4. Funding Hate?
The preceding section establishes the organizational
and personnel links of the IDRF with the Sangh both in India and
the United States. However, it could be argued that while the
Sangh is sectarian and IDRF has well established links with the
Sangh, that its funds do not necessarily aid and abet Hindutva’s
anti-minority programs. This would be true if either the IDRF’s
funds are distributed extensively to non Sangh operations or if
the funds provided to Sangh operations are deployed towards purely
economic empowerment of marginalized communities and not implicated
in sectarian Hindutva activity. This latter aspect is especially
relevant given the IDRF’s claim, both on official US government
documents as well as in its name and publicized goals that it
is non sectarian. After all “development” and “relief”
are largely understood as non-sectarian activities. Finally, if
the sectarian nature of the IDRF’s funding is established,
it leaves just one further issue as to whether the IDRF funds
could be implicated in more specifically the Sangh’s violent
activities. In other words, does the IDRF aid or abet Sangh sponsored
violence? We evaluate each of the above three possibilities in
order.
4.1 The IDRF Funds
and Their Distribution
As with other charities, donors to IDRF can earmark their gifts
for specific organizations in India (these are called donor-designated
funds), or leave it up to IDRF to disburse the funds in ways its
deems appropriate (IDRF-designated funds). In the former case,
the IDRF only accepts donations of $1000 or more, and assigns
10% of the donation to Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (a Sangh organization,
see Appendix F).
In this section, we are primarily concerned with the IDRF-designated
funds; the disbursement of which is completely controlled by the
IDRF. While the details are presented in Appendix
H, the main features of the analysis are:
- In the years from 1994 to 2000 for which
the data is available, roughly 75% of the IDRF’s total
disbursements (over $ 3.2 million) went to the IDRF–designated
organizations.
- A vast majority (in excess of 80%) of
the IDRF designated funds were sent to Parivar organizations,
especially those affiliated with or controlled by the RSS, the
VHP and the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (VKA).[36]
This should be contrasted with the finding that for the same
period, only 10% of the donor-designated funds were earmarked
for Sangh charities.
- Further, it is clear the IDRF disburses
its funds in a highly sectarian manner favoring the Hindu community.
None of the organizations funded can be identified with any
minority community, though 8% (in addition to the 83% that are
Sangh affiliated) are clearly identifiable as Hindu or Jain
religious organizations. Only 2% of the organizations funded
can be recognized as secular organizations.
Figure 2 – Percentage
Distribution of IDRF Funds By Ideology
4.2 Funding Hinduization
An analysis of what the primary aim of the
IDRF-designated organizations reveals that the majority of them
are indeed, not involved in what is commonly understood as ‘relief’
and ‘developmental’ work.
- Nearly 70% of the IDRF funds go to organizations
dealing with education (largely in adivasi/rural areas), hostels,
'shuddhi'/reconversion programs, and Hinduization efforts;
- about 8% goes for health and welfare work;
- 15% goes for relief work, and
- only 4% towards what is normally understood
in the NGO world as rural development.[37]
Figure 3 – Percentage
Distribution of IDRF Funds By Activities
The data above, contradicts IDRF’s first
claim, that it supports NGOs engaged in 'strengthening the roots
of a democratic, secular,…India,’[38]
and serving the communities irrespective of their religion. Nothing
could be farther from the truth. Over 90% of its funds are clearly
in the hands of Hindu organizations which by the very definition
along religious lines are sectarian.
4.3 The IDRF as
a Development and Relief’ Organization
4.3.1 Relief:
It is possible that in times of great need and
emergencies, even a religiously identified organization could grant
assistance without discrimination. Even this possibility is eliminated
given that 80% of the funds go to Hindutva organizations which have
a track record of being discriminatory even in the most calamitous
of situations. Even if we take natural disaster such as the Gujarat
earthquake of 2001, it is clear from accounts in the mainstream
media, that Sangh organizations used funds at their disposal largely
to help Hindu victims as against Muslim or Christian victims. In
other words, the 15% of its funds that IDRF disbursed for "relief"
must also be seen as sectarian funds. Details of the sectarian nature
of relief work after the Gujarat earthquake are included as Appendix
E.
4.3.2 Development:
The data presented above also casts serious
doubts on the IDRF's claim to be doing 'grassroots' NGO 'development'
work. Only 4% of the funds have gone towards economic empowerment.
Under an expanded definition, it could be argued that education
and other kinds of welfare projects do fall under the rubric of
development. However, there is extensive documentation available,
that establishes beyond all reasonable doubt, that “tribal
education” in the language of Hindutva are essentially aggressive
programs to wipe out adivasi culture and religions, and replace
them with a Vedic upper caste version of Hinduism on the one hand,
and shuddhi (purification) and reconversion programs on the other[39].
Two detailed notes on the Sangh’s operations in Tribal Areas
and the Sangh’s Educational Principles are included in this
report as Appendices F and
G.
Thus, the most liberal estimate of IDRF's funds
that go towards “development” would be a meager 16%
(economic programs and health and welfare activity) and a large
part – 80% or more goes towards activity that is essentially
sectarian.
4.4 IDRF: Funding
Violent Organizations?
Though the IDRF has been in operation for over a decade in the
US, it is only over the last five years, that adequate documentation
about its activities has emerged, that makes visible IDRF’s
funding of organizations clearly implicated in violence against
minorities in India.
4.4.1: Anti-Christian Violence in Gujarat,
1998-2000
The period from 1998 to 2000 saw a spate of anti-Christian violence
in the tribal belts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Orissa. For instance, a Human Rights Watch report of 1999 states
the following:
Attacks against Christians throughout the country have increased
significantly since the BJP began its rule at the center in March
1998. They include the killings of priests, the raping of nuns,
and the physical destruction of Christian institutions, schools,
churches, colleges, and cemeteries. Thousands of Christians have
also been forced to convert to Hinduism.[40]
A US State Department Report on International
Religious Freedom describes the following incident in Gujarat
to illustrate the violent threats and religious conversion processes
in India:
On January 27, 1999, 12 Christian villagers
were “reconverted” forcibly to Hinduism under threat
of the loss of the right to use the local well and the destruction
of their homes. The “reconversion” was carried out
by youths working with Swami Ashim Anand, a
Hindu active in “reconverting” tribals in the area.
However, the villagers stated that prior to becoming Christians
they had not been Hindu. [41]
4.4.1.1 Swami Ashim Anand
In Gujarat, the laying of infrastructure for
this conversion violence is attributed to Swami Ashim Anand (variously
called Swami Aseemanand or Asheemanand). For the two years (1998,
1999) that he was active in the Dangs district in Gujarat, not only
did the Swami conduct forcible re-conversions of tribals to Hinduism,
he also spread terror amongst the local Christians by organizing
large-scale, aggressively militant Hindu rallies on Christmas eve
and Good Friday in tribal villages with significant Christian populations.
[42]
- Swami Ashim Anand is documented by Sangh
activists as part of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram in Gujarat. Ashwin
Modi, the President of the Surat unit of the Bajrang Dal, identifies
the Swami as part of the “Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad, an
organization affiliated to the VHP.” [43]
- Further documentation for the same comes
via a story in Indian Express, a mainstream newspaper in India,
which identifies Swami Ashim Anand as “the national president”
of the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad and reports the Swami’s recent
presence in the Dangs as follows:
After coming to Waghai a couple of years ago, the Swami had
spearheaded the formation of Bajrang Dal units in every village.
The recent violence against the Christian community was reportedly
led by activists groomed by the Swami. [44]
4.4.1.2 The Link to the IDRF
The linking of Swami Ashim Anand with the
Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad and his mandate as the creation of the
Bajrang Dal units in the tribal villages of Gujarat, provides
a critcal link to the IDRF. Chetan Gandhi, one of the Vice Presidents
of IDRF, writes in a report on his visit to Gujarat and to the
ashram at Waghai as follows:
Swami Ashimanandji is in charge of the
Ashram’s activities in this district… though is
as some (sic) only before 18 months he is well known as respected
by the community. [45]
Further, it is not difficult to explain the
presence of an IDRF vice president in Gujarat and his reporting
on the activities of the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad in Waghai. The
Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad is a direct beneficiary of the IDRF. It
is listed under the title “IDRF Supported Projects in Gujarat.”
[46]
4.4.2: Tribal
Participation in the Gujarat Genocide, 2002
The anti-Muslim pogroms that took place in the state of Gujarat
this year had a surprise element in them—the active participation
of the adivasis in the violence against the Muslims. Several commentators
have noted the role played by Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad and the
Vivekananda Kendra (both funded by the IDRF) in actively communalizing
the tribal mind, and creating the anti-Muslim ethos[47].
An affiliate organization, the Vanavasi Seva Sangh, has also been
identified as an active participant in the anti-Muslim, anti-Christian
indoctrination of tribals. [48]
4.4.3: Spreading Hate in Other States
Such cases of the IDRF funding of organizations
directly implicated in the violence is not restricted to Gujarat
alone. Documentation exists also for a similar role played by
the IDRF in supporting organizations such as Sewa Bharati, Ekal
Vidyalays and the VKA implicated in violence against Christians
in Madhya Pradesh[49].
The implication of Sewa Bharati, Madhya Pradesh in anti-Christian
violence has been recognized by the local State government, which
has taken an extreme step of revoking the license of Sewa Bharati,
an the IDRF funded organization, because of its part in spreading
anti-minority violence[50].
Similarly, activists with the Vanavasi Kalyan Parishad in Kotda
(also directly supported by the IDRF[51])
led a campaign of terror against the Muslim families in the Juda
village, leading to their large-scale migration to neighboring
villages[52].
In summary at all levels, the IDRF’s
implication in sectarian work, including support for organizations
of the Sangh that are directly implicated in violent actions over
the last four years, is well documented. The documentation presented
leads us to a simple and single conclusion – the IDRF does
fund hate.
36. See Appendix
H, consolidated spread-sheet of the IDRF grants from 1994 to
2001. Source: Annual
Reports from the IDRF web-site.
37. These
numbers are our approximations based on inexact information about
all the grantees. See Appendix H, consolidated spread-sheet of the
IDRF grants from 1994-2001. Source: Annual
Reports of IDRF
38. A
NRI’s Quest For Serving The Underprivileged, by Dr. Vinod
Prakash
39. For
example, Bharat Kalyan Pratisthan, which received over $86,000 in
the IDRF funding for ‘tribal welfare’ has been specially
designated by the VHP to receive money for Shuddhi ceremonies for
Dalits and Tribals, “to neutralise the Conversion Crisis that
is presently threatening to swallow up the Hindu Society”
and also “to re-establish the spiritual & moral glory
of Hinduism,” according to the Hindutva ideologue SP Attri
http://www.hinduweb.org/home/general_sites/essays/proshuddhi.html
40. Anti-Christian
violence on the rise in India: New Report details politics behind
extremist Hindu attacks Press Release by the HRW Full Report
at POLITICS
BY OTHER MEANS: Attacks Against Christians in India HRW Report,
September 1999
41. U.S.
Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom
for 1999: India Released by the Bureau for Democracy, Human
Rights, and Labor, Washington, DC, September 9, 1999
42. Trouble
anticipated in Dangs village after Swami's return, Indian Express,
April 3, 1999 and Halmodi
tense as HJM gears up for shilanyas, Basant Rawat, Indian Express,
December 22, 1999
43. Christian
tribals beaten up, ostracised in Gujarat village, Basant Rawat,
Indian Express, December 4, 1998
44. Controversial
Swami does a disappearing act, Indian Express, February 4, 1999
45. http://www.idrf.org/news/vanvasi/
46. http://www.idrf.org/seva_proj/gujarat.html
47. Tribals
made cannon fodder in Gujarat's communal war, by Chandrakant
Naidu, Hindustan Times, May 6 2002,
48. Poisoned
Edge: The Sangh exploits Dalit and tribal frustration to recruit
soldiers for Hindutva's 'war,'
Davinder Kumar, Outlook June 24, 2002.
49. Sewa Bharati
and Ekal Vidyalays organized the Hindu Sangam in the tribal belt
in Madhya Pradesh earlier this year. A report from Sewa Bharati
is available at http://www.hvk.org/articles/0102/98.html.
The aggressively anti-Christian flavor of the meet, and the concomitant
tensions it created are described in RSS
temples for tribals spell trouble for Digvijay, Yogesh Vajpeyi,
Indian Express, January 7th 2002 . For Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram’s
role, see Appendix F.
50. RSS
outfit stripped of its licence in MP, Yogesh Vajpeyi, Indian
Express, February 28th, 2002
51. The IDRF lists
Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. Kotda in its “Statewise Listing of
Sewa Programs” http://www.idrf.org/seva_proj1/IDRF_PAG/RAJASTH/Rajind.htm
52. VHP offshoot
behind reign of terror, Mohammed Iqbal http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/11/13/stories/02130005.htm
|