Appendix E
IDRF Relief Efforts: Sectarian, Not Humanitarian
The IDRF has funded numerous relief efforts in response to natural
disasters, communal violence, and other social crises. However,
the distributive mechanisms utilized by the IDRF have consistently
discriminated against Muslims and other minorities in India. IDRF’s
relief efforts are frequently divisive and have supported the
further communalization of Indian society. The intentions that
motivate such charity raise serious questions about the ethics
and efficacy of such funding, and their repercussions.
E.1 Responding to Crises Around the
Globe
The IDRF has demonstrated extreme efficiency in raising money
for the victims of communal violence, even when the victims were
situated outside India. Such a commitment to respond to communal
crises would be commendable, but for the fact that its relief
efforts are themselves discriminatory. Most recently, it has refrained
from funding relief efforts in Gujarat after the communal riots
of February and March 2002 where the victims were in large part
Muslims. An analysis of the IDRF’s partisan response to
crisis makes visible a clear communal agenda.
E.1.1 Relief for Hindus Alone
The IDRF participated in fundraising efforts with the HSS and the
FISI in the US to raise money for Bangladeshi Hindu victims of communal
violence.[121] Similarly,
the IDRF raised money for Kashmiri Hindus victimized by militants
in Kashmir.[122]
More recently the IDRF announced a donation of $25,000 towards relief
efforts following the World Trade Center collapse.[123]
In all three cases, the people responsible for perpetrating the
disaster were Muslims, and the victims largely non-Muslim. In contrast,
to date, the IDRF has not announced any relief for the victims of
communal riots in Gujarat in February and March 2002. Given the
egregious nature of violence, civil disturbance and damage, death
(between 850 and 2000) and displacement (98,000 people in over 100
relief camps) in Gujarat [124],
it is glaring that the IDRF has failed to organize aid or relief
efforts in the state. Gujarat 2002 is different from the earlier
instances of communal violence that the IDRF did respond to in one
simple way: the perpetrators of communal violence in Gujarat were
largely the forces of Hindutva and the victims predominantly Muslim.
This in itself should confirm that IDRF disburses relief dollars
along communal (sectarian) lines. However, there is more specific
and directed evidence to support the case. However, there is more
specific and directed evidence to support the case.
E.2 The Administering of IDRF Relief
The IDRF’s relief efforts in India have consistently been
administered by Hindutva organizations. These relief operations
have often denied relief to minority communities and furthered
communal mistrust.
E. 2.1 Earthquake Relief
In the Gujarat earthquake of January 2001, the majority of the
IDRF’s funds were donated to Sewa Bharati, an organization
that we have already shown in this report to be a critical part
of the Sangh Parivar. The RSS and other Hindutva organizations
administered relief disbursements along communal lines, visibly
neglecting Muslim areas. Kuldip Nayar reports on the state of
relief in Gujarat as follows:
Some areas where the Muslims live have
been purposely left out without any relief or rehabilitation
work. The discrimination against them has been open. The press
has complained about it. Some newspapers have even cited examples,
alleging how the RSS and the VHP activists have "hijacked"
relief supplies in the Kutch. The government appears to have
connived at such flagrant instances of bias and prejudice.[125]
It has been alleged that the RSS not only
excluded relief disbursements in minority areas after the Gujarat
earthquake of January 2001, but also disrupted non-Hindu organizations
from participating in relief efforts. Scott Baldauf of the Christian
Science Monitor states that:
But when Catholic workers from the St.
Xavier's Social Services Society arrived at the hospital to
provide some help as well, they were chased off with sticks,
curses, and threats. “They [the RSS workers] were shouting
at us, telling us literally to get out,” says the Rev.
Cedric Prakash, St. Xavier's director in Ahmedabad. "In
a situation like this, anybody who wants to work and serve must
be given the chance to do so. I don't think that any one group
should be controlling it.[126]
Further evidence to this pattern comes from
reports that in villages with mixed religious populations, the
RSS reconstruction efforts consistently involved the construction
of a temple and a crematorium but no mosques, churches or cemeteries.
Again, the Gujarat earthquake is an instance where some consistent
documentation is available on the communal patterns of the IDRF
relief funding. Other instances outside of Gujarat, such as after
the Orissa cyclone of 1999, where the IDRF-RSS relief efforts
were communal, have also some documentation.[127]
E.3 The Instrumental Uses of the Hajj
Fire
Given such a consistent pattern of discriminatory
funding, even a few isolated instances of the IDRF funds reaching
Indian minorities would enable us to hypothesize that the IDRF,
in spite of its pro-Hindutva bias does on occasion respond to the
sheer human aspect of a calamity. One such event, of a person from
IDRF attempting to raise funds for Muslim victims of a tragedy,
does exist. In response to a fire during the annual Hajj season
(the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia), in which many Muslims
from India lost their lives, the IDRF undertook a project to raise
money for the victims of the fire. The Sword of Truth, a prominent
Hindutva site documents this event as follows:
IDRF…undertook a project to raise
funds for the Indian Moslems who had gone to Saudi Arabia for
Haj but died in a fire…IDRF immediately hired a man…to
raise funds for the dead Mohammedans. When people asked him
why was he doing that, …the 'wise guy' …from RSS
replied that this was not to really help the Mohammedans but
to 'create' a false impression of Hindu generosity toward the
Mohammedans. That way…the Mohammedans would vote for the
BJP in the coming election…”
Note: We have since heard from the director
of IDRF on the subject. He wrote on March 3rd 1998 'I am aware
of the attempt made by an the IDRF volunteer to raise funds
for the afflicted Indian Hajis in Saudi Arabia…We had
investigated and reviewed the episode which had hurt the feelings
of many the IDRF well-wishers. I wish to assure you that since
that event, we have agreed to new guidelines for any such attempt
and I feel confident that such a thing will not be repeated
in the future.' [128]
Such utter instrumentality must have its reasons.
In summary let us look at what conclusions the above documentation
helps us arrive at:
1. Even the relief component of the IDRF’s
funds must be understood as almost entirely sectarian. There
is an active intent on the part of the IDRF and the organizations
it specifically uses in crisis relief efforts to discriminate
against minorities and provide relief to Hindus alone.
2. In many areas of the world, relief is often provided by religious
organizations because of the deep seated humanism in many religions.
The IDRF on the other hand funds relief not within the ambit
of humanitarianism but clearly as part of its strategy of consolidating
Hindus.
3. However, it should also be clear that IDRF wants to retain
an image of being non-sectarian. This should indicate that not
only is IDRF sectarian even in relief, but also misleads donors
with humanitarian pretensions.
121.
http://www.fisiusa.org/fisi_Campaigns/bd_hindu_solidarity_day.htm
122.
http://www.idrf.org/appeals/JKappeal.htm
123.
http://www.ipnatlanta.net/0109wtc.html
124.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/india/
125.
Discriminating
against the distressed in a democracy, Kuldip Nayar, Financial
Express, February 21, 2001.
126.
India
rises from rubble with old social divides, Scott Baldauf, Christian
Science Monitor, January 31, 2001. http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/01/31/fp1s3-csm.shtml
127.
http://lists.cs.columbia.edu/pipermail/ornet/2002-June/004713.html.
128.
http://www.swordoftruth.com/swordoftruth/archives/oldarchives/bjprss.html
|