ganga Prasad Tewari, in-charge of the police post
Ramjanmabhoomi, police station Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, was engaged
today, on 06.12.92, in maintenance of peace and order during the kar
seva organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Checking duty near the
disputed Ram Chabutara and Sheshavatar Mandir, I reached the meeting
place in Ram Katha Kunj at about 10 a.m. where the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad General Secretary Shri Ashok Singhal, Joint Secretary Shri
Giriraj Kishore, Shri Lal Krishna Advani, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi,
Shri Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and BJP M.P. from Faizabad and Bajrang Dal
convenor Shri Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharati, Sadhvi Ritambara, etc. all
the speakers were seated on the dais. The above mentioned speakers
were inciting the kar sevaks by their incendiary speeches; their
slogan was `Ek dhakkar aur do, Babri Masjid tod do,' and destroy this
khandahar (rubble) that is symbolic of the Mughal age slavery. Incited
by their incendiary speeches, the kar sevaks were now and then raising
slogans - "Jab katue kaate jaayenge, tab Ram Ram chillayenge; and
Ramlala, hum aayenge, Mandir yahin banayenge." The intention to
destroy the mosque was again and again indicated (in) these leaders'
speeches. As a consequence, lakhs of kar sevaks broke through the
barricades and destroyed the disputed structure, which has hurt the
national unity seriously. The said event was seen, apart from the
police and administration officials and employees, by the audience and
journalists. Therefore, the report must be entertained and necessary
action taken."

The secret meeting of December 5 was followed by the speeches on
December 6 which incited the demolition. The rest followed as planned.
The judgment recites statements by eyewitnesses on the leaders'
speeches, before the Babri mosque was demolished, as recorded by the
police under Section 161 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, four video
cassettes, three audio cassettes, photographs and news reports. It is
well settled that at the stage of framing the charges all that the
court has to consider is whether a prima facie case is made out. It is
not to enter into a trial on the merits. Section 227 of CrPC says that
if the Judge considers "that there is not sufficient ground for
proceeding against the accused, he shall discharge the accused", as
distinct from an acquittal which can follow only after a trial on the
merits of the charges.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that "even a very strong suspicion
founded upon material before the Magistrate, which leads him to form a
presumptive opinion as to the existence of the factual ingredients
constituting the offence alleged, may justify the framing of charge".
Nor is the court bound to consider evidence produced by the accused.
It has to consider whether the prosecution case, if unrebutted,
establishes a case in law. That is what a prima facie case means in
law.

KAMAL NARANG

Sadhvi Ritambara.

The sole issue before the Magistrate, therefore, was whether the
police statements produced before him by the prosecution established
such a case. Thirty-odd such statements are reproduced in the
judgment; some contradict others. The contradiction is to be resolved
only in the trial proper; not while framing the charges unless, of
course, the ones against the accused are manifestly untrue or absurd.
In this case, they were not.

Consider the very first two statements which the judgment quotes:
"Shri Ram Kripal Das, disciple of Mahant late Bharat Das, PS
Ramjanmabhoomi, Faizabad, has made, in the main, the following
statement under Section 161 CrPC: "On 6.12.1992 I remained near my
temple the whole day. Through my door and the windows inside, sounds
coming from the Ram Katha Kunj and words (like) Sheshavatar Mandir,
vivadit dhancha (disputed structure) vivadit chabutara (disputed
platform) can be heard. That day, a crowd of kar sevaks had started to
gather since morning. The kar sevaks were raising slogans and loudly
saying: today we would not stop even if some leader tries to stop us.
We will demolish it today... On the Ram Katha Kunj side, leaders were
making speeches one by one that a temple has to be built. There was a
lot of noise. Lal Krishna Advani, Ashok Singhal, Vinay Katiyar, Murli
Manohar Joshi, etc. spoke. All the leaders were making enthusiastic
speeches. I had seen with my own eyes the above leaders going towards
the temple. When there was a hullabaloo and they were demolishing the
disputed structure, none of the leaders was preventing them. If these
leaders had told the kar sevaks not to break any dome, they would have
obeyed it, because they had called the kar sevaks to come here. Vinay
Katiyar was much active from the very beginning and was prepared to do
everything right or wrong for temple construction" (emphasis added,
throughout).

Dhanpat Ram Yadav made the following statement under Section 161 CrPC:
"On 6.12.92, I was on the roof of the Sita Rasoi (Sita's kitchen) from
early morning. That day I saw Vinay Katiyar, Lal Krishna Advani, Uma
Bharati, etc. coming in a crowd of kar sevaks. They were making
speeches that were provoking the kar sevaks, saying Mandir bana kar
jaayenge, Hindu Rashtra banayenge (we will leave after building a
temple and we will build a Hindu Rashtra). When the kar sevaks had
climbed the domes in large numbers and were demolishing them, none of
the leaders prevented anyone or told to stop. All stood silent... "
Another 10 statements were in the same vein followed by that of
Chandra Kishore Mishra who said "inflamed by the very speeches of
these leaders, the kar sevaks brought down the structure". Advani was
specifically mentioned by him as one of them.

The Additional Superintendent of Police, Faizabad, Anju Gupta was
detailed to provide security to Advani. She saw people running towards
the mosque with tools in their hands. If she could see that so, one
would think, could "the leaders". She said "Then Shri Lal Krishna
Advani asked me what was happening inside the temple. I asked the
control room and came to know that kar sevaks had entered it and were
busy demolishing the structure; then I told him the same. I also told
him that many people had got injured and were being brought near the
Ram Katha Kunj for treatment. Then Advani told me: I want to go and
tell them to come down. I conferred with S.P. Intelligence and
Commandant of the 15th Battalion who were with Shri Murli Manohar
Joshi. He said it was not proper to go into the crowd as these people
were inflamed. Shri Advani talked to his comrades and told me that he
won't go but somebody would have to be taken there. Then I sent Uma
Bharati and two others there. The crowd surrounded my jeep near Dorahi
Kuwan and did not allow us to go ahead. Then Uma Bharati and we
proceeded on foot. I saw after sometime that people had come down from
the domes. They were talking of doing the kar seva from below, not
from above. Advani told me he wanted to talk to the DM. He also told
about talking to the Chief Minister, but I pleaded helplessness. One
person, who had come with Uma Bharati, was making fun of the Supreme
Court. After some time, Advani and Joshi went to the office of Ram
Katha Kunj, and told me they were talking to the Chief Minister. I saw
fire and smoke rising at all sides in Ayodhya. Advani told me... [page
92 bottom: seems some lines are missing here]... began to distribute
sweets... . Advani came back at about six and a half. With him there
were Murli Manohar Joshi, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Ashok Singhal and Vinay
Katiyar etc. About the speeches from the stage, I have already told. I
remember the atmosphere became surcharged with Advani's arrival.
People were raising slogans, but I could not hear any other slogan
because of being busy with other works. Joshi had spoken earlier, he
had said whatever Narasimha Rao could say, the temple would be
constructed here. I did not see these leaders making any attempt to
prevent the kar sevaks from demolishing the disputed structure. Advani
was sad that people were falling from the domes and dying... on the
fall of the first, second and third domes, Uma Bharati and Ritambara
had embraced each other; sweets were also distributed. The two had
also embraced the males. Embracing Advani, Joshi and S.C. Dixit, Uma
Bharati and Ritambara were expressing their happiness. On the fall of
the domes, all the said eight accused and Acharya Dharmendra etc were
congratulating one another. All were expressing happiness."

Vinay Katiyar.

Renu Mittal confirmed reports in The Hindu and The Indian Express
(December 7, 1992): "L.K. Advani began to address the kar sevaks over
the mike from the protection of the Ram Katha Kunj platform. In the
rush of shouts and the milling confusion he could be overheard telling
the kar sevaks to block all entry points to Ayodhya to stop anyone
entering the town. He also announced that the kar seva that begun
today would only end once the mandir nirman was completed... . At 3-30
p.m. the left dome of the Babri Masjid was demolished. Many of the kar
sevaks were injured and some of them were buried under the falling of
the debris of the dome."

Triyugi Narayan Tewari told the police: "The RSS workers also climbed
the domes and demolished the disputed structure. Sh. Ashok Singhal,
L.K. Advani, Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar, Murli Manohar Joshi, Acharya
Dharmendra, Sadhvi Ritambara were also present there and were inciting
the kar sevaks."

A few statements, about 5 or 6, averred that Advani urged the kar
sevaks to climb down; evidently for their own protection. For, some
were buried in the debris.

Vishnu Hari Dalmiya.

The Magistrate's observations on the course the case took are
significant. "This is an indisputable fact that the High Court had
before itself a combined charge-sheet in cases 197/92 (demolition) and
198/92 (speeches) and, compared to this court, the High Court was
presented with much more evidence/statements of witnesses. Apart from
it, the High Court had before it the charge under Section 120 IPC
(conspiracy), which was not included in the charge-sheet filed in this
court. After the said judgment, an order was passed by the Special
Judge (Ayodhya Prakaran), Lucknow, in which 21 accused were recognised
as accused in case 198/92 (speeches) and proceedings against them were
ordered to be stopped. These included the eight accused named in the
charge-sheet filed in this court. Thereafter, the CBI requested the
State government to rectify the said shortcoming in the notification
dated 8/10/93, but the said shortcoming was not rectified by the State
government. After that, special writ petitions were filed by Bhure Lal
and three others against the said judgment of the High Court, on which
the Supreme Court issued its judgment/order on 29/11/2002. Under the
said order of the Supreme Court, a petition has been filed by the CBI
in this court constituted under the former notification, on which the
CBI was directed to get the papers in case 198/92 (speeches) and
present in this court. The record of case 198/92 (speeches) was
received and then the CBI filed a supplementary charge-sheet. At
present the case is being heard in this court under the Supreme Court
order dated 29/11/2002. Thus this court has considered the material
presented to it about this charge. Statements of some more witnesses
were considered after the CBI filed a charge-sheet and some evidence
along with it and, later, after its advance investigation."

THUS the CBI itself dropped the conspiracy charge (Section 120 IPC).
The Magistrate lists some 19 considerations for framing the charges.
Two of them read thus: (2) "If the case falls in the area of doubt, it
cannot take the place of proof at the conclusion of the hearing. But
if there is serious doubt in the initial stage and it leads the court
to think that there is ground to believe that the accused has
committed the offence, then the court is not allowed to say that
enough ground is not there for proceeding against the accused... (8)
If material has been presented before the court and that creates
serious doubt against the accused and has not been adequately
explained, it is justified for the court to frame charges and start
hearing." He violated both.

He recorded: "In the videocassettes presented to the court, no leader
is seen making a speech during the demolition of the said structure on
6/12/92. From a perusal of all the statements under Section 161 CrPC
and the available material, it appears prima facie that there were two
groups during the event - one was demolishing the disputed structure
while the other was, along with the security forces, attempting to
prevent the demolition of the disputed structure. The prosecution
witness Shri Ram Kripal Das has said in his statement, among other
things, that the kar sevaks were greatly excited and loudly telling
that (they) would not stop even if some leader tried to stop them.

AJIT KUMAR/AP

Acharya Giriraj Kishore.

"In her statement, Anju Gupta has specifically said that on 6/12/92
she was deployed for Lal Krishna Advani's security. She has also said
that the S.P. Intelligence and the Commandant of the 15th Battalion
were with Murli Manohar Joshi Ms. Anju Gupta is an IPS officer and, as
is evident from her statement, she was deployed for Lal Krishna
Advani's security. Therefore, Anju Gutpa's statement is extremely
important regarding L.K. Advani. She has said the following in her
statement: "I had seen some boys advancing towards the disputed
structure from the Kuber Tola side, with tools in their hands. Then
Shri Lal Krishna Advani asked me what was happening inside the
temple... ."

"From this statement, the prima facie conclusion emerges that at that
time L.K. Advani did not know that demolition of the disputed
structure had started. Besides, Advani's contention in Anju Gupta's
statement that `I want to go and tell them to come down' generates
another view contrary to the prima facie charge against him. In her
statement, Anju Gupta has not indicated any such contention by any
other leader. She has also said Advani had asked her what was
happening at other places and she had said she did not know. The fact
of Advani inquiring about what was happening at other places prima
facie reveals his ignorance." How does his ignorance of what was
happening at "other places" in the city prove his ignorance of what
was happening before his and everyone else's eyes - demolition of the
mosque. His reasoning is palpably wrong. First, there were no "two
groups" of leaders, implying that Advani belonged to one that tried to
pacify the mob while the rest instigated it. Who were Advani's allies
in the pacificatory effort or was he alone in this? There were in fact
two sets of statements before the court. It is not the number but the
quality that matters. Even so, the overwhelming majority explicitly
implicated Advani along with the rest as an instigator. The minority
is not only small but pathetically laboured in its apologia.

Secondly, from a mere query by Advani to Anju Gupta, Vinod Kumar Singh
jumps to the astonishing conclusion that "L.K. Advani did not know
that demolition of the disputed mosque had started." The demolition
was surely there for all to see. The query was "what was happening
inside the temple" (sic.). His concern was not to stop the demolition,
else he would not have urged barricading of the roads to prevent
Central forces from arriving. The reason for his disquiet was
different as she clearly mentioned: "Advani was sad that people were
falling from the domes and dying."

DOUGLAS E CURRAN/AFP

Kar sevaks stop the Babri Masjid five hours before the structure was
demolished on December 6, 1992.

Thirdly, the Magistrate holds that "Anju Gupta has not indicated any
such contention (sic.) by any other leader." On the strength of this
solitary statement, Advani alone is exonerated. Her statement itself
is palpably misconstrued. Lastly, the Magistrate embarked on the
evaluation of the evidence. He singles out her statement, misconstrues
it, and ignores the enormous bulk, which clubbed Advani with the rest.
This is in clear breach of the law as laid down by the Supreme Court.

The Magistrate holds: "On the basis of the material presented to the
court, and having considered the extensive possibilities and the total
impact of the evidence in the light of both sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that two views appear probable only about the prima facie
charge brought against the accused Lal Krishna Advani. One view is
that, prima facie, the crime was caused by Lal Krishna Advani to be
committed and the other view is that, prima facie, the crime was not
caused to be committed by him. After having considered the available
material and the two sides' arguments, in my opinion, suspicion but no
serious suspicion, seems to exist about the accused Lal Krishna Advani
having caused the crime to be committed under Sections 147/149/153A/
153B/505 IPC. On the contrary, having considered the available
material on record in the light of the two sides' arguments, I am of
the opinion that serious suspicion exists about the crime having been
caused under Section 147/149/153A/153B/505 IPC by the other accused
Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya
Giriraj Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi
Ritambara, which the said accused have been unable to explain... . As
per the above discussion, as two views are possible regarding the
accused Lal Krishna Advani's offence and there exists only suspicion
(keval sandeh) that he caused the said crime to be committed,
therefore under the said ruling the accused Lal Krishna Advani
deserves to be acquitted from the charge in the case in question.

"As per the above discussion, serious suspicion (ghor sandeh) exists
that the crime was caused to be committed by the accused Dr. Murli
Manohar Joshi, Ashok Singhal, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, Acharya Giriraj
Kishore, Sadhvi Uma Bharati, Vinay Katiyar and Sadhvi Ritambara, which
the said accused have been unable to explain, therefore in the light
of the said ruling, a prima facie case is made against the accused Dr.
Murli Manohar Joshi, and the rest."

The Magistrate, in effect, tried Advani on the merits instead of
framing charges against him since a prima facie case was disclosed
warranting a full trial. Only at the end is the accused entitled to
benefit of the doubt. The reasoning is tortuous in the extreme. The
conclusion is manifestly demonstrably wrong. Magistrate Vinod Kumar
Singh's judgment prevents Advani's trial on grounds that are
manifestly wrong. Criminal proceedings in the Ayodhya case have taken
a bizarre course. In the Sessions Court at Lucknow, the Judge Srikant
Shukla drops the conspiracy charge on May 4, 2001, in breach of the
High Court's ruling on February 12, 2001. In the Rae Bareli court the
CBI drops that charge in its "supplementary" charge-sheet on May 30,
2003. What are we coming to? The civil proceedings are as disquieting;
especially after the order for excavation by the Special Bench of the
High Court last March. As for the CBI's role the less said the
better.

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130002204700.htm

Resolved Question
Hindu Hate Crimes?

Why doesn't anyone ever point out the Hindu hate crimes against
Muslims in India and Pakistan while they are talking about Religious
Extremism?
3 years ago

Additional Details
Thomas, please see answer below, thanks
3 years ago

by Thomas B Member since:
June 12, 2007
Total points:
5188 (Level 5)


Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Dear Please list some.

Most Hindu attacks in India are retaliation to what the stupid Muslims
start.

Please show us a proof of Muslim oppression with facts to support your
claim.

Whatever Kalebow has stated comes from an extremist platform christian
news network. I am a Christian and still don't buy this BS spread by
the Evangelical Christian Media. Just the same I don't buy that
Muslims in Pakistan want peace.

All what Kalebow has said has supposedly happened in Burma and Sri
Lanka, he does not answer your question about India, please provide
proof of Hindu crimes against Muslims in Pakistan? are you joking.

When India and Pakistan were separated in 1947 Hindu population in
Pakistan was more than 14% today entire Pakistan is has less than 2%
minorities Pakistan is 98% Muslim State.

Where as India at Sepration had a 7% Muslim population which today is
more than 12% and 12% Muslims in India equal to the entire population
of Pakistan.

Please check your facts about ethnic cleansing then talk.
3 years ago
60% 3 Votes

Other Answers (4)

by MikeInRI Member since:
July 06, 2006
Total points:
87738 (Level 7)

Because for most people in the west they never hear about them and
lets face it Hindus are not mass killing Christians and Jews like
Muslims have been trying to do - it just does get the interest of most
in the west. Most actions taken by Hindus - although are bad - are
usually retalitory in nature which makes thems to a certain extent
seem justified to some.

Good Luck!!!
3 years ago
0% 0 Votes
3 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by Cathy
Member since:
May 09, 2007
Total points:
10890 (Level 6)

Because there comes a point in discussing Religious Extremism where
you just have to start leaving religions and incidents out--EVERY
religion has zealots that commit such crimes.
3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 1 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by wwhy
Member since:
May 03, 2007
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The Buddhist state of Burma openly plans to Abolish Christianity and
nobody calls them terrorists ?

The Burma Government May Move to Abolish Christianity With Buddhist
Support ?

Government officials have shut down churches in this capital city and
have disallowed the construction of new church buildings. The number
of bibles allowed for import is limited and in-country printing of
bibles and Christian literature is restricted.

"Some Buddhist monks came and started shouting, 'don't worship God
here – he has nothing to do with us,'" David said. "They said we were
trying to establish Christianity in the village and they did not want
it. The monks and others threw stones at us. They hit us like a hard
rain. Some of us were hit in the cheek, the neck and the forehead."

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/012607Bur

Report: Burma Plans to Wipe Out Christianity

A leaked secret document claims to reveal plans by the Burmese
military regime to wipe out Christianity in the southeast Asian
country.

Inside the memo were detailed instructions on how to force Christians
out of the country, according to Telegraph.

Instructions included imprisoning any person caught evangelizing,
capitalizing on the fact that Christianity is a non-violent religion.

"The Christian religion is very gentle," read the letter, according to
Telegraph, "Identify and utilize its weakness."

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has a Christian population of about four
percent, according to the CIA World Factbook. Persecution against
Christians have come in the form of church burnings, forced conversion
to the state religion of Buddhism, and banning children of Christians
from school.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/200

Christian children forced to become Buddhist monks.

CHILDREN from Christian families in Burma, between the ages of five
and ten, have been lured from their homes and placed in Buddhist
monasteries. Once taken in, their heads have been shaved and they have
been trained as novice monks, never to see their parents again.

http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_s

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/ch

Buddhist Extremists Attack Christian-Run Children's Home in Sri Lanka

A 200-man mob, accompanied by extremist Buddhist monks, has attacked a
children's home, which was being run by the Dutch Reformed Church in
central Sri Lanka at the beginning of August.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation
which specialises in religious freedom, has reported that the mob
fiercely attacked the home, following which, they climbed to the roof
and planted a Buddhist flag on the roof.

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide
(CSW), said: "We are extremely concerned about the continuing violence
against Christians in Sri Lanka. This latest incident, in which child
care workers have been threatened, is unacceptable and we urge the Sri
Lankan authorities to bring the perpetrators of such violence to
justice."

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/bu

Hindu and Buddhists united to opose Christian evangelism

Hindu and Buddhist priests from across Asia are uniting to oppose
Christian proselytism. The 1,000 delegates to a three-day conference
in Lumbini, Nepal, discussed Pope John Paul II's recent call to
evangelize Asia. Evangelism constitutes "a war against Hindus and
Buddhists" and is a "spiritual crime," they said.

Hindus attacking Christian churches and
Reports of Christian persecution in Nepal continue

http://www.wtcf.org/www.viamission.org/n

Buddhist Cambodia Limits Christian Activities :

Cambodia's government issued a directive preventing Christians from
promoting their religion in public places, or using money or other
means to persuade people to convert, officials said Tuesday.

Cambodian Buddhists generally tolerate other religions, but last year
about 300 Buddhist villagers DESTROYED a partially built Christian
church near Phnom Penh.

Also last year, a group of Christian worshippers was caught
distributing sweets to young people in the countryside while trying to
convert them, Sun Kim Hun said. Such activities are illegal.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire

INDIA (Newsroom) – Six Christian missionaries participating in a
gospel campaign called "Love Ahmedabad" were beaten so savagely in the
state of Gujarat last week that one of the men may lose his arms and
legs.

Members of the Hyderabad-based Operation Mobilization (OM) were
distributing Bibles and religious tracts in Ahmedabad, about five
miles from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat, the afternoon of May 5
when they were attacked by members of the Hindu extremist groups
Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). Operation Mobilization
ships tons of Christian literature around the country. The assailants
also burned copies of the Bible and tracts.

http://www.worthynews.com/news-features/

Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus

Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the
two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur
town.

News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making
him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The
crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and
handed them over to police.

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/

The violence of Buddhist extremists it's being compared to the killing
fields of Cambodia. In Sri Lanka religion has become mixed with
politics and nationalism - creating a toxic brew of hatred and fear.
They are…… forcibly trying to convert people to Buddhism and forcing
people to kneel down to declare Buddha is our god! Read about it

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=7

3 years ago

2 Rating: Good Answer 2 Rating: Bad Answer Report Abuse by
anser_qu... Member since:
January 22, 2007
Total points:
1489 (Level 3)

great answer Thomas...
Unfortunately these bigots that make these false calims only see
though their lens and are not mature enough to realise the facts..
3 years ago

Any my Hindu brother will accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru,
after his crime...? if s why..?.?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As4N.azjWH.QVon7PCP20wjd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072451AAYK8du
Any one accept nithyananda swamiji is their guru, after his crime...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AotF_sqWOe_Lk7tfFDNher7d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072237AAd8GeG

Christians, can you give several examples of scriptures (to add to
this) that show us how precious...?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnF9GzIAaTjwzchT.UEaegHd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072220AAxqgd2

Why do religious people think that suicide is a sin?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApdmH190JzBD8onJU9H2_W3d7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20100308072151AAI7dpX

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070724133507AAtHOJI

THE OTHER HALF
From the land of hate
KALPANA SHARMA

`We have found a lot of happiness here,' said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?....
The story of 19 young Muslim women from Gujarat.

ON the surface they looked like any group of college girls. A little
conservative, perhaps, compared to their counterparts in Mumbai. But
these were not just college girls. You could tell if you looked more
closely, if you looked into their eyes, if you noticed the anxiety.

Nineteen young Muslim women from Gujarat with 19 stories to tell. All
of them unexceptionally disturbing and tragic. They were invited to
visit Mumbai by Aawaz-e-Niswan, a remarkable organisation that works
with Muslim women in Mumbai and is now extending its work to women in
other cities. The very ordinary, mostly lower middle class Muslim
women from this organisation, many of whom have been personally seared
by communal riots such as those that tore Mumbai apart in 1992-93,
decided to reach out to their sisters in Gujarat after the communal
carnage of 2002. They visited some of the worst affected areas; they
heard the stories from women who did not know how they would pick up
the threads of their lives again. And they decided that they would do
something for the younger women, many of whom expressed a
determination to continue with their education, to seek professional
qualifications and to work and be independent.

For some of the girls from Dahod, Fatehpura, Jalod and Vadodara, even
travelling in a train was a novel experience. The five from Fatehpura,
a small town bordering Rajasthan, had never seen a film in a cinema
theatre. The women from Jalod said there was a theatre in their town,
but women never went there. So one of the highpoints of their visit to
Mumbai was seeing a film in a theatre. They could not get over the
fact that as women they could do this.

Also for the first time, these women travelled around the city by
night. Mumbai by night, or any city by night, was something they could
not have imagined doing in their wildest dreams. Yet they went around
and no one looked at them strangely. They were just some among
thousands of men and women who inhabit Mumbai's public spaces till all
hours of the night.

"We have found a lot of happiness here," said one girl. Happiness?
After spending just three days in an overcrowded, hot, dirty city?
"The love we see on the faces here we don't see there," said another.
"We never get izzat (respect) anywhere in Gujarat," said another. It
was interesting to see how the very anonymity of a big city can mean
so much to people who live surrounded by hate.

That hate lurks around every turn, they said. Everyday they see on the
streets the perpetrators of the crimes that led to the death and
destruction of their community. "Even now if we pass by, they shout at
us, use bad language," said a primary school teacher from Godhra. "We
can see our things, our furniture, even our clothes, being used by
other people," said a student from Fatehpura. She broke down as she
spoke of how her house was burnt and looted, forcing her family to run
across the border to Rajasthan.

If there is one good thing that has come out of this evil, say many of
the girls, it is the increasing emphasis on women's education. "We
girls thought that if we had been educated, we could have taken a good
job and supported our families," said one. Families with no earning
member left did not get anything more than a meagre compensation.
This, she said, forced many parents to realise the value of education
and professional training.

So what did they want to do once they graduated? Most said they wanted
to become teachers. But at least two said they wanted to join the
police.

But the down side is that many girls never had a chance to make that
choice. With parents worried about the future of their daughters in
the immediate aftermath of the violence, many girls were married off
to men they had never met at the relief camps. It is unlikely that
these young women will have the freedom to travel to Mumbai at the
invitation of a women's group, to go to the theatre, to wander around
the city at night, to travel in trains and buses.

Life for the Muslim women of Gujarat, as was evident from the way
these 19 spoke, consists of "earlier" and "now". "Earlier", they had
Hindu friends, went to each other's homes, even celebrated each
other's festivals. "Now" this is not possible, they are even afraid to
go through Hindu areas and the question of enjoying each other's
festivals does not arise. "Even today we are told, Pakistan is yours,
go to Pakistan. The Hindus have come back to the city, the Muslims
have moved out. India has already been divided but now even our city
of Vadodara is divided into India and mini-Pakistan," said Nilofer.

Just a day before we met these women, the Supreme Court had ordered
the reopening of over 2,000 cases filed during the communal trouble of
2002 that the local police had closed. A 10-member committee has been
set up.

The process is forcing all of us to revisit the horror of those days.
The arrest of Police Sub-Inspector R.J. Patil, for instance, who
admitted that he had burnt 13 bodies of the victims of what is known
as the Ambika Society massacre, without sending specimens for forensic
analysis, is only the beginning of more gruesome details that will
emerge.

Yet, even this tentative beginning represents hope for many Muslims in
Gujarat. Said Nilofer from Vadodara, "Even if these cases are
reopened, and regardless of whether there is justice or not, at least
in front of society these people will be named." She felt that the
arrest of men like Patil was an important gesture for her traumatised
community.

E-mail the writer ksharma@thehindu.co.in

http://www.hindu.com/mag/2004/09/05/stories/2004090500290300.htm

No time for coffee in Copenhagen

TABISH KHAIR is not writing about the numerous lives lost in a
senseless and criminal act of violence on September 11. Instead, he
writes about the voices he has heard thereafter; a sound that has a
certain tone to it and which has set him wondering about abstract
hatred and prejudice.

THERE are moments that cleave Time into two. Everything that happens
afterwards happens in a different world. World War II was one such
moment for Europe. The suicide-hijack-crashing of four passenger
planes and the destruction of the World Trade Center is such a moment
for the world.

I will not write about the 5,000 lives lost in a senseless and
criminal act of violence. Such human loss escapes the limits of
language and representation. One can only stand silent in front of the
monuments of sorrow that tens of thousands - relatives, friends,
colleagues - will carry in their hearts for the rest of their lives.
It is a sorrow the rest of us can only share in silence.

I cannot write about silence. And I should not for, in Copenhagen, I
have been deluged with sound: the opinions of ordinary people, the
film-like coverage of the tragedy by Cable News Network (CNN), the
voices of commentators and politicians. Much of this sound had a
certain tone to it and that tone set me wondering. Is there much of a
difference between the terrorists who struck back at a group of
politicians by targeting tens of thousands of innocent people and
those voices that seem to be using the cruel act of a handful of
presumed Islamic terrorists to tarnish and blame entire populations of
Muslims and Arabs? Do not both the acts demonstrate the same type of
abstract hatred and prejudice?

But the questions never end. On the margins of time, in the split
space between worlds, one is always deluged with questions.

For example, the first Danish person who brought me news of the
tragedy said that he was against violence of any kind and added that
he would understand it if Americans decided to hit back. Why is it
that we always justify our own violence, while the violence of the
enemy is sheer sacrilege? Isn't that why there were shocking pictures
of some Palestinians celebrating: people who have become so used to
the idea of missiles being launched at their own buildings by Israeli
forces and the notion of reciprocal violence that they could not feel
the inhumanity of their celebration?

But, then, is this what we can write about: this spiral of violence
and inhumanity? Is this immense tragedy going to remain at such a
general level of discourse?

The answer seems to be "yes" if various media discussions in the West
are to be believed. But it has to be "no" if we are to salvage some
sense from the wanton destruction.

It is easy for us to sit here in our cosy sitting rooms in Copenhagen,
holding a cup of coffee, munching a biscuit, watching the tragedy
unfold almost as fluently as a film on the idiot box, and speak in
general terms. What we are doing is celebrating our own humanity, and
all human beings - even terrorists - are convinced of their own
superior humanity. Many of the most inhuman acts known to humanity
have been the consequence of such a conviction. We need to go beyond
it. We owe it to the victims of the tragedy to go beyond it.

The second person who called me with news of the tragedy was my
father: a devout Muslim doctor who has lived most of his life in a
small town in Bihar. He was shocked by the news. How could anyone do
this, he said again and again. The word he used was "anyone". I went
back to the TV and, in spite of the fact that no one knew anything
about the identities of the terrorists, I did not hear too many people
say "anyone". I heard "Muslim", "Islamic", "Middle Eastern", "Arab".

These were people who had already decided to exclude entire
populations from the circumference of their definitions of humanity.
My father's "anyone" had been reduced by many of these contributors to
"Arab" or "Muslim", even to the very type of an Arab or Muslim. I
could feel the irreligious "Muslim" in me cringe every time I heard
such discussions. I could feel my father being put in the dock.

It is so comfortable, this celebration of our own humanity. It can be
so inhuman, this celebration of our own humanity.

But what about violence?

Thomas Burnet, the late 17th century English divine, wrote that the
Roman Catholic Church persecuted prophets of Apocalyptic violence
(even though Apocalypse and the millennium were prophesied in the
Bible and, as such, should have been welcome to the church), because
it was in those days a church of privilege. Apocalyptic violence,
Burnet argued, was always the last resort of the persecuted and would
be disliked by those who "have lived always in pomp and prosperity".

Violence, in other words, is seldom a free choice. It is predicated
upon most individuals by circumstances. These individuals are usually
those who labour under an overpowering feeling of injustice and
deprivation. However senseless it might be, behind all violence lies
the rubble of shattered hopes, of real and imagined injustices, of
human desperation and, consequently, inhuman hatred. Let us not take
refuge in the easy excuse that we are against violence. For all of us,
given certain circumstances, are capable of violence or sympathy with
violence. While a thousand candles have been lit in Copenhagen for
those who died in the United States, let us also light a candle or two
for those who die - and thousands do every day, with or without
"Western" complicity - in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Rwanda .... Let
us not traffic in the worth of human lives.

No, large descriptions like "violence" do not help if we stay confined
to that general level. Neither does the kind of cry for vengeance that
one heard in the voice of many Americans and Europeans. It is true
that we have to take a stand against violence. Not just violence of
one kind, we have to take a stand against all kinds of violence - the
violence of terrorists as well as the violence of State agencies,
physical violence that leads to the death of bystanders as well as
economic violence that leads to the starvation of millions in a world
that has enough to go around. More than enough.

It is time we in the West think a bit before we bite into the cake of
our affluence and drink the coffee of our civilised condemnation.

If general sentiments will not do, what, then, about the specific
lessons that we can draw from this tragedy?

One of the things that this outrage has demonstrated is the
ineffectiveness of any kind of military shield. The only shield that
can be effective is the shield of a more just world. And for the world
to be made just and equal, it not only needs some of the resources of
the affluent, it also has to be made democratic.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has made itself into the target of extremist
groups largely because it has tried to go solo or exert undue
influence in certain international quarters. The internal democracy of
the U.S. seldom gets translated into international democracy. Had
certain decisions been taken through the channels of the United
Nations (not a military alliance of the privileged, like the North
Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)), the U.S. would have been only
one nation among many. The burden, the "blame" and the risks would
have been shared. There are advantages to democracy at the
international level, but it has to be true democracy. And the final
lesson is that of the dangers of abstract hatred and prejudice. The
act of one leader or a group cannot be blamed in a generalised way on
an entire people or country, as the terrorists seem to have done. But
this is a lesson that we should also remember every time someone uses
the dastardly act of a handful of presumed Islamic terrorists to
implicitly or explicitly blame entire populations of Muslims and
Arabs.

The crashes that reduced the World Trade Center to rubble and the two
terror-inducing plane crashes elsewhere have cleft our age into two.
On the other side of this smoking chasm of blood and bitterness, lies
another world. It can be a world in which all the mistakes of the past
- global inequality, socio-economic exploitation, lack of
international democracy, lack of national democracy and literacy in
some nations, prejudice, hatred - all these mistakes are consolidated
into a world of greater violence and suffering. Or we may, finally,
learn to work towards a world, a very different world, where we will
tackle not the consequences of senseless tragedies but the reasons for
them. A world in which we will condemn not only a certain kind of
violence, but all violence; a world in which we will love not only our
humanity, but all humanity.

In order to make this choice we have to look deep into our own hearts
before we tidy away the tea things and swap the channel in places like
Copenhagen.

People who commit hate crimes against Americans with Middle Eastern
backgrounds in the wake of the terrorist attacks will be prosecuted
"to the fullest extent of the law", according to a top Justice
Department official.

According to new federal hate crime statistics released recently:

* Hate crimes accounted for nearly 3,000 of the roughly 5.4 million
victim-related crimes examined in a study which looked at cases
reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) by local police
in more than a dozen states from 1997 to 1999.

* Among the racially motivated incidents, 60 per cent targeted Blacks,
30 per cent targeted Whites and the rest targeted Asians and American
Indians. Forty-one per cent of the incidents involving religious bias
targeted Jewish people.

* Violent crime was the most serious offence in 60 per cent of the
hate crimes, typically involving intimidation or simple assault.

* More than half of the violent hate crime victims were 24 years old
or younger. Among the offenders, 31 per cent of violent offenders and
46 per cent of property offenders were under age 18.

Source: Internet

(The writer is Assistant Professor, Department of English, Copenhagen
University, Denmark.)

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/07/stories/13070612.htm

...and I am Sid Harth


==============================================================================
TOPIC: UK RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS FORCED TO PROMOTE ABORTION, HOMOSEXUALITY UNDER
SEX-ED BILL
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/dcfc2e198d269895?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 10:39 am
From: "regn.pickfod"


Seon Ferguson wrote:
> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
> news:4b9322db@news.comindico.com.au...
>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>> news:4b92d9bb@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>> news:4b8ffea7@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:4b8ea93e@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>> news:4b8d5c97@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ac980@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8a34ae$1@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>
>>>> <brevity snip>
>>>>
>>>>>>> Taken from the God Delusion By Richard Dawkins
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> "In 1954 The British mathematician Alan Turing, a candidate
>>>>>>> along with John Von Neumann for the title of father of the
>>>>>>> computer, committed suicide after being convicted of the
>>>>>>> criminal offence of homosexual behavior in private. Admittedly
>>>>>>> Turing was not buried alive under a wall pushed over by a tank.
>>>>>>> He was offered a choice between two years in prison (can you
>>>>>>> imagine how the other prisoners would have treated him?) and of
>>>>>>> course a hormone injections which could be said to amount to
>>>>>>> chemical castration, and would have caused him to grow breasts"
>>>>>> Do you really think suicide was a reasonable and rational choice?
>>>>>> This is further evidence of Homosexual's known defects in
>>>>>> rational behaviour leaning to acts of self harm. A good reason
>>>>>> why Homosexuality should be reconsidered as a mental illness and
>>>>>> treated as a mental illness .
>>>>>>
>>>>> Yep I knew a nazi scum like you would support something like that.
>>>>> Yes it is reasonable. Do you know how he would have been treated
>>>>> in jail? He would have the crap beaten out of him.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> So I'm Nazi scum cause I don't think it is reasonable or rational
>>>> for Homosexuals to suicide ?
>>>>
>>> You are a Nazi because you want to outlaw homosexuality and support
>>> what happened to him.
>>>
>>
>> No and no
>>
>> Making Homosexual acts unlawful would not impact on whether
>> someone has Homosexual attractions.
>> You are the one supporting him killing himself. I believe if he had
>> been declared unbalanced he
>> should have received different style of intervention that may not
>> have ended up with him killing himself
>>
> I don't think homosexuality should be outlawed like you.
>

I don't believe Homosexuality _can_ be outlawed, it is fundamentally a
mental
illness of unknown causes but the practices that cause risk to the
community need to be deemed illegal.


>>>> I have an idea how he would have been treated in gaol. Many people
>>>> go to gaol. Sane people don't consider suicide as a reasonable
>>>> or rational alternative.
>>>>
>>>> Now if the guy had been declared a nutter, it is likely he wouldn't
>>>> have been sent to gaol, though I am no expert on 1954 Pommy
>>>> sentencing procedure.
>>>>
>>>> Though I suspect the suicide had more to do with the social
>>>> disgrace and shame of being outed as a Poofter than some fear of
>>>> being bashed.
>>>> http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnBooks:How_to_be_Gay_Whilst_in_Gaol
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> By advocating to make an act 2 adults make in the privacy of
>>>>>>> their own bedroom illegal, you are saying this brilliant man
>>>>>>> deserved to die. And by saying that that proves you are just as
>>>>>>> wicked and just as evil as the Taliban.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Making unlawful, `Homosexual acts` is not banning or `making
>>>>>> unlawfull', Homosexuality.
>>>>>> Can you come to grips with this concept?
>>>>>>
>>>>> It's just as bad.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It allows Homosexuals the same freedoms we all have.
>>>>
>>> Wait do you mean we should make homosexual acts lawful then? You
>>
>> We have freedoms to go about our business as long as we do not
>> infringe the rules or the law.
>>
> And there is no law forbidding homosexual acts and you will never get
> your way.
>

I'm sure Homosexuals, trawling public toilets and having public sex
breaks decency laws.


>>> confuse me. But if banning homosexuality is giving "Them" the same
>>> rights we have that is a load of shit.
>>>
>>
>> If they don't break the law, they don't get locked up for breaking
>> the law.
>> Same freedoms I and you have.
>>
>>
>>
>>>>>>>>>> How `grown up` of you Seon.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am more grown up then hateful neo nazi's like you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Spitting poorly thought insults like `Neo Nazi' at me
>>>>>> demonstrates otherwise.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> You are a neo nazi. You hate gay people. Nazi's, the kkk, the
>>>>> taliban, the dictators of iran all hate gay people as well. So you
>>>>> are just as wicked as they are. And you also have an irrational
>>>>> fear of homosexuals wanting to force everyone to be gay. That is
>>>>> bullshit as well. All they want is tolerance and to be allowed to
>>>>> be themselves. And nazi punks like you would have them thrown in
>>>>> jail.
>>>>
>>>> Your conceptions about my beliefs are really screwed up.
>>>> I don't hate Homosexuals
>>>> there is no irrational fear on my part, though irrational fear
>>>> may explain why your Faggot Hero topped hisself.
>>>> Homosexuals are not trying to force everyone to be Homosexual
>>>> They want more than just tolerance (big mistake)
>>>> I am not a Punk anything or a Nazi for that matter, as far the
>>>> world recognises the label.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, and in Australia we call it Gaol.
>>>>
>>> The fact that you called him a "Faggot" proves you are a hater.
>>
>> Nonsense.
>> Faggots call each other Faggots.
>>
> So what does that make you? A hater or a "Faggot"
>
Neither.
It is a common word in common usage.

>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Bit harsh with the `paranoid loon` insult but
>>>>>>>>>> you're showing signs of improvement. I'll have
>>>>>>>>>> you wanting to ban the Mardi Gras, before you know it.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Not as long as it pours money into Sydney.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Does it pour all over Sydney or just a few Venues? If these
>>>>>>>> Venues turnovers are improved $30 million, surely they should
>>>>>>>> be able to get together and pay for it themselves.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So should only a few Venus have to pay for the Australian Day
>>>>>>> Parade? Should only Darling Harbour have to pay for the
>>>>>>> fireworks?
>>>>>> The Venues that profit from it should cough up.
>>>>>> Spending money in Sydney that could be better spent on Health
>>>>>> services around the state to help taxpayers who only see the
>>>>>> firewoks on the TV .
>>>>>>
>>>>> Ok so at least your not a hypocrite.
>>>>>
>>>> you're
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> -you know it costs the taxpayers in NSW mmm
>>>>>>>>>> we aren't actually told how much we are paying for the
>>>>>>>>>> priviledge of boosting
>>>>>>>>>> the turnover in a few Sydney venues by a claimed 30 Million a
>>>>>>>>>> year and supposedly bringing in 500 000 sex tourists from all
>>>>>>>>>> parts of the Globe
>>>>>>>>>> with all the latest diseases to share around
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So? it brings money to Sydney. Big deal.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It brings Sex tourists from across the globe and all the newest
>>>>>>>> STD's such as AIDS variants and injects it into the most
>>>>>>>> negligently promiscous minority to filter on down to eventually
>>>>>>>> expose innocents to death and illness.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The Sydney sex show or cougar convention also brings aids
>>>>>>> because as I have exposed aids can be spread by straight sex.
>>>>>>> Should we outlaw those?
>>>>>> I would expect that without a Homosexual Mardi Gras these sex
>>>>>> shows would likely be seen for the Hedonistic aberrations they
>>>>>> are.
>>>>> Yep because any sexual act that doesn't include making babies is
>>>>> perverted right? You are one sad dude, dude.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Nope. You won't find any quote where I make that claim.
>>>> Are you a Gorge Garcia fan or something? Dude, Dude?
>>>>
>>> "Hedonistic aberrations" You also said sex should be used for
>>> reproductive somewhere.
>>>
>>
>> You do realise that not every single `winky pop' results in a
>> pregnancy. I never said sex _should_ be used for getting some tart
>> pregnant everytime iether.
>> I associate hysterical claims like these coming from you with
>> Homosexuals. Are you worried because you have a sexual
>> attraction to men?
>>
> Why are you making an offer?
>

Any offer you think is there is just wishfull thinking
and desperation on your part.


>>>>>>>>>> drug use is rife
>>>>>>>>>> http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2010/03/03/honesty-needed-over-drug-use/22398
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Bigotry is rife
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Well it takes one to know one.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/secret-life-of-hamish-20100207-nkxz.html
>>>>>>>>>> [quote stt]
>>>>>>>>>> ANIMAL Liberation NSW is no longer queer enough for the
>>>>>>>>>> Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade
>>>>>>>>>> [quote fin]
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Homosexuals are prone to bigotry against all other sexual
>>>>>>>> aberrations. not just Homosexual Beastialists.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I found something cute
>>>>>>>>>> http://www.rainbowlabor.org/pages/
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> apparantly rainbow is the next word to be hijacked by the
>>>>>>>>>> Homosexual agenda
>>>>>>>>>> to describe Homosexuals.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Oh the horror! Yes that proves they all hate us and want to make
>>>>>>> straight sex illegal. Yes that proves they are just as bad as
>>>>>>> neo nazi's like you! Oh no what next!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> live sex shows involving 12 yr olds coming to a Mall near you.
>>>>>>
>>>>> That is evidence that you have an irrational fear of homosexuals.
>>>>
>>>> Please explain?
>>>>
>>> You believe in the "Homosexual agenda" the only agenda we should
>>> fear is the Nazi agenda which you support.
>>>
>>
>> Did I say I was a afraid of the Homosexual Agenda? No I did not,
>> so where do you get this nonsense from?
>>
> You have an irrational fear that gay people are trying to turn
> everyone gay.

Another one of your juvenile assumptions. I have no irrational fear of
pillow biters or carpet munchers trying to turn everyone into pillow biters
or carpet munchers.


>>>>> Having sex with someone under 18 is a CRIME and will never be
>>>>> allowed. Also if all gay people want to fuck boys does that mean
>>>>> all straight people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>
>>>> You need to read up on this a bit first
>>>>
>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Age_of_Consent.png
>>>>
>>> There's nothing in there that answers my question.
>>>
>>
>> I'd say you didn't read it well enough to understand it is legal to
>> have sex with under 18 yr olds in about 99% of the world and
>> you plainly know fuck all about it.
>>
>>
>>> If all gay people want to fuck little boys then do all straight
>>> people want to fuck little girls?
>>
>>
>>
> Yet again you avoided to answer this question...

It is a particularly stupid question. The answer is plainly `No'


== 2 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 7:39 pm
From: "Seon Ferguson"


"regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
news:4b95445d@news.comindico.com.au...
> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>> news:4b9322db@news.comindico.com.au...
>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>> news:4b92d9bb@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>> news:4b8ffea7@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>> news:4b8ea93e@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8d5c97@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ac980@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8a34ae$1@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>
>>>>> <brevity snip>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Taken from the God Delusion By Richard Dawkins
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> "In 1954 The British mathematician Alan Turing, a candidate
>>>>>>>> along with John Von Neumann for the title of father of the
>>>>>>>> computer, committed suicide after being convicted of the
>>>>>>>> criminal offence of homosexual behavior in private. Admittedly
>>>>>>>> Turing was not buried alive under a wall pushed over by a tank.
>>>>>>>> He was offered a choice between two years in prison (can you
>>>>>>>> imagine how the other prisoners would have treated him?) and of
>>>>>>>> course a hormone injections which could be said to amount to
>>>>>>>> chemical castration, and would have caused him to grow breasts"
>>>>>>> Do you really think suicide was a reasonable and rational choice?
>>>>>>> This is further evidence of Homosexual's known defects in
>>>>>>> rational behaviour leaning to acts of self harm. A good reason
>>>>>>> why Homosexuality should be reconsidered as a mental illness and
>>>>>>> treated as a mental illness .
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Yep I knew a nazi scum like you would support something like that.
>>>>>> Yes it is reasonable. Do you know how he would have been treated
>>>>>> in jail? He would have the crap beaten out of him.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> So I'm Nazi scum cause I don't think it is reasonable or rational
>>>>> for Homosexuals to suicide ?
>>>>>
>>>> You are a Nazi because you want to outlaw homosexuality and support
>>>> what happened to him.
>>>>
>>>
>>> No and no
>>>
>>> Making Homosexual acts unlawful would not impact on whether
>>> someone has Homosexual attractions.
>>> You are the one supporting him killing himself. I believe if he had
>>> been declared unbalanced he
>>> should have received different style of intervention that may not
>>> have ended up with him killing himself
>>>
>> I don't think homosexuality should be outlawed like you.
>>
>
> I don't believe Homosexuality _can_ be outlawed, it is fundamentally a
> mental
> illness of unknown causes but the practices that cause risk to the
> community need to be deemed illegal.
>
>
>>>>> I have an idea how he would have been treated in gaol. Many people
>>>>> go to gaol. Sane people don't consider suicide as a reasonable
>>>>> or rational alternative.
>>>>>
>>>>> Now if the guy had been declared a nutter, it is likely he wouldn't
>>>>> have been sent to gaol, though I am no expert on 1954 Pommy
>>>>> sentencing procedure.
>>>>>
>>>>> Though I suspect the suicide had more to do with the social
>>>>> disgrace and shame of being outed as a Poofter than some fear of
>>>>> being bashed.
>>>>> http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnBooks:How_to_be_Gay_Whilst_in_Gaol
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>> By advocating to make an act 2 adults make in the privacy of
>>>>>>>> their own bedroom illegal, you are saying this brilliant man
>>>>>>>> deserved to die. And by saying that that proves you are just as
>>>>>>>> wicked and just as evil as the Taliban.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Making unlawful, `Homosexual acts` is not banning or `making
>>>>>>> unlawfull', Homosexuality.
>>>>>>> Can you come to grips with this concept?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> It's just as bad.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> It allows Homosexuals the same freedoms we all have.
>>>>>
>>>> Wait do you mean we should make homosexual acts lawful then? You
>>>
>>> We have freedoms to go about our business as long as we do not
>>> infringe the rules or the law.
>>>
>> And there is no law forbidding homosexual acts and you will never get
>> your way.
>>
>
> I'm sure Homosexuals, trawling public toilets and having public sex
> breaks decency laws.
>
>
>>>> confuse me. But if banning homosexuality is giving "Them" the same
>>>> rights we have that is a load of shit.
>>>>
>>>
>>> If they don't break the law, they don't get locked up for breaking
>>> the law.
>>> Same freedoms I and you have.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> How `grown up` of you Seon.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I am more grown up then hateful neo nazi's like you.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Spitting poorly thought insults like `Neo Nazi' at me
>>>>>>> demonstrates otherwise.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> You are a neo nazi. You hate gay people. Nazi's, the kkk, the
>>>>>> taliban, the dictators of iran all hate gay people as well. So you
>>>>>> are just as wicked as they are. And you also have an irrational
>>>>>> fear of homosexuals wanting to force everyone to be gay. That is
>>>>>> bullshit as well. All they want is tolerance and to be allowed to
>>>>>> be themselves. And nazi punks like you would have them thrown in
>>>>>> jail.
>>>>>
>>>>> Your conceptions about my beliefs are really screwed up.
>>>>> I don't hate Homosexuals
>>>>> there is no irrational fear on my part, though irrational fear
>>>>> may explain why your Faggot Hero topped hisself.
>>>>> Homosexuals are not trying to force everyone to be Homosexual
>>>>> They want more than just tolerance (big mistake)
>>>>> I am not a Punk anything or a Nazi for that matter, as far the
>>>>> world recognises the label.
>>>>>
>>>>> Oh, and in Australia we call it Gaol.
>>>>>
>>>> The fact that you called him a "Faggot" proves you are a hater.
>>>
>>> Nonsense.
>>> Faggots call each other Faggots.
>>>
>> So what does that make you? A hater or a "Faggot"
>>
> Neither.
> It is a common word in common usage.
>
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Bit harsh with the `paranoid loon` insult but
>>>>>>>>>>> you're showing signs of improvement. I'll have
>>>>>>>>>>> you wanting to ban the Mardi Gras, before you know it.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Not as long as it pours money into Sydney.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Does it pour all over Sydney or just a few Venues? If these
>>>>>>>>> Venues turnovers are improved $30 million, surely they should
>>>>>>>>> be able to get together and pay for it themselves.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So should only a few Venus have to pay for the Australian Day
>>>>>>>> Parade? Should only Darling Harbour have to pay for the
>>>>>>>> fireworks?
>>>>>>> The Venues that profit from it should cough up.
>>>>>>> Spending money in Sydney that could be better spent on Health
>>>>>>> services around the state to help taxpayers who only see the
>>>>>>> firewoks on the TV .
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> Ok so at least your not a hypocrite.
>>>>>>
>>>>> you're
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> -you know it costs the taxpayers in NSW mmm
>>>>>>>>>>> we aren't actually told how much we are paying for the
>>>>>>>>>>> priviledge of boosting
>>>>>>>>>>> the turnover in a few Sydney venues by a claimed 30 Million a
>>>>>>>>>>> year and supposedly bringing in 500 000 sex tourists from all
>>>>>>>>>>> parts of the Globe
>>>>>>>>>>> with all the latest diseases to share around
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> So? it brings money to Sydney. Big deal.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> It brings Sex tourists from across the globe and all the newest
>>>>>>>>> STD's such as AIDS variants and injects it into the most
>>>>>>>>> negligently promiscous minority to filter on down to eventually
>>>>>>>>> expose innocents to death and illness.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The Sydney sex show or cougar convention also brings aids
>>>>>>>> because as I have exposed aids can be spread by straight sex.
>>>>>>>> Should we outlaw those?
>>>>>>> I would expect that without a Homosexual Mardi Gras these sex
>>>>>>> shows would likely be seen for the Hedonistic aberrations they
>>>>>>> are.
>>>>>> Yep because any sexual act that doesn't include making babies is
>>>>>> perverted right? You are one sad dude, dude.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Nope. You won't find any quote where I make that claim.
>>>>> Are you a Gorge Garcia fan or something? Dude, Dude?
>>>>>
>>>> "Hedonistic aberrations" You also said sex should be used for
>>>> reproductive somewhere.
>>>>
>>>
>>> You do realise that not every single `winky pop' results in a
>>> pregnancy. I never said sex _should_ be used for getting some tart
>>> pregnant everytime iether.
>>> I associate hysterical claims like these coming from you with
>>> Homosexuals. Are you worried because you have a sexual
>>> attraction to men?
>>>
>> Why are you making an offer?
>>
>
> Any offer you think is there is just wishfull thinking
> and desperation on your part.
>
>
>>>>>>>>>>> drug use is rife
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2010/03/03/honesty-needed-over-drug-use/22398
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Bigotry is rife
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Well it takes one to know one.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/secret-life-of-hamish-20100207-nkxz.html
>>>>>>>>>>> [quote stt]
>>>>>>>>>>> ANIMAL Liberation NSW is no longer queer enough for the
>>>>>>>>>>> Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade
>>>>>>>>>>> [quote fin]
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Homosexuals are prone to bigotry against all other sexual
>>>>>>>>> aberrations. not just Homosexual Beastialists.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I found something cute
>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.rainbowlabor.org/pages/
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> apparantly rainbow is the next word to be hijacked by the
>>>>>>>>>>> Homosexual agenda
>>>>>>>>>>> to describe Homosexuals.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Oh the horror! Yes that proves they all hate us and want to make
>>>>>>>> straight sex illegal. Yes that proves they are just as bad as
>>>>>>>> neo nazi's like you! Oh no what next!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> live sex shows involving 12 yr olds coming to a Mall near you.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> That is evidence that you have an irrational fear of homosexuals.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please explain?
>>>>>
>>>> You believe in the "Homosexual agenda" the only agenda we should
>>>> fear is the Nazi agenda which you support.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Did I say I was a afraid of the Homosexual Agenda? No I did not,
>>> so where do you get this nonsense from?
>>>
>> You have an irrational fear that gay people are trying to turn
>> everyone gay.
>
> Another one of your juvenile assumptions. I have no irrational fear of
> pillow biters or carpet munchers trying to turn everyone into pillow
> biters
> or carpet munchers.
>
>
>>>>>> Having sex with someone under 18 is a CRIME and will never be
>>>>>> allowed. Also if all gay people want to fuck boys does that mean
>>>>>> all straight people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>>
>>>>> You need to read up on this a bit first
>>>>>
>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Age_of_Consent.png
>>>>>
>>>> There's nothing in there that answers my question.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I'd say you didn't read it well enough to understand it is legal to
>>> have sex with under 18 yr olds in about 99% of the world and
>>> you plainly know fuck all about it.
>>>
>>>
>>>> If all gay people want to fuck little boys then do all straight
>>>> people want to fuck little girls?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> Yet again you avoided to answer this question...
>
> It is a particularly stupid question. The answer is plainly `No'
>
>
So why is it that you say all gay people want to fuck little boys?

== 3 of 3 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 10:11 pm
From: "regn.pickfod"


Seon Ferguson wrote:
> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
> news:4b95445d@news.comindico.com.au...
>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>> news:4b9322db@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>> news:4b92d9bb@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>> news:4b8ffea7@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ea93e@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8d5c97@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8ac980@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Seon Ferguson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "regn.pickfod" <regn@mysoul.cop.au> wrote in message
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> news:4b8a34ae$1@news.comindico.com.au...
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <brevity snip>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Taken from the God Delusion By Richard Dawkins
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> "In 1954 The British mathematician Alan Turing, a candidate
>>>>>>>>> along with John Von Neumann for the title of father of the
>>>>>>>>> computer, committed suicide after being convicted of the
>>>>>>>>> criminal offence of homosexual behavior in private. Admittedly
>>>>>>>>> Turing was not buried alive under a wall pushed over by a
>>>>>>>>> tank. He was offered a choice between two years in prison
>>>>>>>>> (can you imagine how the other prisoners would have treated
>>>>>>>>> him?) and of course a hormone injections which could be said
>>>>>>>>> to amount to chemical castration, and would have caused him
>>>>>>>>> to grow breasts"
>>>>>>>> Do you really think suicide was a reasonable and rational
>>>>>>>> choice? This is further evidence of Homosexual's known defects
>>>>>>>> in rational behaviour leaning to acts of self harm. A good
>>>>>>>> reason why Homosexuality should be reconsidered as a mental
>>>>>>>> illness and treated as a mental illness .
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yep I knew a nazi scum like you would support something like
>>>>>>> that. Yes it is reasonable. Do you know how he would have been
>>>>>>> treated in jail? He would have the crap beaten out of him.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So I'm Nazi scum cause I don't think it is reasonable or rational
>>>>>> for Homosexuals to suicide ?
>>>>>>
>>>>> You are a Nazi because you want to outlaw homosexuality and
>>>>> support what happened to him.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> No and no
>>>>
>>>> Making Homosexual acts unlawful would not impact on whether
>>>> someone has Homosexual attractions.
>>>> You are the one supporting him killing himself. I believe if he had
>>>> been declared unbalanced he
>>>> should have received different style of intervention that may not
>>>> have ended up with him killing himself
>>>>
>>> I don't think homosexuality should be outlawed like you.
>>>
>>
>> I don't believe Homosexuality _can_ be outlawed, it is fundamentally
>> a mental
>> illness of unknown causes but the practices that cause risk to the
>> community need to be deemed illegal.
>>
>>
>>>>>> I have an idea how he would have been treated in gaol. Many
>>>>>> people go to gaol. Sane people don't consider suicide as a
>>>>>> reasonable or rational alternative.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Now if the guy had been declared a nutter, it is likely he
>>>>>> wouldn't have been sent to gaol, though I am no expert on 1954
>>>>>> Pommy sentencing procedure.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Though I suspect the suicide had more to do with the social
>>>>>> disgrace and shame of being outed as a Poofter than some fear of
>>>>>> being bashed.
>>>>>> http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnBooks:How_to_be_Gay_Whilst_in_Gaol
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> By advocating to make an act 2 adults make in the privacy of
>>>>>>>>> their own bedroom illegal, you are saying this brilliant man
>>>>>>>>> deserved to die. And by saying that that proves you are just
>>>>>>>>> as wicked and just as evil as the Taliban.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Making unlawful, `Homosexual acts` is not banning or `making
>>>>>>>> unlawfull', Homosexuality.
>>>>>>>> Can you come to grips with this concept?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> It's just as bad.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It allows Homosexuals the same freedoms we all have.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Wait do you mean we should make homosexual acts lawful then? You
>>>>
>>>> We have freedoms to go about our business as long as we do not
>>>> infringe the rules or the law.
>>>>
>>> And there is no law forbidding homosexual acts and you will never
>>> get your way.
>>>
>>
>> I'm sure Homosexuals, trawling public toilets and having public sex
>> breaks decency laws.
>>
>>
>>>>> confuse me. But if banning homosexuality is giving "Them" the same
>>>>> rights we have that is a load of shit.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If they don't break the law, they don't get locked up for breaking
>>>> the law.
>>>> Same freedoms I and you have.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> How `grown up` of you Seon.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I am more grown up then hateful neo nazi's like you.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Spitting poorly thought insults like `Neo Nazi' at me
>>>>>>>> demonstrates otherwise.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> You are a neo nazi. You hate gay people. Nazi's, the kkk, the
>>>>>>> taliban, the dictators of iran all hate gay people as well. So
>>>>>>> you are just as wicked as they are. And you also have an
>>>>>>> irrational fear of homosexuals wanting to force everyone to be
>>>>>>> gay. That is bullshit as well. All they want is tolerance and
>>>>>>> to be allowed to be themselves. And nazi punks like you would
>>>>>>> have them thrown in jail.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Your conceptions about my beliefs are really screwed up.
>>>>>> I don't hate Homosexuals
>>>>>> there is no irrational fear on my part, though irrational fear
>>>>>> may explain why your Faggot Hero topped hisself.
>>>>>> Homosexuals are not trying to force everyone to be Homosexual
>>>>>> They want more than just tolerance (big mistake)
>>>>>> I am not a Punk anything or a Nazi for that matter, as far the
>>>>>> world recognises the label.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Oh, and in Australia we call it Gaol.
>>>>>>
>>>>> The fact that you called him a "Faggot" proves you are a hater.
>>>>
>>>> Nonsense.
>>>> Faggots call each other Faggots.
>>>>
>>> So what does that make you? A hater or a "Faggot"
>>>
>> Neither.
>> It is a common word in common usage.
>>
>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Bit harsh with the `paranoid loon` insult but
>>>>>>>>>>>> you're showing signs of improvement. I'll have
>>>>>>>>>>>> you wanting to ban the Mardi Gras, before you know it.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> Not as long as it pours money into Sydney.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Does it pour all over Sydney or just a few Venues? If these
>>>>>>>>>> Venues turnovers are improved $30 million, surely they should
>>>>>>>>>> be able to get together and pay for it themselves.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So should only a few Venus have to pay for the Australian Day
>>>>>>>>> Parade? Should only Darling Harbour have to pay for the
>>>>>>>>> fireworks?
>>>>>>>> The Venues that profit from it should cough up.
>>>>>>>> Spending money in Sydney that could be better spent on Health
>>>>>>>> services around the state to help taxpayers who only see the
>>>>>>>> firewoks on the TV .
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Ok so at least your not a hypocrite.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> you're
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> -you know it costs the taxpayers in NSW mmm
>>>>>>>>>>>> we aren't actually told how much we are paying for the
>>>>>>>>>>>> priviledge of boosting
>>>>>>>>>>>> the turnover in a few Sydney venues by a claimed 30
>>>>>>>>>>>> Million a year and supposedly bringing in 500 000 sex
>>>>>>>>>>>> tourists from all parts of the Globe
>>>>>>>>>>>> with all the latest diseases to share around
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> So? it brings money to Sydney. Big deal.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> It brings Sex tourists from across the globe and all the
>>>>>>>>>> newest STD's such as AIDS variants and injects it into the
>>>>>>>>>> most negligently promiscous minority to filter on down to
>>>>>>>>>> eventually expose innocents to death and illness.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> The Sydney sex show or cougar convention also brings aids
>>>>>>>>> because as I have exposed aids can be spread by straight sex.
>>>>>>>>> Should we outlaw those?
>>>>>>>> I would expect that without a Homosexual Mardi Gras these sex
>>>>>>>> shows would likely be seen for the Hedonistic aberrations they
>>>>>>>> are.
>>>>>>> Yep because any sexual act that doesn't include making babies is
>>>>>>> perverted right? You are one sad dude, dude.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Nope. You won't find any quote where I make that claim.
>>>>>> Are you a Gorge Garcia fan or something? Dude, Dude?
>>>>>>
>>>>> "Hedonistic aberrations" You also said sex should be used for
>>>>> reproductive somewhere.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> You do realise that not every single `winky pop' results in a
>>>> pregnancy. I never said sex _should_ be used for getting some tart
>>>> pregnant everytime iether.
>>>> I associate hysterical claims like these coming from you with
>>>> Homosexuals. Are you worried because you have a sexual
>>>> attraction to men?
>>>>
>>> Why are you making an offer?
>>>
>>
>> Any offer you think is there is just wishfull thinking
>> and desperation on your part.
>>
>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> drug use is rife
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2010/03/03/honesty-needed-over-drug-use/22398
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Bigotry is rife
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Well it takes one to know one.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-diary/secret-life-of-hamish-20100207-nkxz.html
>>>>>>>>>>>> [quote stt]
>>>>>>>>>>>> ANIMAL Liberation NSW is no longer queer enough for the
>>>>>>>>>>>> Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade
>>>>>>>>>>>> [quote fin]
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Homosexuals are prone to bigotry against all other sexual
>>>>>>>>>> aberrations. not just Homosexual Beastialists.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I found something cute
>>>>>>>>>>>> http://www.rainbowlabor.org/pages/
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> apparantly rainbow is the next word to be hijacked by the
>>>>>>>>>>>> Homosexual agenda
>>>>>>>>>>>> to describe Homosexuals.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Oh the horror! Yes that proves they all hate us and want to
>>>>>>>>> make straight sex illegal. Yes that proves they are just as
>>>>>>>>> bad as neo nazi's like you! Oh no what next!
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> live sex shows involving 12 yr olds coming to a Mall near you.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> That is evidence that you have an irrational fear of
>>>>>>> homosexuals.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Please explain?
>>>>>>
>>>>> You believe in the "Homosexual agenda" the only agenda we should
>>>>> fear is the Nazi agenda which you support.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Did I say I was a afraid of the Homosexual Agenda? No I did not,
>>>> so where do you get this nonsense from?
>>>>
>>> You have an irrational fear that gay people are trying to turn
>>> everyone gay.
>>
>> Another one of your juvenile assumptions. I have no irrational fear
>> of pillow biters or carpet munchers trying to turn everyone into
>> pillow biters
>> or carpet munchers.
>>
>>
>>>>>>> Having sex with someone under 18 is a CRIME and will never be
>>>>>>> allowed. Also if all gay people want to fuck boys does that mean
>>>>>>> all straight people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You need to read up on this a bit first
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Age_of_Consent.png
>>>>>>
>>>>> There's nothing in there that answers my question.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'd say you didn't read it well enough to understand it is legal to
>>>> have sex with under 18 yr olds in about 99% of the world and
>>>> you plainly know fuck all about it.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> If all gay people want to fuck little boys then do all straight
>>>>> people want to fuck little girls?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Yet again you avoided to answer this question...
>>
>> It is a particularly stupid question. The answer is plainly `No'
>>
>>
> So why is it that you say all gay people want to fuck little boys?

I never said `all Homosexuals want to fuck little boys'
. You really have a comprehension problem.You might want to
give the weed a rest.

==============================================================================
TOPIC: BOMB BLASTS IN PUNE [MUSLIM TERRORISM]
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.movies.local.indian/t/810eae7dd0a55571?hl=en
==============================================================================

== 1 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 2:18 pm
From: "harmony"


at the present trend, reunification will surely mean islamic united "india".
that's not the kind of reunification we need.

i do not think your prediction (of united islamic india?) should invite
hate.


<usenet@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)> wrote in
message news:20100222QXq454r3g9sBVpFX68E2x7c@Bw05O...
> harmony ji, there are many painful components in the reunification
> process. Muslim and Christian terrorism must be stopped. Who is
> going to do the job? We Hindus can if we follow the advice of Shree
> Krshn to Arjun.
>
> A note on predictions: many people assume that a Jyotishi's
> predictions reflect his or her desires, which of course is not
> necessarily true. I received a lot of hate mail when I publicly
> predicted that O. J. Simpson would be acquitted in the criminal
> trial after the double murder.
>
> Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
> Om Shanti
>
> In article <4b8318e9$0$12454$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net>,
> "harmony" <aka@hotmail.com> posted:
>>
>> jai maharaj ji, my sources inform me that the traffick is predominantly
>> (99pct) mommedan. millions of pakis stay behind, they now don't even care
>> to
>> report to police station beause the police can not monitor millions of
>> pakis. result: thousands of terror cells in india.
>> this can not be the idea of reunification.
>>
>> pm mmsingh: muslims have first right to national resources.
>
>> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>>
>> > The reunification of Bharat and Pakistan, and others, (I published
>> > the prediction here many years ago) is complete at many levels, and
>> > continues at others.
>> >
>> > About "the Hindus have a death wish", I can say that true Hindus have
>> > been reduced to a small minority because of the centuries of genocide
>> > by Muslims and Christians.
>> >
>> > However, as long as a spark of true Hinduism remains a revival is
>> > certainly possible. It is this seed that brings about the transition
>> > from one Yug to another.
>> >
>> > The buses and trains provide traffic in both directions. As long as
>> > the traffic in the direction beneficial to Hindus is not nullified by
>> > traffic in the opposite direction, the system is acceptable. We
>> > Hindus need a big advantage.
>> >
>> > Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
>> > Om Shanti
>> >
>> > In article <4b78522a$0$12417$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net>,
>> > "harmony" <aka@hotmail.com> posted:
>> >>
>> >> of course, nobody but nobody wonders why we still have lahore-dillie
>> >> buses
>> >> and samjauta trains runinng which has brought in millions of pakis so
>> >> far
>> >> into india, and continues to bring in tens of thousands of pakis into
>> >> india
>> >> every week. the hindus have a death wish, and bollywood can make it
>> >> poetic
>> >> too.
>> >
>> >> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>> >>
>> >> > Forwarded article from Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
>> >> >
>> >> > Blasts in India
>> >> >
>> >> > Dear India-based folks
>> >> >
>> >> > My condolences to the families affected by the Pune German Bakery
>> >> > (what appears to be) bombings.
>> >> >
>> >> > Unfortunately, the geopolitical situation in South Asia has now
>> >> > turned in Pakistan's favor, with America agreeing to accept
>> >> > Pakistan's primacy in Afghanistan through its proxy, the Taliban.
>> >> >
>> >> > Indeed, terrorism works!
>> >> >
>> >> > It is likely that Pakistan has initiated a significant round of
>> >> > terrorist attacks all throughout India. The attacks are designed to
>> >> > push India to accommodate Kashmir in Pakistan's favor.
>> >> >
>> >> > Pakistan has a well-established network in India to carry out its
>> >> > nefarious designs.
>> >> >
>> >> > Prominent public places and businesses, Hindu religious centers, and
>> >> > even leading educational institutions could be part of the hit list.
>> >> >
>> >> > Please be careful.
>> >> >
>> >> > Remember, your family's safety lies in the safety of your
>> >> > community --
>> >> > and your nation.
>> >> >
>> >> > Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
>> >> >
>> >> > End of forwarded article from Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
>> >> >
>> >> > Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
>> >> > Om Shanti
>> >> >
>> >> > o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the
>> >> > educational
>> >> > purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post
>> >> > may
>> >> > not
>> >> > have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
>> >> > of
>> >> > the
>> >> > poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the
>> >> > exemption
>> >> > for
>> >> > fair use of copyrighted works.
>> >> > o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
>> >> > considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
>> >> > current
>> >> > e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
>> >> > o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by
>> >> > others
>> >> > are
>> >> > not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the
>> >> > article.
>> >> >
>> >> > FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the
>> >> > use
>> >> > of
>> >> > which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the
>> >> > copyright
>> >> > owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance
>> >> > the
>> >> > understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
>> >> > democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is
>> >> > believed
>> >> > that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
>> >> > as
>> >> > provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance
>> >> > with
>> >> > Title
>> >> > 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed
>> >> > without
>> >> > profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
>> >> > included
>> >> > information for research, comment, discussion and educational
>> >> > purposes
>> >> > by
>> >> > subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
>> >> > information
>> >> > go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
>> >> > If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for
>> >> > purposes
>> >> > of
>> >> > your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from
>> >> > the
>> >> > copyright owner.
>> >> >
>> >> > Since newsgroup posts are being removed
>> >> > by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
>> >> > this post may be reposted several times.
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> > o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the
>> > educational
>> > purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may
>> > not
>> > have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of
>> > the
>> > poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption
>> > for
>> > fair use of copyrighted works.
>> > o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
>> > considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
>> > current
>> > e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
>> > o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others
>> > are
>> > not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the
>> > article.
>> >
>> > FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use
>> > of
>> > which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
>> > owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
>> > understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
>> > democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is
>> > believed
>> > that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
>> > provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with
>> > Title
>> > 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
>> > profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
>> > included
>> > information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes
>> > by
>> > subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
>> > information
>> > go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
>> > If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes
>> > of
>> > your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
>> > copyright owner.
>> >
>> > Since newsgroup posts are being removed
>> > by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
>> > this post may be reposted several times.
>>
>>


== 2 of 2 ==
Date: Mon, Mar 8 2010 2:58 pm
From: usenet@mantra.com and/or www.mantra.com/jai (Dr. Jai Maharaj)


It is highly undesirable, but the Islamization of the region will
continue for the time being. We Hindus have to work hard control the
process and also carry the essence of all that is Hindu forward
through the Yugs.

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti

In article <4b9577bd$0$12453$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net>,
"harmony" <aka@hotmail.com> posted:
>
> at the present trend, reunification will surely mean islamic united "india".
> that's not the kind of reunification we need.
>
> i do not think your prediction (of united islamic india?) should invite
> hate.

> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>
> > harmony ji, there are many painful components in the reunification
> > process. Muslim and Christian terrorism must be stopped. Who is
> > going to do the job? We Hindus can if we follow the advice of Shree
> > Krshn to Arjun.
> >
> > A note on predictions: many people assume that a Jyotishi's
> > predictions reflect his or her desires, which of course is not
> > necessarily true. I received a lot of hate mail when I publicly
> > predicted that O. J. Simpson would be acquitted in the criminal
> > trial after the double murder.
> >
> > Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
> > Om Shanti
> >
> > In article <4b8318e9$0$12454$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net>,
> > "harmony" <aka@hotmail.com> posted:
> >>
> >> jai maharaj ji, my sources inform me that the traffick is predominantly
> >> (99pct) mommedan. millions of pakis stay behind, they now don't even care
> >> to
> >> report to police station beause the police can not monitor millions of
> >> pakis. result: thousands of terror cells in india.
> >> this can not be the idea of reunification.
> >>
> >> pm mmsingh: muslims have first right to national resources.
> >
> >> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
> >>
> >> > The reunification of Bharat and Pakistan, and others, (I published
> >> > the prediction here many years ago) is complete at many levels, and
> >> > continues at others.
> >> >
> >> > About "the Hindus have a death wish", I can say that true Hindus have
> >> > been reduced to a small minority because of the centuries of genocide
> >> > by Muslims and Christians.
> >> >
> >> > However, as long as a spark of true Hinduism remains a revival is
> >> > certainly possible. It is this seed that brings about the transition
> >> > from one Yug to another.
> >> >
> >> > The buses and trains provide traffic in both directions. As long as
> >> > the traffic in the direction beneficial to Hindus is not nullified by
> >> > traffic in the opposite direction, the system is acceptable. We
> >> > Hindus need a big advantage.
> >> >
> >> > Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
> >> > Om Shanti
> >> >
> >> > In article <4b78522a$0$12417$bbae4d71@news.suddenlink.net>,
> >> > "harmony" <aka@hotmail.com> posted:
> >> >>
> >> >> of course, nobody but nobody wonders why we still have lahore-dillie
> >> >> buses
> >> >> and samjauta trains runinng which has brought in millions of pakis so
> >> >> far
> >> >> into india, and continues to bring in tens of thousands of pakis into
> >> >> india
> >> >> every week. the hindus have a death wish, and bollywood can make it
> >> >> poetic
> >> >> too.
> >> >
> >> >> Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
> >> >>
> >> >> > Forwarded article from Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Blasts in India
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Dear India-based folks
> >> >> >
> >> >> > My condolences to the families affected by the Pune German Bakery
> >> >> > (what appears to be) bombings.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Unfortunately, the geopolitical situation in South Asia has now
> >> >> > turned in Pakistan's favor, with America agreeing to accept
> >> >> > Pakistan's primacy in Afghanistan through its proxy, the Taliban.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Indeed, terrorism works!
> >> >> >
> >> >> > It is likely that Pakistan has initiated a significant round of
> >> >> > terrorist attacks all throughout India. The attacks are designed to
> >> >> > push India to accommodate Kashmir in Pakistan's favor.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Pakistan has a well-established network in India to carry out its
> >> >> > nefarious designs.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Prominent public places and businesses, Hindu religious centers, and
> >> >> > even leading educational institutions could be part of the hit list.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Please be careful.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Remember, your family's safety lies in the safety of your
> >> >> > community --
> >> >> > and your nation.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
> >> >> >
> >> >> > End of forwarded article from Moorthy S. Muthuswamy
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
> >> >> > Om Shanti
> >> >> >
> >> >> > o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the
> >> >> > educational
> >> >> > purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post
> >> >> > may
> >> >> > not
> >> >> > have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion
> >> >> > of
> >> >> > the
> >> >> > poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the
> >> >> > exemption
> >> >> > for
> >> >> > fair use of copyrighted works.
> >> >> > o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
> >> >> > considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
> >> >> > current
> >> >> > e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
> >> >> > o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by
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> >> >> >
> >> >> > FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the
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> >> >> > democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is
> >> >> > believed
> >> >> > that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material
> >> >> > as
> >> >> > provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance
> >> >> > with
> >> >> > Title
> >> >> > 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed
> >> >> > without
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> >> >> > purposes
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> >> >> > go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
> >> >> > If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for
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> >> >> > of
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> >> >> > the
> >> >> > copyright owner.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Since newsgroup posts are being removed
> >> >> > by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
> >> >> > this post may be reposted several times.
> >> >> >
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >> > o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the
> >> > educational
> >> > purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may
> >> > not
> >> > have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of
> >> > the
> >> > poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption
> >> > for
> >> > fair use of copyrighted works.
> >> > o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
> >> > considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name,
> >> > current
> >> > e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
> >> > o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others
> >> > are
> >> > not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the
> >> > article.
> >> >
> >> > FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use
> >> > of
> >> > which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
> >> > owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
> >> > understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
> >> > democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is
> >> > believed
> >> > that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
> >> > provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with
> >> > Title
> >> > 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
> >> > profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the
> >> > included
> >> > information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes
> >> > by
> >> > subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more
> >> > information
> >> > go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
> >> > If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes
> >> > of
> >> > your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
> >> > copyright owner.
> >> >
> >> > Since newsgroup posts are being removed
> >> > by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
> >> > this post may be reposted several times.
> >>
> >>
>
>


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