SACW | Dec. 22-23, 2007 / Nepal Ruling / Rights in Pakistan / India: The Vanishing by Taslima Nasreen
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Sat Dec 22 19:41:18 CST 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | December 22-23, 2007 |
Dispatch No. 2479 - Year 10 running
[1] Nepal court rules on gay rights (BBC)
[2] Pakistan:
(i) Pakistan's future imperfect (Ali Dayan Hasan)
(ii) Human Rights Groups Call on US to Stand Up
for Pakistani Judges and Media Freedom
[3] India: What Secularism, when the state caves
in to fundamentalists attack on freedom of
Artistic Expression ?
(i) The Vanishing (Taslima Nasreen)
(ii) Let Her Be (Editorial, Times of India)
(iii) Kolkata rallies for Taslima Nasreen
(iv) Intellectuals, rights activists to walk for Taslima
(v) Writers angry, demand Taslima be set free
(vi) India: Bajrang Dal threat forces IIC to suspend MF Hussain show
(vii) Husain show on, Bajrang or no
[4] India: Will Gujarat Again Vote for the Fascists or Will It Break Free ?
(i) Culmination of Eight Month's of Save
Democracy Campaign in Gujarat (Shabnam Hashmi)
(ii) How To Elect A Fascism (Sankarshan Thakur)
[5] India - Human Rights in Chhattisgarh: A Doctored Case (Saikat Datta)
[6] Announcements:
National Convention of Coalition for Nuclear
disarmament and Peace (Nagpur, 1-3 February 2008)
______
[1]
BBC News
21 December 2007, 18:03 GMT
NEPAL COURT RULES ON GAY RIGHTS
Nepal's sexual minorities have long complained of discrimination
Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the government
to scrap laws that discriminate against
homosexuals.
The court ordered that sexual minorities should
be guaranteed the same rights as other citizens.
Campaigners said the ruling was a "huge victory".
Homosexuality is frowned upon in conservative
South Asia.
Nepalese laws do not explicitly criminalise
homosexuality, but an "unnatural sex act"
currently carries a prison term of up to a year.
Human rights campaigners say the provision has
been used to justify arrests of men who have sex
with men and transgender people.
'Encouraging'
Gay men and women and members of other sexual
minorities have long complained of discrimination
in Nepal.
In their ruling, two Supreme Court judges said:
"The government of Nepal should formulate new
laws and amend existing laws in order to
safeguard the rights of these people.
"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex
are natural persons irrespective of their
masculine and feminine gender and they have the
right to exercise their rights and live an
independent life in society."
Activists said it was a landmark ruling.
"It's a very encouraging and progressive
decision. We all feel we are liberated today,"
Sunil Babu Pant, the president of the Blue
Diamond Society which campaigns for Nepal's
sexual minorities, told the AFP news agency.
"There were no specific laws to protect the
rights of sexual minorities but the Supreme
Court's decision has opened the doors to enjoy
our rights."
Mr Pant said education, citizenship papers and
jobs could now be given to people without them
having to identify themselves as male or female,
or giving their gender as "third sex".
There was no immediate response from the government to Friday's ruling.
______
[2] Democratic Rights in Post emergency Pakistan
[updates and analysis at : emergency2007.blogspot.com]
(i)
The Guardian
December 21, 2007
PAKISTAN'S FUTURE IMPERFECT
by Ali Dayan Hasan
While Britain and the US refuse to challenge
Musharraf's rule, the media remains muzzled and
free elections are nowhere in sight
Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan and
serial coup-maker, kept his "promise" to the
west, lifting on December 15 the state of
emergency he imposed on November 3, resigning
from his position as army chief and calling
parliamentary elections for January 8 next year.
The international media that had descended on
Islamabad in droves has largely gone home and the
crisis is over. London and Washington are
congratulating themselves on a job well done:
Musharraf is now a "civilian president", the
constitution stands "restored", and full
democracy is around the corner.
If only. The fact is that Musharraf's election is
widely regarded as illegal and the country
remains effectively under military rule, the
"restored" constitution is fundamentally
different to the one overthrown, transformed by
presidential decree into an instrument of
coercion rather than a document upholding
fundamental rights; the media remains muzzled and
free elections are nowhere in sight.
Musharraf used the emergency to mount a frontal
assault on the judiciary, the legal profession
and civil society in order to secure his
continued rule. While the active phase of the
crackdown on lawyers may have passed, Musharraf
has used it to insulate all of the repressive
measures he enacted under cover of the emergency
so they remain the law of the land today. And the
lawyers and judges, though still defiant,
continue to face arbitrary arrest and
imprisonment by a hostile government and the
military establishment.
Musharraf's biggest backers, the United States
and United Kingdom, both issued formulaic
statements urging Musharraf to end the state of
emergency prior to December 15 and repeatedly
emphasised free and fair elections as the way out
of the crisis. However, to date, there has been
no action from Downing Street or the White House
to match these words in terms of sanctions or the
withholding of aid, and these countries continue
to prop up Musharraf with substantial military
and financial assistance.
The UK has reiterated its support to Musharraf in
the aftermath of the crackdown. Addressing a
meeting of Pakistani students in Islamabad on
December 6, the British high commissioner to
Pakistan, Robert Brinkley, said that Britain had
chosen not to press Pakistan to restore the
deposed judges because "the clock cannot be
turned back; we have to move forward".
The Bush administration has provided even
stronger political support for Musharraf. The US
has notably failed to press strongly for human
rights improvements in the country, a return to
the constitution as it stood on November 3, 2007
or the release and restoration of ousted supreme
court chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry
and other judges. On December 16, when asked if
there should be a reinstatement of the ousted
judges, US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice,
responded that the US supported the idea of an
independent judiciary in Pakistan" but added that
the January 8 elections would herald a "different
and new day" in Pakistan and the issue of the
judiciary would be "resolved" in that "context".
Rice's notion that elections will cure the
Musharraf government's broad attack on democratic
institutions such as the judiciary is mistaken.
Free and fair elections and a genuine
transformation to a parliamentary government are
unlikely so long as the judiciary cannot function
as an independent branch and laws remain on the
books that allow Musharraf to manipulate the
political environment on whim.
In a country with a long and well-documented
history of election rigging by a partisan
military, the emergence of an independent
judiciary provided the best hope for a free and
fair election. A military-backed ruler who found
himself unable to cohabit with such a judiciary,
and dispensed with the constitution in order to
get rid of it, is unlikely to preside over an
electoral exercise that, in all likelihood, would
bring his political opponents to power. Nor is a
meaningful democracy viable without lawyers able
to operate freely within an equitable legal
system.
Genuine election campaigns are impossible when
the media remains muzzled, leaders of the
lawyers' movement - the most potent symbols of
political opposition to the government - remain
under arrest, and when the legitimate judiciary
of the country has been deposed and replaced by
handpicked supporters of the government.
The US and the UK are muting their criticism on
the grounds that Pakistan's central role in the
US-led "war on terror" makes Musharraf an
indispensable ally. This policy is as dangerous
as it is flawed. It seeks to appease the power
ambitions of the Pakistani military at the
expense of much of Pakistani society, most
notably those tens of millions who share the
values of respect for human rights and the rule
of law that the west espouses.
Terrorism is a grave threat facing Pakistan, as
Musharraf pointed out on November 3, while
suspending the constitution. But the Pakistani
government's efforts to combat terrorism are
doomed to fail when the government is focused on
detaining and harassing judges and lawyers and
destroying the rule of law.
If influential actors such as the US and UK are
genuinely interested in fostering democracy and
human rights in Pakistan, or in Pakistan's
political future and stability, they should focus
on restoring the judiciary and lawyers to their
status prior to November 3.
o o o
(ii)
Human Rights First
For Immediate Release: December 21, 2007
Krista Minteer (212) 845-5207
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS CALL ON BUSH ADMINISTRATION
TO STAND UP FOR PAKISTANI JUDGES AND MEDIA FREEDOM
NEW YORK- Today Human Rights First joined with 11
other leading human rights organizations in a
letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In
the letter, the groups expressed deep concern
that the Bush Administration has not called
unequivocally for President Pervez Musharraf to
reinstate dismissed judges and lift restrictions
on the media. The formal end of martial law on
December 15 did not implement these crucial
measures. The groups met with Secretary Rice on
December 10 to discuss Pakistan, among other
topics.
"The Bush administration must acknowledge that
the crisis in Pakistan did not end with the
lifting of martial law and announcement of
elections," said letter signatory Maureen Byrnes,
the executive director of Human Rights First.
Byrnes traveled to Pakistan last week, meeting
with lawyers, judges, human rights activists, and
government ministers.
The letter, the full text of which follows below,
reads in part: "The removal of independent-minded
judges has rendered free and fair elections
impossible, while strict curbs on media further
impede accurate reporting on the political and
electoral processes. It does not make sense to
call for free and fair elections without
addressing these concerns."
On December 15, Musharraf formally lifted martial
law. However, Musharraf also permanently replaced
the dismissed judges and barred judicial review
of his actions. Other orders and amendments
imposed under martial law remain in effect,
allowing for military trials of civilians and
imposing prison sentences and fines for media
criticism of government officials. An unknown
number of judges and lawyers also remain in
detention or under house arrest.
The signatories to the letter were Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights
First, Freedom House, The Carter Center, Global
Rights, International Justice Mission,
International League for Human Rights, Physicians
for Human Rights, the Jacob Blaustein Institute
for the Advancement of Human Rights, Minnesota
Advocates for Human Rights, and the Robert F
Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.
______
[3] INDIA: WHAT SECULARISM, WHEN THE STATE CAVES
IN TO FUNDAMENTALISTS ATTACK ON FREEDOM OF
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION ?
A Secular State Must Guarantee protection to
artists : Stand up for Taslima Nasreen, MF
Hussain and all others under attack in India.
(i)
THE VANISHING
by Taslima Nasreen
(Publication Source: www.drishtipat.org/blog/2007/12/22/vanishing /)
Where am I? I am certain no one will believe me
if I say I have no answer to this apparently
straightforward question. They may believe what
they wish, but the truth is I just do not know. I
don't even know how I am. Sometimes I even appear
to forget my own existence. I am like the living
dead: benumbed; robbed of the pleasure of
existence and experience; unable to move beyond
the claustrophobic confines of my room. Day and
night, night and day. Death becomes an intimate.
We embrace. Yes, this is how I have been
surviving.
This did not begin the other day when I was
bundled out of Kolkata. This has been going on
for a while. It is like a slow and lingering
death, like sipping delicately from a cupful of
slow-acting poison that is gradually killing all
my faculties. This is a conspiracy to murder my
essence, my being, once so courageous, so brave,
so dynamic, so playful. I realize what is going
on around me but am utterly helpless, despite my
best efforts, to wage a battle on my own behalf.
I am merely a disembodied voice. Those who once
stood by me have disappeared into the darkness.
I ask myself: what heinous crime have I
committed? Why am I here, in this singularly
unenviable position? What sort of life is this
where I can neither cross my own threshold nor
know the joys of human company. What crime have I
committed that I have to spend my life hidden
away, relegated to the shadows? For what crimes
am I being punished by this society, this land,
this world? I wrote of my beliefs and my
convictions. I used words, not violence, to
express my ideas. I did not take recourse to
pelting stones or bloodshed to make my point.
Yet, I am considered a criminal. I am being
persecuted because it was felt that the right of
others to express their opinions was more
legitimate than mine. To disobey the powers that
be is to court public crucifixion. Yes, I am a
victim of this new crucifixion: is the nation not
a witness to my suffering? Does the nation not
witness my immense suffering, the death of my
hopes, aspirations, and desires?
Does the nation not realize how immense the
suffering must be for an individual to renounce
her most deeply held beliefs? How humiliated,
frightened, and insecure I must have been to
allow my words to be censored. Only the
expurgation of what they considered offensive
satisfied them. If I had not agreed to their
grotesque bowdlerization, I would have been
hounded and pursued till I dropped dead. Their
politics, their faith, their barbarism, and their
diabolical purposes are all intent on sucking the
lifeblood out of me. They will continue till they
have bled me dry, expurgated these words, and
removed these truths which are so difficult for
them to stomach. Words are harmless, truth
defenceless and devoid of arms. Truth has always
been vanquished by the force of might. How can I
- a powerless and unprotected individual - battle
brute force? Come what may, though, I cannot take
recourse to untruth.
What have I to offer but love and compassion? I
have never wished ill of anybody. Call me
romantic but I dream of a world of harmonious
coexistence free from the shackles of hatred and
strife. In the way that they used hatred to rip
out my words, I would like to use compassion and
love to rip the hatred out of them. Certainly, I
am enough of a realist to acknowledge that
strife, hatred, cruelty, and barbarism are
integral elements of the human condition. This
will not change; such is the way of the world. I
am an utterly insignificant creature: how can I
change all this? Even if I were to be eradicated
or exterminated it would not matter one whit to
the world at large. I know all this. Yet, I had
imagined Bengal would be different. I had thought
the madness of her people was temporary. I had
thought that the Bengal I loved so passionately
would never forsake me.
She did.
Exiled from Bangladesh, I wandered around the
world for many years like a lost orphan. The
moment I was given shelter in West Bengal it felt
as though all those years of numbing tiredness
just melted away. I was able to resume a normal
life in a beloved and familiar land. So long as I
survive, I will carry within me the vistas of
Bengal, her sunshine, her wet earth, her very
essence. The same Bengal whose sanctuary I once
walked a million blood-soaked miles to reach has
now turned its back upon me. I find it hard to
believe that I am no longer wanted in Bengal. I
am a Bengali within and without; I live, breathe,
and dream in Bengali but, bizarrely, Bengal
offers me no refuge
I am a guest in this land, I must be careful of
what I say. I must do nothing which violates the
code of hospitality. I did not come here to hurt
anyone's sentiments or feelings. Arguably, I came
here to be hurt. Wounded and hurt in my own
country, I suffered slights and injuries in many
lands before I reached India, where I knew I
would be hurt yet again.
This is, after all, a democratic and secular land
where the politics of the vote bank implies that
being secular is equated with being pro-Muslim
fundamentalists. I do not wish to believe all
this. I do not wish to hear all this. Yet, all
around me I read, hear, and see evidence of this.
I sometimes wish I could be like those mythical
monkeys, oblivious of all that is going on around
me. Death who visits me in many forms now feels
like a friend. I feel like talking to him,
unburdening myself to him. You must realize I
have no one to speak to, no one to unburden
myself to.
I have lost my beloved Bengal. The Bengal I
cherished, whose land, smells and sounds, hose
very air was a part of me, is gone. I had to
leave Bengal. No child torn from its other's
breast could have suffered as much as I did
during that painful parting. Once gain, I have
lost the mother from whose womb I was born. The
pain is no less than the ay I lost my biological
mother. My mother had always wanted me to return
home. That was something I could not do. After
settling down in Kolkata, I was able to tell my
mother, ho by then was a memory within me, that I
had indeed returned home. How did it matter which
side of an artificial divide I was on? I do not
have the courage to tell my mother that my life
now is that of a nomad. How can I tell her that
those who had given me shelter saw it fit to
expel me so unceremoniously? My sensitive mother
would be shattered if I were to tell her all
this. I choose not to tell her, not even when I
am lonely and alone. Instead, I have now taken to
convincing myself that I must have transgressed
somewhere, committed some grievous error. Why
else would I be in such an unenviable situation?
Is daring to utter the truth a terrible sin in
this era of falsehood and deceit? Don't others
tell the truth? Surely they do not have to
undergo such tribulations? Why do I have to
undergo such suffering? Is it because I am a
woman? What can be easier than assailing a woman?
I know I have not been condemned by the masses.
If their opinion had been sought, I am certain
the majority would have wanted me to stay on in
Bengal. But when has a democracy reflected the
voice of the masses? A democracy is run by those
who hold the reins of power who do exactly what
they think fit. An insignificant individual, I
must now live life on my own terms and write
about what I believe in and hold dear. It is not
my desire to harm, malign, or deceive. I do not
lie. I try not to be offensive. I am but a simple
writer who neither knows nor understands the
dynamics of politics. The way in which I was
turned into a political pawn, however, and
treated at the hands of base politicians, beggars
belief. For what end you may well ask. A few
measly votes. It is I who have suffered; I am the
only victim of this great tragedy. The force of
fundamentalism, which I have opposed and fought
for very many years, has only been strengthened
by my tragic defeat.
This is my beloved India, where I have been
living and writing on secular humanism, human
rights, and emancipation of women. This is also
the land where I have had to suffer and pay the
price for my most deeply held and fundamental
convictions, where not a single political party
of any persuasion has spoken out in my favour,
where no non-governmental organization, women's
rights' or human rights' group, has stood by me
or condemned the vicious attacks launched upon
me. This India is not known to me . Yes, it s
true that individuals in a scattered, unorganized
manner are fighting for my cause and journalists,
writers, and intellectuals have spoken out in my
favour. I do not know whether hey are familiar
with my work or not, indeed if they have even
read a single word I have penned. Yet, I am
grateful for their opinions and support.
Wherever individuals gather in groups, they seem
to lose their power to speak out. Frankly, this
facet of the new India terrifies me. Then again,
is this a new India, or even a facet of a new
India; or is it the true face of the nation? I do
not know. Since my earliest childhood I have
regarded India as a great land and a fearless
nation. The land of my dreams: enlightened,
strong, progressive, and tolerant. I wish to live
to be proud of that India. I will die a happy
person the day I know India has forsaken darkness
for light, bigotry for tolerance. I await that
day. I do not know whether I will survive, but
India and what she stands for has to survive,
must be allowed to survive.
18 December
Delhi
o o o
(ii)
The Times of India
22 December 2007
EDITORIAL: LET HER BE
In response to demands from a few religious
fundamentalists, India's democratic and secular
government has placed a writer of international
repute under virtual house arrest. Shorn of all
cant, that is what the Centre's treatment of
Taslima Nasreen amounts to. She was forced into
exile from her native Bangladesh because of the
books she had written. Now it looks as if the UPA
government is about to repeat the same gesture by
placing intolerable restrictions on her stay in
India.
She is living under guard in an undisclosed
location. She will not be allowed to come out in
public or meet people, including her friends.
Without quite saying so, the government is
clearly sending her a message that she isn't
welcome in India and ought to leave. Earlier, she
was turfed out of West Bengal by the state
government. It's not quite clear who's ahead in
the competition to pander to fundamentalist
opinion, the Centre or the West Bengal
government. Earlier, Left Front chairman Biman
Bose had said that Taslima should leave Kolkata
if her stay disturbed the peace, but had to
retract the statement later. Now external affairs
minister Pranab Mukherjee echoes Bose by asking
whether it is "desirable" to keep her in Kolkata
if that "amounts to killing 10 people". In other
words, if somebody says or writes something and
somebody else gets sufficiently provoked to kill
10 people, then it is not the killer's but the
writer's fault.
That is an astounding statement for the foreign
minister of a liberal democratic state to make.
The Greek philosopher Plato thought that artists
were dangerous people and exiled them from his
ideal Republic. But such views can hardly be
reconciled with modern democracy, which survives
on tolerance. Demo-cracy also accords a valuable
place to the arts, where boundaries are pushed
and new thinking becomes possible. Taslima's
views on women's rights may seem threatening from
the point of view of patriarchal codes governing
society. That would explain why the animus
towards her is not confined to Muslim
conservatives, but includes Congress and Left
luminaries.
The ministry of external affairs must think
through the implications of what it is doing. If
it forces Taslima out of the country, India will
be placed on the same platform as Bangladesh,
which is close to becoming a failed state. At a
time when India's image is ascendant in world
affairs the official guardians of that image must
not act like weaklings who cave in to every
illiberal or fundamentalist threat to this
republic's constitutional values.
o o o
(iii)
The Times of India
22 December 2007
KOLKATA RALLIES FOR TASLIMA NASREEN
KOLKATA: Leading intellectuals on Saturday walked
in a silent procession here demanding government
grant Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen Indian
citizenship and allow her to live in a place of
her choice.
Starting from Academy of Fine Arts, the
processionists, led by Magsaysay-winning writer
and social worker Mahasweta Devi, walked for
about two kilometre along the downtown
Chowringhee Road before congregating at the
Esplanade.
Others who participated in the procession
included theatre personalities Bibhas
Chakraborty, Shaonli Mitra and Kaushik Sen and
painter Shuvaprasanna, besides a number of human
rights activists.
Accusing the Centre of towing CPM's line by
keeping Taslima out of Kolkata, Mahasweta Devi
said "without CPM, Congress will cease to exist.
Therefore, it has to support the CPM blindly."
Following violent protests in the city by a
little known Muslim group which demanded her
deportation from the country, Taslima was whisked
out of the city last month to Rajasthan and from
there to an undisclosed location in Delhi.
o o o
The Hindu - December 22, 2007 : 1430 Hrs
INTELLECTUALS, RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO WALK FOR TASLIMA
Kolkata (PTI): In a civil society initiative in
support of controversial Bangladeshi writer
Taslima Nasreen, eminent intellectuals will join
human rights activists in a procession here today
demanding that she be allowed to stay at a place
of her choice in the country.
Noted actor-director Aparna Sen, artist
Shuvaprassana, theatre personalities Bibhas
Chakraborty and Shaonli Mitra and economist Amlan
Dutta will walk in the procession, according to
Ruby Mukherjee, a human rights activist and an
organiser of the rally.
"There is no political party involved in this
rally. This is a purely civil society
initiative," she said.
Stating that the procession would be a silent
one, she said the participants would, however,
carry posters and banners demanding freedom of
movement for Nasreen.
"Our protest would basically be against the
inhuman treatment to Taslima Nasreen by both the
West Bengal government and the Centre. We want
that she be allowed to stay at any place in India
that she chooses to," Mukherjee said.
On October 20, Nasreen told PTI that she had been
informed by government officials that she will
not be allowed to return to Kolkata for now.
Hinting that her movements at her place of stay
were restricted, she said "I want to lead a
normal life again."
"I told the government officials that I be
allowed to lead a normal life at least in Delhi,"
she said.
Yesterday, External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee said Nasreen should talk to officials
of the ministry if she faced problems.
o o o
(v)
WRITERS ANGRY, DEMAND TASLIMA BE SET FREE
22 Dec 2007
New Delhi, Dec 22 - Artists and writers in the
capital, sharing the anguish of beleaguered
Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, have
expressed outrage at the treatment meted out to
her by the government and demanded she be allowed
to live in place of her choice.
Author : IANS
New Delhi, Dec 22 - Artists and writers in the
capital, sharing the anguish of beleaguered
Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, have
expressed outrage at the treatment meted out to
her by the government and demanded she be allowed
to live in place of her choice.
'The entire writing and creative community is
deeply outraged by the treatment given to her,'
Ashok Vajpeyi, poet, cultural critic and former
vice-chancellor of the Indira Gandhi
International Hindi University, told IANS.
'How can we restrict a person's movement? We are
doing it just because a few people have some
objections to her writing. This is a free and
democratic country. We have given her asylum.
This is not the way to treat a writer in asylum
by putting restrictions on her,' he added.
The 45-year-old writer has been on the run since
November when she was forced to leave Kolkata
following violent protests by radical Muslims
demanding her ouster from India.
Finding it difficult to finish the sixth part of
her autobiography 'Nei, Kichu Nei' (There is
Nothing), which was to be released during the
Kolkata Book Fair in January, Nasreen said, 'I
would not say that I am under house-arrest. But
it is a terrible, lonely existence. And how do
you expect an author to write under these
circumstances?'
She expressed her anguish after the Indian
government restricted her movements and refused
her entry into Kolkata where she wants to live.
Voicing his anger, Sumit Chakravartty, editor of
Mainstream, said, 'The Left Front government is
duty bound to protect her. She could have lived
in any western country, but she wanted to be in
Kolkata because its ambience is similar to
Bangladesh. Why we are pandering to some
fundamentalists?'
Professor of English in Delhi University and
well-known Sufi singer Madan Gopal Singh said: 'I
am opposed to this idea of imposing stringent
restrictions like this. It is almost like
incarceration. Artists are sensitive people. They
need freedom. There is something called freedom
of expression.'
'In any case, the hallmark of a democracy is the
way it treats its artists, especially its women
artists. The government should be more sensitive
on such issues,' he said.
He feared her leading a 'lonely existence' could
result in emotional and psychological problems
for her.
'In a situation where she cannot move (about) and
is under complete scrutiny, it's indeed difficult
to write,' he said.
Renowned theatre director Bhanu Bharti found it
'totally absurd' that in a democracy a person was
being prosecuted for expressing her views.
o o o
(vi)
The Times of India
BAJRANG DAL THREAT FORCES IIC TO SUSPEND HUSSAIN SHOW
22 Dec 2007, 1818 hrs IST, PTI
An exhibition of acclaimed painter M F Hussain,
whose allegedly obscene portrayal of Hindu
Goddesses had invited the wrath of Sangh Parivar,
ran into rough weather in the national capital on
Saturday after organisers received a threat
purportedly from Bajrang Dal.
The India International Centre, where Hussain's
'Mughal India' painting series are on display,
suspended the exhibition for Saturday after it
received the threats from Bajrang Dal, sources
said.
The IIC had received the Bajrang Dal threat which
said it has to face "serious consequences" if the
capital's high-profile cultural organisation
continued to exhibit the works of the
controversial artist, they said.
A group of youth, claiming to be members of the
Hindutva outfit, went to the IIC and threatened
the officials that they would have to face
consequences if they continue with the hosting of
this show, sources added.
Bajrang Dal Delhi unit president Ashok Kapur
claimed the outfit's youth had gone to the venue
to enquire about the exhibition and had told the
exhibitors that Hussain had insulted India's
culture and his works should not be displayed
here.
A decision whether to restart the exhibition,
which contains 20 paintings permanently displayed
at Fida Museum in London, will be taken at a
meeting of the IIC Directors later.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Bajrang_Dal_threat_forces_IIC_to_suspend_Hussain_show/articleshow/2643436.cms
o o o
(vii)
The Telegraph
23 December 2007
HUSAIN SHOW ON, BAJRANG OR NO
Our Correspondent
New Delhi, Dec. 22: The India International
Centre, the capital's elite intellectual club,
has decided to go ahead with an exhibition of
paintings by M.F. Husain despite threats by
Bajrang Dal activists.
The exhibition was, however, "suspended" for a
day today after the club received "a large number
of threatening calls" from Delhi, Mumbai and Pune
yesterday.
A statement issued by the club said the decision
was taken "pending" adequate security
arrangements.
"It was decided that a discussion should take
place between management and the sponsors and a
review be conducted on the adequacy of security
arrangements," a club official said.
Sources in the club, which had been receiving
"threatening messages and letters" for several
days, said four unidentified persons had
apparently barged into the office of the
secretary on Thursday and threatened him.
Dolly Narang, the co-sponsor of the exhibition
which opened on Tuesday, also received threat
calls, the sources added.
Delhi Bajrang chief Ashok Kapur said he was
unaware of the contents of the exhibition titled
India in the era of the Mughals but made it clear
he did not want anything of Husain to be
displayed till the artist apologised for his nude
portrayal of Hindu gods and goddesses.
"He has insulted our gods and goddesses," he added.
Kapur said he told his "boys to find out what was
happening" when he heard about a Husain
exhibition at the IIC.
"We called police and told them there would be
trouble if they didn't stop the exhibition," he
said. "Even if I had not instructed them (Bajrang
activists), they would have gone ahead," he said
with evident pride.
But the club has decided to go ahead with the
exhibition with enhanced security.
"Attempts were made by the management to contact
Narang, but she couldn't be reached in the
morning," a club official said.
By afternoon, however, the management got in
touch with Narang, who expressed her desire to
continue the show.
______
[4]
(i)
www.anhadin.net
Ten Days in Modi's Constituency
CULMINATION OF EIGHT MONTH'S OF SAVE DEMOCRACY CAMPAIGN IN GUJARAT
by Shabnam Hashmi December 22, 2007
In December 2006 a colleague of mine and I
started a journey from the Dangs in South Gujarat
and traveled to Kutch covering on the way almost
all the districts. The mission was simple: to
meet civil society groups and friends and ask
them to join hands to defeat the communal forces
in the coming elections. Many of whom we met
thought we were crazy and Modi was invincible and
the opposition too weak. Many of these were old
Gandhians, who felt absolutely betrayed by the
only alternative that existed in the state and
felt dismayed at the communalization of the
opposition itself.
Our intention initially was to put up a
resistance at the ground level irrespective of
what the opposition looked like. For us it was
clear that the results were very crucial and they
will have an impact on the future politics of
this country.
During the eight long months that the Anhad team
of young volunteers worked round the clock, the
most interesting and challenging were the last
ten days in Modi's own constituency.
Anhad during its almost a year long 'Save
Democracy Campaign' covered 630 villages ( Three
Youth Aman Karwans traveled across 25 districts
covering 4-5 villages everyday, performing,
singing, holding public meetings, screening films
and distributing leaflets exposing the myth of
Vibrant Gujarat, one lakh copies of the preamble
of the Indian constitution were distributed ,
thousands of people signed the pledge to uphold
the values of the constitution), organized three
major Youth Conventions attended by thousands of
young people, the process involved selection of
delegates through a debate competition, then
training the selected ones into public speech and
sensitizing them to all basic political and
social issues, Anhad organized the first public
screening of Parzania, organized innumerable
demonstrations, seminars, workshops in various
parts of Gujarat, produced innumerable kinds of
leaflets dealing with issues of democracy and
exposing the myth of Developed Gujarat, various
posters, organized various music concerts and
cultural evenings, culminating the Gujarat level
programme with a motorcycle rally by 25 youth
covering 22 district headquarters addressing
media conferences and holding rallies and
distributing leaflets. All these efforts were
supported by over 20 Gujarat based organizations,
networks and fellow activists and friends.
We conducted a small survey on December 1 and 2nd
in Maninagar, Modi's constituency and the
immediate response was to move into the
constituency for the last 10 days of the campaign.
The decision was not easy because even though the
earlier campaigns were also not risk free (and
during these campaigns the activists were
attacked in three different locations) but for
the Maninagar campaign I wanted everyone's
opinion and consent.
I explained to everyone that we could be
attacked, injured, arrested at any time during
these ten days. All the young Anhad activists
emboldened by the success of the campaign across
Gujarat were too enthusiastic to plunge into
action.
We immediately left for Mani Nagar-Sanjay Sharma,
Chandu Patel and I- in search of an office. I did
not want to operate from Anhad's Ahmedabad office
as it was half an away from Maninagar and we
wanted to be there all the time. After a day's
search we found an office near the Bhairav Nath
Mandir, a small shop, enough to accommodate ten
mattresses at night. Immediately computers,
tables, banners, stationary etc were shifted and
we started working for the launch of the
campaign. We decided to start our work with the
release of an appeal to women to defeat the
forces of hatred as the atmosphere of hatred had
engulfed the whole society and worst hit were
women with the crime rate going up everyday
against them. The appeal was signed by ten women
and we organized a small launch .Opened an
exhibition on the status of women, released the
appeal, Mallika Sarabhai, Ila Pathak, Sheba
George and Sofiya Khan came and spoke at the
meeting. We released a CD of peace songs sung by
children from across India. The launch was
attended by almost 500 people from around our
office and covered well in the media.
We printed one lakh copies of a special leaflet
for the citizens of Mani Nagar exposing the myth
of development. The ten days that we spent there
our young volunteers reached out to 80,000
households directly distributing the leaflet,
talking to people, sharing with them their
sorrows and conditions.
We were shocked to see the condition of Mani
Nagar. Mani Nagar has five wards: Maninagar,
Amraiwadi, Hatkeshwar, Bagh-e-Firdous and
Khokhra. Total voters in Maninagar are 3,28,000.
The conditions under which the poor live is no
different from the worst slums that the reader
might have visited. A Chief Minister who boasts
of the highest development in his state can not
provide the basic necessities of life like toilet
and water to the people of his own constituency
is shameful.
On December 8th, 2007 we decided to organize a
youth meeting and a cultural evening at Dakshini
Chawk. This place is the BJP stronghold within
Maninagar and doing a programme against Modi in
Dakshini was unheard of.
Sachin Pandya, Sanjay Sharma and I went to
Dakshini Chawk around 11.10am to instruct the
decorator and the sound engineer to start the
arrangements for the evening programme.
As we stood there waiting for the decorator a
white Maruti 800 arrived, there was a BJP scarf
tied to the mirror inside. Our few posters were
on notice boards at Dakshini Chawk and hundreds
of leaflets had been distributed for the
programme on the evening before. A man, who we
were later informed was Parag Naik, came out from
the car, very aggressively moved towards Sanjay
took a leaflet, tore it off and threw it on the
ground. I told him gently that it was easier to
tear than to join. He moved towards me menacingly
and started shouting, using extremely filthy and
abusive language and threatening to repeat what
was done to women in 2002. It was clear to us
that we had to leave immediately from the spot.
We came back in the afternoon and with the help
of friends who stood guard started the work.
While the work was on ,Sanjay and I had to go
back to office to finish some last minute
arrangements. After sometime the PI (in Gujarat
PI is like SHO of a police station) came and
asked Sachin about the programme and while he
explained the PI said:, ' agar koye lafda hua to
sabko dekh loonga'. Sachin objected and said that
we had the permission both from the Special
Branch as well as from the corporation. He
repeated,'ek ek ko band kar doonga'.
The programme went off well, a strong pro
democracy programme asking people to defeat the
forces of hatred. Mallika Sarabhai's group
performed, she spoke, Digant Oza spoke, Gauhar
Raza recited a poem, young speakers Manoj Sharma,
Manisha Trivedi, Dev Desai, Sachin Pandya spoke,
Sanjay Sharma and Keshu Bhai sang movement songs.
There was stone throwing which we overlooked.
After the programme the whole BJP gang surrounded
us, shouting and abusing, we managed to leave,
leaving all our exhibitions and banners at the
venue. The choice was between getting physically
attacked or leaving the stuff behind. Later the
decorator charged us for a number of broken and
missing chairs.
I filed a complaint against Parag Naik to the
Police Commissioner next day for the morning
incident. I asked in my complain if this can
happen to a member of the National Integration
Council , then what must be the condition of an
ordinary person, who dares to dissent?. Nothing
happened to him.
Our door to door campaign continued. Every
morning three teams of 8-10 volunteers left and
delivered the leaflets at doorsteps. In the
evening everyone together went to the major
crossings distributing a second leaflet. Late
evenings were spent in organizing small corner
meetings.
We sought permission to organize two more public
meetings on 10th and 12th. The permission was not
denied but it never came till well past the
meeting timings so that we could not hold the
meetings.
We asked for a permission to take out a rally on
13th. It was denied on the pretext that it will
disturb law and order situation in Maninagar.
On 13th we organized a corner meeting at
Hatkeshwar circle, sang secular, democratic
songs, distributed roses to people and asked ten
questions related to Mahatma Gandhi and the
freedom struggle and the winners were given the
Video CDs of Lage Raho Munnabhai. It was a great
success. We then moved to the next circle and did
a similar programme near the Khokhra circle.
While we were singing a song, suddenly Parag Naik
appeared again. Parag Naik and his BJP goons
again attacked us near Khokhra cicle- this time
manhandling one of our fellow woman activist -
they physically attacked, hit her on the chest,
twisted her arm, caught her by the neck and
threatened to tear her clothes, forcibly took
away her camera and took out the memory card,
kicked at a panel with Gandhi's photograph and a
quotation, threw away the roses which we were
distributing, use highly objectionable and
abusive language. As we tried to leave we were
surrounded in smaller groups. A media
photographer from a major English daily was
bashed up and his roll taken out.
We faxed a complaint to the Police Commissioner.
The media photographer decided not to file a
complain. I reported the matter to his paper
-well known English daily. They did not deem it
fit to report.
On 14th morning three of our young activists
Paresh Desai, Dharmendra Rathore and Sanjay Raval
were inserting leaflets in the newspapers at 3am
when they were surrounded by Parag Naik and his
goons again, BJP goons called the called police
and illegally detained all three of them,
impounded the Anhad vehicle and the leaflets.
They were released only after 13 hours. A FIR was
registered against Anhad under for illegally
distributing the leaflets!
The details of the all the attacks were faxed to
the media. We organized a Dharna on 14th at the
Police Commissioner's office and gave him a
memorandum. Parag Naik kept on moving freely and
even the day we sat on a dharna outside
commissioner's office he came and parked his car
behind our vehicle to show that he is above law.
Next morning all Gujarati newspapers reported:
'three Anhad activists were arrested for
distributing illegal leaflets and a case has been
registered against Anhad. A Delhi vehicle
belonging to the organization has also been
impounded. Anhad is a Delhi based organization
headed by Shabnam Hashmi' . (As all the activists
were Gujarati and 'Hindu' it was important for
the media to establish a non-Gujarati and a
'Muslim' connection. )
The English media refused to report. When one
paper did after I spoke to the editor it printed
the police version.
A DCP came to the office after Police
Commissioner's intervention, recorded my
statement refused to record anything beyond the
8th incident as it was not under his purview.
Nothing has moved after that.
On 16th December we again spent the day in
Maninagar. Modi reached Mani Nagar around lunch
time, perhaps first time in five years, went to
16 different localities in 4 hours asking people
to vote for him.
Today a very well respected journalist has
written an article on how even the police are not
with Modi and RSS has deserted him and poor Modi
is fighting the battle all alone. Where is he
alone? The police, the local administration, the
industrialists, the local media and even a major
chunk of the national media stand with him.
The people who are not with him are: the poor
and the marginalized; the activists, the social
reformers, artists, film makers, writers, poets,
intellectuals, people who still believe in the
dream that we saw in 1947, people who will give
their lives to save the values of the Indian
Constitution.
Those who are eulogizing Modi and not taking any
chances just in case he comes back have totally
forgotten the power of the poor, illiterate and
marginalized citizens of this country. They have
forgotten that people of India have rejected
authoritarian rule many times in this country.
Poor and the marginalized do not have to see the
development on television screens and news paper
pages, they live and experience it. According to
the latest NSS Report on "Household Borrowing and
Repayment, around 21 % of rural population in
Gujarat spend less than Rs.12 per day to survive
and around five percent population manages with
even below Rs. 9 per day.
Modi is loosing and his government is going. But
his political defeat in elections is only the
first step. The struggle to reclaim the hearts
and the minds of the people is much more
difficult. Will you join us ?
'Sabse Khatarnak Hota Hai Murda Shanti se Bhar Jana
Na Hona Tadap Ka Sab Sahan Kar Jana
Sabse Khatarnak Hota Hai Hamare Sapnon Ka Mar Jana'
o o o
(ii)
From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 4, Issue 50, Dated Dec 29, 2007
gujarat: special report
HOW TO ELECT A FASCISM
Narendra Modi has married progress to Hindutva
with a diabolical brilliance the Congress has
offered few answers to. Sankarshan Thakur reports
Face of the cult On the campaign trail in Borsad, Central Gujarat
PHOTOS: SANKARSHAN THAKUR
MR MEHTA told me a simple and quite stunning
thing: To understand Gujarat, understand
Gujaratis first, there is nothing that matters
more to them than dhando and dharma, business and
religion. Would it be in that order, Mr Mehta?
Quite, he said, what dharma are you going to do
on an empty stomach? But please understand this
carefully because a lot of you don't, Gujarat is
what Gujaratis make it, not what people like you
want it to be, don't fit our image to the
requirements of your frame.
It had begun with a casual remark on the flight
from Delhi to Vadodara, but slowly turned into a
long and blunt discourse on understanding
Gujaratis. "So you are one of those people," he
had said, with no wish to veil his sardonic tone,
"You will go to Gujarat and tell the world what a
terrible place it is, what a terrible people
Gujaratis are."
But terrible things have happened in Gujarat.
And a great many good things too, why does
everyone ignore that? We are the country's most
prosperous part, everybody is happy. Not
everybody, there are lots of people who are
terribly unhappy, they have suffered, they are
denied justice, they live oppressed.
Oh, only a small part, and that happens
everywhere, injustice is everywhere. And why do
you only always talk about them? Muslims are only
a small part of Gujarat. But they are part of
Gujarat and they live like second-class citizens.
Then they are free to leave, this is a free country, go away.
There are many others in Gujarat, why do you not
talk about them? Most people are prosperous and
happy, nobody talks of them, they are Gujaratis
too, why is nothing said about how they are, what
they think, how they want to run their lives,
what they think is right? You cannot tell us what
is right and wrong, we must judge what is right
for us.
Killing thousands of people and denying them justice cannot be right.
Of course not, I am not supporting what happened
in 2002. And I probably know more about what
happened then than TEHELKA has reported and the
likes of Teesta Setalvad scream about. But these
things happen, they happen everywhere, not just
in Gujarat, people react, political parties react
and often the reaction is violent. It happened
in your Delhi in 1984, nobody goes on and on
about it. Why do people go on and on about 2002,
as if that is the only thing that happened in
Gujarat? Many other things have happened, nobody
talks about them. Do you know we have not had a
single riot since 2002? And do you know why?
Because it was made clear to Muslims we will not
put up with nonsense any more, they were taught a
lesson and they remain reined in. Peace has been
achieved.
And at what cost?
That is not important, what is important is that
there have been no riots, what is important is
that Gujaratis are prospering and are happy.
Gujarat is not Muslims alone, Gujarat is many,
many more people. Why does nobody talk about
them? We are not man-eaters, but we are entitled
to our likes and dislikes. It is important to
learn what we think, what is right for us.
And what is right for you?
But don't you know already?
You will know soon, and you will stay say it is
wrong, that electing Narendra Modi is wrong.
Can't you see the fallacy of it all, telling the
people they are wrong, telling Gujaratis they are
wrong, they voted wrong, is that not
anti-democratic?
Hitler was elected too, and we all know what he
did. So are you telling me you agree with what
the Jewish nation is doing in the Middle-East? I
might agree with it, but do you
That's an entirely different context, history has moved.
This is a different context too, but people like
you will not understand because you don't want
to, you will impose the will of a small minority
on the majority. But why? Is that not wrong too?
Don't try to preach to Gujaratis what to do,
which way to go, they know well enough, and they
will let you know soon.
YOU DON'T ask in the cities and towns. It's a
waste of time, unless, of course, Modi worship is
music to your ears. The most diehard Congressman,
the most optimistic liberal will tell you that -
pointless asking about in the cities and towns,
barring a few pockets of Leuva Patel rebellion in
Saurashtra, they are all quite Modified.
Urban Gujarat is a partitioned demography
presided over by the smug Modi smile, architect
extraordinaire of fractures. Everywhere you go,
you see the neon-lit eruption of seething
frontiers mined with malevolence: distilled
prejudice and hatred, often bilious flashes of
anger, always displays of distrust and suspicion,
of vile and vicious myth - the first thing a
Muslim child is taught is how to slaughter a cow,
Hindus are bent and devious, that is why they
produce the best spinners. Bigotry begets
bigotry, there's little to choose between one
kind or the other. But divides have their uses,
especially at election time. Modi has reason to
wear that smug smile, on his face and on the
millions of China-made masks his propaganda
machine has blitzed the state with. He has the
greater bigotry behind him in urban Gujarat,
there's no arguing with that.
In most other states, that could be cause for
comfort to the adversary - how far can a party
with an urban base go, after all?
But in Gujarat, that Indian truism stands
upended. Close to 60 per cent of Gujarat is urban
or semi-urban today. Thirty cities with
populations in excess of one lakh, thirty other
towns that have more than 50,000 people. A city
hasn't ended when a town begins and where the
town tapers off and you are announced into a
village, you must often gape - metalled streets,
concrete housing, water, electricity, satellite
TV, drainage and, fairly routinely,
an NRI-fed stretch of ultra well-being: ATMs,
air-conditioning, food courts that offer a
vegetarian carnival. "The last few years have
been great," says Sudarshan Vyas, "Strong
leadership and good governance have given people
like me a stake in coming back and investing.
This is what we have always needed." Vyas has
come back from the United States to his
oncehumble village near Anand in central Gujarat
to vote Modi. "This place is a sea-change from
what it used to be, I can be in Ahmedabad in less
than an hour, the roads are so good, and there is
constant electricity so I can provide my old
parents all the worldly comforts they can have.
What more do you want?" Pointless querying Vyas
about Gujarat's Muslims; he'd tell you much the
same things as Mr Mehta: Modi has made Gujarat
safe and profitable for us, who cares what
happens to the rest?
"Urbanisation is happening at a brisk rate in
Gujarat," says social scientist Achyut Yagnik,
"and Modi has cleverly married the logic of
Hindutva to the interests of that notion of
prosperity to the exclusion of all else, that is
the bedrock of Modi's support base." In that
sense, Modi's appeal isn't very dissimilar to the
alchemy of nationalism and progress Nazism once
sold. Many have come to believe that Modi's hard
and heavy-handed Hindutva is the only insurance
against disruptions that would imperil dhando.
It's a belief that holds good for the big
industrialist and the small cornershop owner
alike. "I'll get to work only 20 days out of 30
if Modi is gone," says our taxi driver, "There
will be clashes and curfews every other day, we
will sit idle and lose money. Under Modi nobody
feels encouraged to disrupt life, that is what is
good about him, strong man, no nonsense
permitted."
It is a myth, of course, that Modi is the fount
of all of Gujarat's visible prosperity, but it is
a myth he has been able to sell well, it is a
myth popularly believed, it is a myth that has
become babble on the tongues of the thousands you
meet wearing Modi masks. You don't need Modi to
announce any more that his five years in power
have been better than the 45 years of the
Congress, every other person you come across will
tell you that until you begin to go numb with the
truth of the myth. "Look at the Sensex," argues a
hosiery merchant at his till in Dahod's chaotic
hub, "Would the Sensex go so high without
Narendrabhai? Think about it." Popular election-
time rhetoric has little time for analysis or
history. With those that have convinced
themselves of the Modi magic, it is pointless
arguing that Gujarat has always been a relatively
prosperous state, that Modi inherited a sound
economic base, that Gujarat is also reaping the
rewards of the buoyancy in the national economy.
And those that could have credibly challenged the
myth did not. The Congress joined the argument
too late and when it did, it did so with
unstrategised dissonance. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh arrives in Gujarat singing a song of
liberalisation and of his party's "big role" in
the well-being of Gujaratis. His partymen are
still extolling Nehruvian socialism. In the
tribal heartland of Dahod, where the Congress is
meant to be doing extremely well, party leaders
are chanting the Indira mantra. "Modi is the
party of the rich, the Congress is the party of
the poor," says Jaisingh Dangi, Congressman and
tribal sarpanch of Mota Hathidra. "The poor, they
are all with us, you will see, Indiraben had
given us the right slogans." But who remembers
Indiraben anymore, you wonder. "The old kakas all
remember Indiraben," Dangi announces
enthusiastically. But this campaign is not about
the kakas. Garibi Hatao seems no longer a
resonant cry in these parts, it's swung on Amiri
Badhao; the local grocer is playing the
satta-bazaar on his mobile.
The Congress campaign lumbers from blunder to
blunder, utterly uninspired by selfbelief. Its
tagline for the poll is a skittish response to
Modi's "Jeetega Gujarat". It reads"Chak de
Gujarat". Most of its talking points are
reactive rather than proactive and they achieve
more for Modi than for the Congress.
The latest is a poll ad with a picture of Masood
Azhar emblazoned on top, the Congress' way of
trying to embarrass Modi on the handling of the
Kandahar hijack. But that's grist to Modi's mill;
he's able to turn it around to telling effect.
"There was a time when Mahatma Gandhi's
photographs used to appear on Congress posters,
now they have Masood Azhar." The crowd is in
splits. This is Borsad in central Gujarat,
traditionally Congress territory, home to
Madhavsinh Solanki, former chief minister, and
Bharat Solanki, current state Congress boss. But
fifteen minutes of Modi demagoguery and you would
not believe Borsad had never returned anyone but
a Congress candidate since Independence. The man
is almost Lalooesque on stage, casting a spell on
the crowd with a rich weave of colloquialism,
hyperbole and sarcasm until he has begun to
command it like a puppeteer.
"They are calling Gujaratis murderers, tell me are you murderers?"
NO!"They are calling me a murderer, tell me am I a murderer?"
NO!!"You elected me last time, tell me did you elect a murderer?"
NO!!!"Have you ever heard a corruption charge against me?"
NO!!!!"They say I have 250 pairs of clothes, tell
me should I be walking naked?"
NO!!!!! And rapturous laughter.
Modi flags are fluttering. Men wearing Modi masks
and Modi shirts are doing mock victory laps in
the crowds, waving, cockading, Modi-style. This
is the Laloo Yadav of 2000, playing on hurt
provincial pride, turning the "jungle raj" slogan
against him upside down. So is Modi exhorting
Gujaratis to send a response to all those who've
been criticising Gujarat. "They say horrible
things have happened in Gujarat, have horrible
things happened?"
NO!!!!!!!
You'd worry to your bones if you were a
Congressman at a Modi show. You'd worry even if
you were BJP, for this campaign has been the
foundation ceremony of a separate entity: the
Modi cult. His masks, his posters, his slogans,
Modi, Modi, Modi all the way. The Sangh and the
BJP are not used to such individualism, they work
with cadres and command flows top down. Modi
hasn't seemed to care. "He has bypassed the party
and the Parivar and gone straight to the people,"
says a senior Ahmedabad journalist. "So much so
that Advani has seemed to want him more than the
other way round. And if he wins this one, the
BJP will have a serious problem on its hands."
You can sense what he is riding on all across
Gujarat - the oppressive power of the excess of
numbers. The subtext of these elections is not
the idea of equality, it is the affirmation of
the hegemony of the many over the few. Modi has
refused even to acknowledge the minority, leave
alone woo it. "Nobody talks about the Muslims,"
says Prakash Karan, a retired engineer. "Nobody
discusses what happened or is happening, nobody
is interested, as if it was a closed chapter, it
is suffocating. I have known people who fear to
utter a word against Modi in public, there's a
frightening conspiracy of silence. If you are for
Modi, you shout it out from the rooftops, if you
are against, you merely listen."
NOT FOR nothing does JS Bandukwala, probably the
most celebrated and articulate survivors of
Gujarat's poisoned flames, go around preaching
forgive and forget. Not for nothing is Usmancha,
vendor of luscious kebabs in Ahmedabad's
Bhatiargali, arguing it is better Modi comes back
to power."Aur lafda nai hone ka, aur pitai nai
khane ka, dhanda karna hai ne, chup se baitho,
paisa kamao, zindagi chalao (don't want more
trouble, don't want to be hit again, stay silent,
earn your buck and get on with life)."
Usmancha's friend, wizened, white-bearded, is
nodding assent. "Kya fayda? Modi aane se hi aman
hai, sabko pata hai kaun kitne paani mein hai,
hum to akliyat hain na (what's the use? It's
better if Modi comes back, everybody here knows
who stands where, and after all we are in a
minority)."
Tridip Suhrud, one of the few liberal and
forthright voices you come across in Gujarat,
would still pin hope on those who do not speak,
or speak out. "There is a section that does not
like Modi, wants him out, but they are silent, it
is time they spoke." Suhrud himself has been
speaking out at every forum he can find but he
can sense the absence of resonance. Last week,
members in the audience of a live TV show
protested his presence on the panel and shouted
him down. Retired police officer RB Sreekumar,
who has been exposing the Modi administration's
partisan excesses in 2002, had to be escorted out
of another show under guard. "In many senses,
Gujarat has become a terrible place," Suhrud
says. "Even in Ahmedabad there are very few
people you can talk to, and few whom you can
reason with." So, much as Suhrud and his like may
hope, they themselves are proclaiming minority
status in Modi's Gujarat. And waiting, in
desperate hope, for silence to speak.
______
[5]
Outlook, 24 December 2007
A DOCTORED CASE
CHHATTISGARH: HUMAN RIGHTS
The apex court joins in the myopia that's keeping Dr Sen in jail ŠŠ
by Saikat Datta
Doctor Or Naxalite?
- The state alleges he's only a "namesake"
doctor. The CMC, Vellore, of which he's an
alumnus, gave him the Paul Harrison award for his
work.
- The police claim he was the courier for top
Naxal leaders lodged in Raipur jail but never
took action against jail authorities for failing
to detect these alleged messages
- A police press release called him an
"absconder", though he called up the police on
his own and courted arrest
- Since he has been addressed as "Comrade" in
letters to him from suspected Naxalites, it's
taken as proof of his being a member of the
banned CPI (Maoist).
- Government also claims there is "incriminating
evidence" on Dr Sen's computer but the Andhra
Pradesh forensic lab report says no such thing
It couldn't have been more ironic. The Supreme
Court chose, even though by accident, the date
designated as World Human Rights Day, December
10, to turn down the bail plea of noted rights
campaigner Dr Binayak Sen. In many ways, Dr Sen's
role as an activist and his services to
marginalised communities proved to be his
undoing. At the end of the day, after hearing
pleas from Dr Sen's counsel, noted constitutional
expert Rajiv Dhawan, and the government of
Chhattisgarh, the apex court did not find any
merit in granting him bail. The doctor, who was
arrested on May 14, 2007, and charged under the
Unlawful Activities Act and the draconian
Chhattisgarh Public Safety Act, will continue to
languish in custody.
What is the basis of the Chhattisgarh police's
case against Dr Sen? The chargesheet against him
says he is a Naxalite sympathiser. This
conclusion was reached after his name came up
when the police recovered three letters from
suspected Maoist Piyush Guha, arrested at the
Raipur railway station. These were written to
Guha by another alleged Maoist, Narayan Sanyal,
presently lodged in Raipur Jail. The police claim
Guha, under custodial interrogation, confessed
that Dr Sen acted as courier.
Dr Sen did meet Sanyal in jail on several
occasions. But each time it was with due
permission from the jail superintendent and a
body search before and after his meetings. And
even if we were to accept that Dr Sen smuggled
the letters out, what exactly was "incriminating"
in them? One letter deals with farmer-related
issues, the letter writer's health and so on. In
another note, Sanyal is discussing issues
relating to his case and the approach his lawyer
has taken in court. In yet another, he complains
of there being "no magazines" to read in jail and
terrible conditions in prison. Activist-lawyers
like Prashant Bhushan see the framing of Dr Sen
on such flimsy evidence as "a message that
clearly states that people must shut their eyes
to violations of human rights of the marginalised
or risk arrest".
Why and when did Dr Sen become the target of the
Chhattisgarh government and police? Many say his
sharp criticism of Salwa Judum, the controversial
government-backed 'movement' against Naxals, his
raising of issues of ill-treatment of suspects
picked up by the police, of the pathetic
conditions in jail and his criticism of the state
government vis-a-vis human rights irked senior
police officials. "The intelligence branch of the
state police was already upset with Dr Sen
raising these issues and they also found some
support from their central counterparts in the
Intelligence Bureau," a senior government
official told Outlook.
In framing its case against Dr Sen, the
Chhattisgarh police has relied heavily on the
"confessional" statements made under
interrogation by Guha. This, despite it being
repeatedly pointed out in various courts that
custodial "confessions" are inadmissible as
evidence in court.
Guha has also stated before a magistrate that he
was tortured for several days under illegal
detention and made to sign blank papers.
However, there is more that investigators hold up
as "incriminating evidence" pointing to Dr Sen's
"deep" Naxalite connections. Among them:
- A postcard written by Sanyal to Dr Sen with the
approval of the jail superintendent. This,
according to the Chhattisgarh police, "prima
facie proves the deep association the petitioner
has with the Naxalite leader". Conveniently
ignored is the fact that the jail superintendent
himself has written letters to Dr Sen regarding
Sanyal's case!
- Another postcard to Dr Sen from Madan Barkade,
an alleged Naxalite leader lodged in Raipur jail.
Unbelievable as it may seem, the state government
contends on affidavit that since Barkade has
referred to the doctor as "Comrade" in the
postcard, it is proof enough that the latter is
"a member of the banned CPI (Maoist)."
- A press release issued by Dr Sen on the
horrible conditions in jails and the plight of
prisoners and undertrials. This is held as
further proof that he has "espoused the cause of
Naxals".
- Dr Sen's visits to Raipur Jail to meet Sanyal.
Though much is made of them, each visit was duly
applied for and recorded in the jail manual. As
the Chhattisgarh government refused to bring
these records to court, it was left to Dr Sen's
lawyers to source the documents invoking the RTI
act. What the government counsel also did not
bring on record was a letter dated September 6,
2006, from the DIG Police which clearly states
that "this office (of the DIG) has no objection"
to Dr Sen visiting Sanyal in jail. A copy of this
letter was also sent to Addl DGP in charge of
intelligence.
- A computer seized from Dr Sen's house. The
state government counsel claimed it had evidence
against him. But the report of the Andhra Pradesh
Forensic Sciences Laboratory dated June 16, 2007,
does not corroborate this.
The unkindest cut comes in the second paragraph
of the preliminary objections filed by the state
government to the bail plea. It states that Dr
Sen "is a namesake doctor." Reason: during the
search of his house the police did not find any
"medical books, medicines, drugs etc". It is
another matter that Dr Sen has a medical degree
from the reputed Christian Medical College,
Vellore. He is also one of the founders of the
Shaheed Hospital near Bilaspur and was a member
of the Jawaharlal Nehru University's faculty on
community health. In 2004, he received the Paul
Harrison award for his work in public health in
rural areas.
Despite these gaping holes in their submissions,
the Chhattisgarh government has managed to keep
Dr Sen in jail indefinitely, raising serious
civil liberty issues. "His arrest and efforts to
keep him in jail are a major symbol of a
contradiction today," says Dr Imrana Qadeer,
professor of community health and social medicine
at JNU, Delhi. "The health minister (Dr Anbumani
Ramadoss) wants students to go to rural areas but
who will go to villages to serve the poor and the
marginalised after Dr Sen's case?" she asks.
Dr Sen's counsel Dhawan says that he is shocked
at how the "government counsel misled the court"
and described the denial of bail as a "serious
attack on civil libertarians and human rights".
For many like Prashant Bhushan, the arrest of Dr
Sen and his continuing incarceration is the
symbol of a "creeping fascism within the
establishment".
People may be shocked by the flimsy grounds Dr
Sen has been arrested under, and justifiably feel
that his legacy in taking healthcare to the
poorest of the poor may be in great peril, but
the state government thinks human rights and
public health are now the gravest threats to
people's safety.
______
[6] Announcements:
CNDP National Convention 1-3 February 2008
Dear Friends,
The 'Coalition for Nuclear disarmament and
Peace' is going to hold its third national
convention. It had come into being through a
national convention in Delhi in November 2000 in
response to India going openly nuclear and
thereby forcing, and facilitating, Pakistan to
follow suit - turning South Asia into a potential
nuclear hell apart from making a strong negative
impact on the prospects of global nuclear
disarmament.
Those in India, who are keen to ensure a nuclear
weapon free India, South Asia and world, and also
those who're appalled at the destructive features
of nuclear power and its deceptive lure as a
"clean" fuel, must join.
Even people from abroad, who are keen to lend a
helping hand to promote anti-nuke peace movement
in India, also because in the recent decades the
Indian state has emerged as a major rogue state
- along with the P-5 (and Israel
and Pakistan) - in pursuance of its ugly nuclear
ambitions, should join.
Please get in touch with cndpindia[AT]gmail.com (or sukla.sen[AT]gmail.com).
Sukla
3rd National Convention of
CNDP
February 1-3, 2008
Vasantrao Deshpande Sabhagraha
Nagpur [India]
Please block the dates and make travel arrangements.
Further details of programme and logistics will
be finalised and forwarded to you soon
NCC-Secretariat, New Delhi
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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