SACW | 9-10 April 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  9-10 April,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net
[1] Bangladesh: Miah commission report on education (Nurul Kabir)
[2] Pakistan's Faustian bargains (William Milam)
[3] Independent Election Monitoring in Jammu and Kashmir
[4] Religion under Globalisation (P. Radhakrishnan)
[5] India: Vajpayee: Not An Informer? (I.K.Shukla)
[6] India: Defeat BJP Forum Street Action (New Delhi, April 10, 2004)
[7] India: Citizens To Light Candles For The 1725 
Bhikha Behram Well (Bombay, April 13)

--------------

[1]

New Age [ Bangladesh]
April 8, 2004
MIAH COMMISSION REPORT ON EDUCATION

by Nurul Kabir

Plants are fashioned by cultivation, man by education.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau
   The citizens committed to democratic ideals 
must have noted, of course with some disquiet and 
disgust, a recent public announcement of 
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid 
to the effect that his party has 'foiled' a 
'conspiracy' of secularising the country's 
education system.
   "There was a conspiracy to secularise the 
country's education system. But we have foiled 
that conspiracy," Mujahid, who is also the social 
welfare minister of Khaleda Zia's BNP-led 
cabinet, told a Jamaat rally at the Paltan ground 
of the capital city on March 30.
   Mujahid's statement came a day before the 
National Education Commission, headed by Prof 
Maniruzzaman Miah, submitted its report to the 
Prime Minister on March 31. So, one has the scope 
to take a look at the recommendations of the Miah 
Commission to examine whether there was any 
'conspiracy' to secularise the existing communal, 
from the point of view of religion, education 
system of the country, and how, and to what 
extent, the conspiracy was 'foiled' by the 
fundamentalist Jamaat - the partner of the 
so-called centrist Bangladesh Nationalist Party 
(BNP) in power.
   A careful look at the contents of the 342-page 
document reveals that Mujahid is right, at least 
so far as further strengthening the non-secular 
curricula in the education sector in general, and 
the primary and secondary education in 
particular, is concerned. It could not, however, 
be ascertained whether there was any 'conspiracy' 
to secularise the non-secular education system.
   The Miah Commission rightly points out that 
the country has three distinct categories of 
education system with conflicting curricula, such 
as general education, English medium kindergarten 
education and madrassah education, and that the 
'existence of various education systems/curricula 
is an impediment towards the formation of a 
unified nation'.
   But the Commission did not even dare to 
propose the dismantling of the three conflicting 
education systems, which have been producing for 
long three categories of citizens with 
distinctively different mindsets that might 
eventually create a situation of civil war in the 
country in the days to come. It, however, appears 
that the Miah Commission thought of introducing 
certain changes in the education curricula to 
minimise the differences. But it eventually 
dropped the idea, attributing the failure to the 
social and constitutional realities.
   The Commission 'identifies' certain 'problems' 
in making reforms in the education curricula. 
"With Islam being the religion of the State, it 
is highly sensitive, and consequently 
time-consuming, to bring in the [required] 
reforms in madrassah education," said the 
Commission. "It is neither possible [under the 
present circumstances] to exclude certain courses 
from the syllabi of the madrassah curricula, nor 
is it possible to include those courses in the 
syllabi of the general education or the English 
medium one."
   Miah can neither propose the non-secular 
curricula for the madrassahs that are controlled 
mainly by the fundamentalist political quarters, 
nor can he impose fundamentalist syllabi on the 
students of the English medium schools run by 
comparatively liberal sections of the society. 
What, then, did the Miah Commission do with the 
general primary and secondary education?
   The Commission found it 'unnecessary to bring 
any changes in, or amendments to, the objectives 
of the primary education set and approved by the 
government of BNP in 2000'.
   But the problem with all the 22 objectives set 
in 2002, which the Miah Commission keeps 
unchanged, is that they are highly contradictory 
to each other from the point of view of 
democratic principles. The first objective aims 
at 'indoctrination of students in the loyalty to 
and belief in the Almighty Allah, so that the 
belief inspires the students in their thought and 
work, and helps shape their spiritual, moral, 
social and human values'.
   Indoctrination of any 'belief system' is 
irrational, in the first place. Because 'belief' 
obstructs the believers from questioning the 
establishment - be it political or ideological. 
The establishments across the world naturally 
encourage belief system of some kind, as it 
serves the rulers very well. The belief system in 
the present case will simply help the religious 
fundamentalist forces like Jamaat and its friends 
to enlarge their political constituencies 
further. The Jamaat's secretary general has 
stymied the attempt, if there was any at all, to 
secularise the education system.
   The twelfth objective, on the other hand, 
talks about just the opposite to what has been 
said in the first one: helping the children to 
develop a sense of mathematicsŠand acquire the 
ability to think reasonablyŠ' Reasoning and blind 
belief just cannot go together.
   The Jamaat's ideological triumph is also 
evident in another recommendation as regards 
re-structuring the managing committees of the 
primary schools. The Miah Commission has 
recommended enlargement of the size of the 
managing committees from the present 11-member to 
13-member bodies by including in the committees 
'two religious leaders'. The recommendation, if 
implemented, will definitely help the 
fundamentalists to increase their sphere of 
'intellectual' influence in the education sector 
- not to mention strengthening their physical 
control over primary education.
   The Miah Commission's failure to uphold 
democratic principles was further evident when it 
came to the recommendation of courses, 
examination on the courses and distribution of 
marks vis-a-vis the papers recommended at 
different levels of primary, lower secondary and 
secondary education.
   The Commission's proposed curricula for the 
primary level (Class-I to Class-V) includes 
compulsory religious teachings, while the 
students of class III, IV and V have to sit for 
examinations (viva voce) on, along with Bangla, 
English, Mathematics and Bangladesh Studies, the 
religious teachings. The students of Class IV and 
V have to study, along with other courses, 
physical education, music and fine arts, but they 
will not have to take these subjects as seriously 
as religious teachings, as they will not be 
required to sit for any examinations on the 
subjects in question.
   Again, while recommending courses for the 
junior secondary (Class-VI to Class-VIII) and 
secondary (Class XI-X) levels, the Commission has 
proposed a 100-mark course on religious 
teachings, 200-mark course on 
'history-geography-sociology', 50-mark course on 
physical education, while there are no marks at 
all for courses on fine arts and music.
   At the secondary level, the Commission has 
again proposed 100 marks for religious teachings, 
and only 50 for history and 50 for geography, 
with no marks for fine arts and music. Courses 
like the (1) history of science and philosophy, 
(2) ethics, and (3) health-food-nutrition have 
been kept 'optional' for the students.
   Clearly, the accent is on religious teachings 
- an unfailing ideological instrument of 
producing and reproducing unthinking citizens 
that help peacefully perpetuate undemocratic 
governance.
   Of the systems, not individuals
   Prof Maniruzzaman Miah, presumably a secular 
person at the private level, must have been 
disappointed at having to make a set of 
undemocratic recommendations, which, if 
implemented, will definitely have negative 
impacts on democratic growth. But it could not 
have been different either, especially when the 
members of the country's ruling elite, with a few 
exceptions, are not yet 'emancipated' enough to 
intellectually accept the classical democratic 
ideals to rule the country. Dr. Kudrat-e-Khuda, 
the head of the country's first education 
commission, was the victim of the same 
circumstances.
   The Khuda Commission in its interim report, 
submitted in May 1973, recommended 'separation of 
religion from education'. The report had argued, 
"Instead of creating blind allegiance to the 
external aspects and formal rituals of religion, 
the curricula and textbooks should inculcate in 
the students a refined and well integrated system 
of secular ethics to produce a new generation of 
citizens for secular Bangladesh."
   Understandably, the syllabi recommended by the 
interim report did not contain any course of 
religious education in the classes up to VIII. 
Religious education was recommended as an 
elective course for classes IX and X.
   Meanwhile, the Khuda Commission circulated 
among the members of the most educated section of 
the society - vice-chancellors and professors of 
the universities and degree colleges, principals 
and professors of the medical colleges, 
principals of the higher secondary colleges, 
headmasters of the high schools, members of the 
associations of school and college teachers, and 
superintendents of madrassahs, educationists, 
essayists, poets, novelists, playwrights, 
newspaper editors, top-level civil servants and 
members of parliaments - identical questionnaires 
for eliciting their opinions on the nature of 
education necessary for Bangladesh. As many as 
2,869 persons responded, and 74.69 per cent of 
the respondents said that 'religious education 
should be an integral part of general education', 
while only 5.44 per cent said that 'there should 
be no special arrangement for religious teaching 
in general educational institutions'.
   The Khuda Commission had to give up its 
secular approach. It eventually recommended 
religious instruction as an alternative to 
ethical studies in classes VI to VIII and as an 
elective subject in classes IX to XI only in the 
humanities stream'.
   The political situation has worsened, and 
along with that the secular quality of education 
has been degraded, and vice versa, over the last 
few decades.
   The education commission, headed by another 
secular man at the personal level, Prof Shamsul 
Haque, which was formed by the government of 
Sheikh Hasina in 1997, was also compelled to 
regard the reactionary 'madrassah education as an 
integral part of the national education system'.
   In the given political reality, any education 
commission set up by the government/s of the 
ruling elite is destined to fail to produce a 
comprehensive set of democratic recommendations 
to democratise the education system. The Miah 
Commission cannot be an exception.
   Time to take lessons
   Education, especially primary and secondary 
education, shapes the political and cultural 
future of a nation. A society aspiring to be 
democratic in its political and cultural psyche, 
therefore, needs to formulate its education 
curriculum in a way that helps shape the psyche 
of the thousands of individual children in a 
democratic mould. Secularism is inherent in the 
concept of democracy, because democracy as an 
original idea had emerged in the West through 
political struggles against feudalism backed by 
religious ideologies. That which is not secular 
is not democratic.
   The construction, and/or perpetuation, of a 
secular democratic society calls for formulation 
and implementation of secular democratic 
curricula that generate among the children, or 
the future citizens for that matter, a sense of 
demystification of the universe, which 
automatically encourages the students to 
constantly question and review all structures, 
processes, institutions and situations of the 
society from the point of view of democratic 
ideals. Understandably, this is a gigantic task, 
which is primarily a matter of conscious, and 
open, political action. There is no scope for 
achieving such a great objective secretly, beyond 
the knowledge of any quarter.
   The educational policies of different regimes 
have rather deliberately generated in the society 
a growing sense of mystification about the 
universe that virtually degrades the thinking 
human beings to non-thinking animal entities. The 
regimes, civil or military, have done it openly, 
before the eyes of all, secular or non-secular. 
The rulers have done it, especially through 
education curricula, with a clear objective of 
perpetuating their political hegemony.
   It is not accidental that various regimes have 
decreased per capita allocation in the 
conventional secular education sector, while 
increasing per capita allocation in the madrassah 
sector that produces hundreds of unthinking 
citizens with little tolerance for the dissenting 
views based on reason. There are as many as 
18,268 registered (government recognised) 
non-government 'ebtedia' madrassahs (equivalent 
to primary schools) in the country enjoying 
certain kinds of grants from the state, as 
against some 20,000 registered non-government 
primary schools.
   The leaders of the mainstream political 
parties publicly encourage madrassah education, 
while boasting of providing increasing financial 
support from the public coffer to these 
institutions that preach among poor young boys a 
world outlook which is mediaeval and produce 
every year hundreds of youths with a deep sense 
of intolerance for opposing ideologies, political 
or religious.
   Do Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, or H M Ershad, 
or even Ali Ahsan Mujahid of Jamaat-e-Islami for 
that matter, even think of sending their 
children/grand-children to a madrassah? No!
   Still, they keep the reactionary system going, 
because they need a large number of unthinking, 
unquestioning people to perpetuate their 
questionable political hegemony over the society. 
Most of the youths produced by the madrassahs are 
taught not to question the established ideas - 
they are simply taught to 'believe'. They 
perpetually provide constituencies to the 
political parties having almost no integrated 
democratic agenda for the people's welfare. So, 
the anti-secular madrassah system remains, and 
religious teachings get priority over social 
sciences and fine arts in the curricula of 
general education.
   The change of the undemocratic education 
system, therefore, calls for the change of the 
political system, in the first place. And it is 
time for the Kudrat-e-Khudas, Shamshul Haques and 
Maniruzzaman Miahs to have the courage of their 
convictions and align themselves with the 
anti-establishment forces of democracy.
   The writer is Deputy Editor, New Age

_____



[2]

The Daily Times [ Pakistan]
April 9, 2004
Op-Ed.
Pakistan's Faustian bargains
by William Milam
From the Objectives Resolution through Ziaul 
Haq's hudood laws to Pervez Musharraf's back-down 
on the blasphemy law and madrassah reform, the 
unforeseen consequences of these Faustian 
bargains have resulted in the slow but steady 
erosion of state power and its accretion by 
non-state actors
It has always seemed to me that Shakespeare found 
words or plots to describe and explain almost 
every variety of human behaviour. That is why he 
is so great, and so timeless. I don't claim an 
inexhaustible knowledge of Shakespeare. But I 
have racked my brain, and reviewed his plays, and 
I still can't find anything that helps me 
understand the scandal of A.Q Khan or mitigates 
my dismay at the recent revelations about him. 
Nor is there, anywhere in Shakespeare or 
elsewhere in literature, anything that explains 
to my satisfaction the benign reaction of the 
leaders of Pakistan to Mr Khan's astounding 
confession that he has been the main cog in a 
longstanding illegal enterprise to spread nuclear 
weapon capability to Iran, North Korea, and Libya.
Mr Khan is nuclear scientist turned nuclear 
entrepreneur, national icon turned national 
embarrassment. To some, he is a hero who provided 
Pakistan with the ability always to defend itself 
against India. Some of these defenders broaden 
that to claim that he is the hero who developed 
the "Islamic bomb." To his critics, he is a rogue 
who squandered that heritage, and Pakistan's good 
name, by peddling his knowledge and Pakistan's 
assets to other rogues to enrich himself.
Those who celebrate Mr Khan's achievements seem 
to believe he was motivated by a sincere (but 
perhaps tunnel-visioned) patriotism. (Making lots 
of money, I guess, was just a convenient 
externality.) Those who think him a rogue seem 
certain that greed was his driver. There are even 
those very few who wonder whether, if the 
resources the Pakistani state expended to develop 
nuclear weapons had been instead devoted to 
education, Pakistan would not be now a stronger 
and more coherent nation.
I have not been able to find in Shakespeare a 
character to throw light on what drove Mr Khan. 
The tragic figures, such as Hamlet and Lear, are 
fated to fail on a large scale, usually because 
of some character flaw, but motivated by grand 
and generally true ideals. The villains, such as 
Iago, are pure evil and motivated by puerile 
personal self-aggrandizement. Perhaps Shakespeare 
was too much a product of his time to be able to 
understand and articulate the psychic cleavages 
of the late 20th and early 21st century - the 
contest between sets of false and illusory 
ideals, which typically concern attaining 
political success and personal wealth, and the 
standards of conduct and behaviour set out by 
society for its greater good, which conflict with 
those false ideals and place strict limits and 
rules on how success and wealth may be obtained.
I turn to Arthur Miller, the American playwright, 
for insight into this purely modern puzzle. 
Miller's plays concern the Faustian bargains some 
modern men try to make with society's codes, when 
driven by false ideals that society itself 
creates to anti-social behaviour in pursuit of 
success and wealth. Most men choose to steer by 
society's standards of conduct. A few men commit 
themselves wholly to false ideals, and by 
eschewing society's standards of conduct, destroy 
themselves. This, in Miller's plays, is the 
quintessential tragedy of modern times. Miller 
captured this most powerfully in his two 
best-known plays, All My Sons and Death of A 
Salesman.
I think All My Sons is most relevant to the 
riddle of AQ Khan. The central character, Joe, is 
a great success; he has position, prosperity, a 
nice home, a loving family. But in achieving all 
this, he has sold his soul to false and illusory 
ideals that have convinced him that success 
justifies any action, and preserving it any 
behaviour, no matter how ruthless and reckless. 
When his success is threatened, he acts to 
preserve it in a way that leads to the death of 
many innocents. Though he didn't intend it (the 
law of unforeseen consequences), his immoral and 
dishonest act brings him and his family crashing 
down; one son commits suicide out of shame, the 
other turns his father in out of shame. 
Ultimately, Joe also commits suicide to avoid 
prison.
I think the key is not that Joe held false 
ideals, but that he held them with such passion 
that they overrode common humanity and the moral 
codes that should direct our lives. Joe is tragic 
because, at the end, he accepted his guilt. In 
the final scene of the play, he says that the men 
whose deaths he had caused were, "all my sons." I 
have seen no indication that AQ Khan understands 
or accepts - his five-minute TV apology 
notwithstanding - that he has transgressed a 
moral code or that he has undermined the state he 
sought to serve. One thing seems clear: Mr Khan 
chose to act as he did. He may have been 
encouraged, but there was no compulsion. If those 
elements that support him most fiercely now ever 
came to power, his successors would have no such 
choice.
But what are we to think of the Faustian bargain 
of Pakistan's leaders with Mr Khan and his 
backers? Do they understand the damage he has 
done the state they lead? On this, I suspect that 
no work of fiction can give us any clues. We have 
to turn to history - not famous cover-ups, 
because they are all unique in their 
circumstances and in their historical 
implications - and look at the Faustian bargains 
that Pakistani leaders have made for short-term 
political gains or with those they feared. From 
the Objectives Resolution through Ziaul Haq's 
hudood laws to Pervez Musharraf's back-down on 
the blasphemy law and madrassah reform, the 
unforeseen consequences of these Faustian 
bargains have resulted in the slow but steady 
erosion of state power and its accretion by 
non-state actors, as well as the steady 
encroachment of anti-modern principles into 
governance and the law. Will further encroachment 
be the result of turning a blind eye to Mr Khan's 
transgressions?
William Milam is a former US ambassador to 
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Currently at the Woodrow 
Wilson Center in Washington DC, he is writing a 
book comparing Pakistan and Bangladesh. He wrote 
this article for Daily Times

______



[3]

 Independent Election Monitoring in Jammu and Kashmir

Invitation

Loksabha elections have been scheduled and hectic 
activities like candidature fixing, campaigns, 
etc are on in J&K also. While the election 
commission and the administration are busy 
preparing for the security aspects of elections, 
the political parties are busy wooing voters, 
elaborating the virtues of their candidates and 
their past work.

In the midst of all this, the stark reality of 
flawed elections of the past scares the Kashmiri 
people. They are haunted by the violence, 
coercion and rigging they have witnessed in 
Assembly elections and in Parliament elections in 
the past 54 years. The fact that polling ratios 
of all elections held in J&K has been taken in 
far too many senses, add to their worries.

While voting in elections and thus taking part in 
the "democratic" process of a nation like India 
holds priority, it is as much a democratic right 
of citizens to abstain from elections and 
register their protest against what they believe 
as a system, which does not provide them security 
to their lives and property.

It was in this context that the Jammu and Kashmir 
Coalition of Civil Society and the Civil Society 
Initiatives (Delhi) held Election Observation 
Programme in J&K during the last Assembly 
Elections (2002). The report, titled 'Independent 
Election Observers Report' attracted much 
attention, appreciation and criticism. The 
collective process, however also became an 
opportunity to expose many leading personalities 
from India to the day-to-day realities of 
conflict in J&K.

It is with the same objectives that we approach 
you with an invitation to join us for another 
round of election observation, this time for the 
Lok Sabha Elections (2004) to be held in J&K, in 
4 phases for the 6 parliamentary seats. As 
earlier, the different teams of the Coalition 
consisting of people from Jammu and Kashmir as 
well as outsiders, will be monitoring elections 
in different constituencies, on different days 
and will collectively bring out a report on the 
election process.

While the main agenda of the team will be to look 
at the aspects of 'free and fair elections', we 
strongly feel that the process will also allow us 
to assess and analyse the present phase of 'peace 
negotiations' (between BJP lead NDA Government 
and a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat 
Conference) and 'the healing touch' (as claimed 
by the PDP led Government in the state).

It is not a funded project and hence all friends 
who are willing to join in any one phase or more, 
as part of the team, will have to bear their 
respective travel costs to J&K. But we will be 
happy to support the local accommodation and 
local transport from our side. Kindly understand 
our financial restraints and do join us in this 
process.

We look forward to receiving your confirmation. 
Kindly find enclosed the election schedule in 
detail.

Election Schedule:

Team I
20-Apr-2004 (Tuesday)
Baramulla,
Jammu
Team II
26-Apr-2004 (Monday)
Srinagar
Team III
5-May-2004 (Wednesday)
Anantnag
Team IV

10-May-2004 (Monday
Ladkah, (No team will be able to go)
Udhampur
Thanking you in anticipation.

In Solidarity,
Parvez Imroz
President, J&K CCS
G N Saibaba
General Secretary, AIPRF
Gautam Navlakha
Editorial Consultant, EPW
______

[4]

The Economic and Political Weekly [India]
March 27 , 2004
RELIGION UNDER GLOBALISATION
The major religions of the world are being used 
as purveyors of the globalisation agenda and this 
is often accompanied by an unprecedented flow of 
funds into the third world. This has led to the 
transmogrification of traditional religions and 
belief systems; the beginning of the 
disintegration of the traditional social fabrics 
and shared norms by newfangled religions and 
changing work ethics, and the forcing of an ever 
increasing number of individuals to fall back 
upon the easily accessible pretentious religious 
banalities.

by P. Radhakrishnan

URL: 
www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2004&leaf=03&filename=7012&filetype=pdf

o o o

[SACW readers who wish to receive a copy of the 
article (a PDF file) as an attachment can send a 
request to : <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ]

______



[5]

VAJPAYEE: NOT AN INFORMER?

by I.K.Shukla

Despite several denials of  Atal Behari Vajpaye, 
the charge that he was an informer of the Brits 
in 1942  does not  disappear from the national 
memory. It resurfaces again and again.

It can only mean that his explanations have 
always been widely regarded as evasive and 
unconvincing. It can only mean that the nation 
feels insecure and anguished with him at the 
helm, as it does with the Rakshasi Sangh Sarkar 
(Demonic Combine's Government) which  has been 
regarded by millions of Indians historically as 
Rashtradrohi Siyar Sangh (Traitorous Jackals’ 
Herd).

Frontline, in 1998, and The Hindu on 19 Sep.1999, 
laid bare the case (with the help of court 
records) involving Vajpayee in Bateshwar, Agra, 
on Aug. 27, 1942, and how he got away scot free. 
We need not go into it at all.

Technically, and far more casuistically, Vajpayee 
may have convinced himself that he has cleared 
himself of the insinuation, but no one else.

Technicalities and expedient tampering have let 
murderers get away with murder. Juridical remit 
may not always include justice.

Informer, according to the dictionary, is "one 
who discloses information"; "one who informs on 
others, often for compensation".

The questions that nag are: As a member of RSS 
why did he join the procession which was going to 
hoist the tricolor on the Forest House in 
Bateshwar, Agra, if not to be of service to the 
Brits, as pledged both by Savarkar's Hindu 
Mahasabha and Golwalkar's RSS ?

Later, he disassociated himself from the marchers’ plan quite emphatically

Then, why did he and his brother stay below, 
while others "went up"?  Just to watch, to whose 
benefit and with what purpose?

He volunteered information to the police on two 
of the processionists - Mahuan and Kakua 
(Leeladhar Bajpai). It was gratuitous. It was 
despicable. He was not at all under duress.

Of course other villagers too may have named 
them. But the articulate, educated Vajpayee 
brothers, Atal and Prem , did so out of a sense 
of loyalty to the Raj that RSS and Sabha had 
sworn themselves to in several written statements 
and documents. These all are on record.

It was for this collaboration, perceived or real 
(according to your lights), that he was out of 
jail in three weeks, wires pulled in his behalf 
high and low by his father. Others, named by him, 
were jailed for five years. Wires pulled must 
have convincingly persuaded the Brits that the 
role of the Vajpayee brothers was collaborative, 
as informers and loyal servants of the Raj, not 
as freedom fighters of the 1942 Quit India 
movement.

Sabha and RSS had denounced the 1942 struggle, 
asked their members to stay away from it, and 
promised the Brits all support against the 
freedom fighters aka as miscreants and insurgents 
in the officialese of the times.

Therefore, Vajpayee can be given absolution, if 
any, on the ground that he was only following the 
orders of gauleiters and caudillos of 
Rashtradrohi Swayamsewak Sangh (Traitorous 
Volunteers Squad).  And, that he was only a very 
small part of the major national betrayal that 
RSS and Hindu Mahasabha ordained and orchestrated 
in 1942, besmirched themselves with, and thus 
proved themselves to be the inveterate and 
implacable enemies of India, its people, its 
freedom.

Rewriting history, erasure of history, seeking a 
niche in history, falsifying history,  - thus 
became essential imperatives in  the saffronazi 
culture, criminal and corrupt from incipience, 
that sought and fostered subservience to, and 
begged slavery of, the foreign masters.

So, Vajpayee  as a "loyal soldier" in knickers, 
of the RSS,  must be viewed not as an individual 
that stands charged with spying for the Brits 
against India, but only as a follower of the cult 
that assassinated Gandhi who had launched the 
Quit India movement in 1942, that has fielded the 
assassin Dara Singh as its candidate for the 
Legislative Assembly in Orissa, and that 
masterminded the slaughter of 500 people in just 
3 days following the demolition of the Babri 
Mosque in 1992 (Vishwa Hindu Parishad by Manjari 
Katju, 2003, p.99).

No wonder, therefore, that with their perverse 
and distorted vision, Vajpayee and his cohort 
call India Burning as India Shining, India 
Sinking as India Rising, India Choking as India 
Chortling.

Vajpyee had set himself a task that Aug. 27 in 
1942 and he executed it as best he could. For 
want of a better word it would be labeled 
informing spying. He was amply rewarded for the 
collaboration by the enemy.

Sangh, his soul, had long determined to be the 
India’s Enemy Within, India's Fifth Column. This 
role it has played remarkably consistently since 
the 1920s. It has all done voluntarily.  It 
volunteered to spy for the Brits. It volunteered 
to soak India in blood and shred it to bits. It 
volunteered to tear India apart with fascist 
terror. It volunteered to spread mass starvation 
and thousands of suicides.  It volunteered to 
anoint corruption and kleptomania, as its dharma. 
Why? Because it Felt Good with the monstrous 
desecration, massive devastation, widespread 
pauperization, and monumental disgrace that it 
perpetrated on the Indian citizenry in general 
and the minorities in particular.
Vajpayee is in good company, though. Kurt 
Waldheim, a Nazi, rose to be the Secy.-General of 
the United Nations and President of Austria, and 
was the darling of the western "democracies". 
Vajpayee, the saffronazi, rose to be the PM of 
India, India's sunset.

Let me conclude with a couplet from Makhan Lal 
Chaturvedi, the nationalist Hindi poet 
(1889-1968) culled from a poem, A Flower's Wish:
	Mujhe tod lena vanmalee us path par dena tum phenk
	Matribhumi hit sheesh chadhane jis path javen veer anek.
An English rendering of the sentiment may be: O 
gardener, pluck me and throw me on to the path 
taken by heroic martyrs in the cause of the 
motherland.

An inanimate piece of nature could wish so.  Not 
Vajpayee on Aug.27, 1942. Because there is an 
ocean of difference between a poet and a 
poetaster, or between being a poet and playing a 
poet.

9 Apr. 2004



______



[6]

DEFEAT BJP FORUM

Dear Friend,

We request you to join us in our first street 
action on 10 April, Saturday, 10.30 AM. The 
Defeat BJP Forum will hold a rally of teachers, 
writers, activists to distribute our leaflet in 
Hindi and Urdu among the people in the walled 
city. The English version is posted below. 
Needless to say, larger the gathering, the more 
reassuring it will be for the common terrorized 
people. Please come with your friends and 
colleagues (we can make only so many phone-calls).

The rally assembles in front of the old Zakir 
Hussain College near Ajmeri gate. We will walk 
through the walled city to end at Turkman gate. 
No speeches, no banners except ours.

At the next phase of our programme, we are 
planning a big press conference in Lucknow on 13 
April. The time and the venue will be announced 
shortly.

Nirmalangshu



Join Hands To Save the Nation

Defeat the BJP Now

This is the most crucial election since 
Independence. At stake is the survival of India's 
republican constitution and the plural, 
democratic conception of society which it defends.

The RSS, which is accountable to no-one, is 
exerting a extra-constitutional authority. The 
democratic process is being used to threaten the 
future of democracy itself. Brazen assaults on 
the minorities and other vulnerable sections are 
occuring daily as the BJP, the political arm of 
the RSS, strengthens its hold over the state. The 
lawless conduct of the sangh parivar goes 
unpunished even when they maim and kill. BJP 
leaders, including the Prime Minister, reproach 
the victims for not accommodating their 
tormentors.

This dangerous alignment of the state and the 
sangh parivar was brutally illustrated in Gujrat 
where thousands of minorities, including women 
and children, were killed and lakhs were made 
homeless with the direct support of the state. In 
the two years since the carnage, social and 
economic boycott of the muslims continues to be 
the rule. Gujrat is a grim reminder of the state 
of things to come in an even wider scale if the 
RSS-BJP axis is allowed to come back to power 
again.

The BJP-dominated NDA government has been the 
instrument for the consolidation of the 
communal-fascist agenda of the RSS.

Breaking with the constitutional tradition of 
neutrality of gubernatorial positions, almost all 
governors of states are RSS members.

In the sphere of education and culture, the 
government is propagating the destructive 
ideology of the RSS by enforcing changes in the 
school curriculum, iniating reactionary 
programmes in colleges and universities, and 
installing RSS members and supporters in academic 
and cultural institutions of national importance.

The government has sought to directly attack 
vulnerable sections of the society - the 
minorities, dalits, tribals, landless peasants - 
with laws such as POTA and by unleashing a police 
raj.

A BJP victory will enable the RSS to further 
consolidate its position and control over the 
nation. The RSS has implemented its programme via 
the NDA government because of the electoral gains 
made by the BJP in the last two general elections.

The economic policies of the BJP-dominated 
government have led to extensive unemployment and 
impoverishment of vast masses of people.

Removal of trade barriers have resulted directly 
in landlessness and increase in rural poverty: 
thousands of farmers have committed suicide all 
over the country, milk, sugar-cane and cotton 
sectors have been badly hit. Aggressive 
de-industrailisation has led to closure and 
dislocation of factories.

'Jobless growth' has led to unprecedented 
unemployment in each sector of the economy 
affecting specially the younger generation of the 
population.

Indiscriminate disinvestment including in 
strategic sectors like defence and energy and 
withdrawal of the state from education, health, 
and social security have endangered the life 
conditions of the people. For the first time in 
many decades, there is a serious threat to food 
security.

How does BJP win the elections?

Although the national average of BJP's vote share 
is barely 24%, BJP wins a larger number of seats 
due to the division of the secular vote.

In crucial state like UP, the BJP has won by very 
small margins even in four-cornered contests. In 
Bijnor, Faizabad, Bahraich, Basti, Banasgaon, 
Gorakhpur, Padrauna, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, 
Robertsganj, Fatehpur, Bilhapur, Hapur and many 
other constituencies BJP had won with less than 
3% difference in vote share.

BJP would have been routed in most constituencies 
if just the votes of the second and the third 
parties were united.

The way to defeat BJP is to unite the secular 
vote. We appeal to all secular parties and 
candidates not to divide their votes. If parties 
and candidate fail to do it, then people must. 
Choose the candidate in your constituency who can 
defeat the BJP and mobilise the vote.

Issued by Nirmalangshu Mukherji and Madhu Prasad, 
38/2 Probyn Road, Delhi 110007, Delhi, on behalf 
of

DEFEAT BJP FORUM

_____



[7]

Sent: 08 April 2004 03:44
Subject: [INSAANIYATBOMBAY] 13TH APRIL, 2004 AT Azad Maidan
PRESS  RELEASE

CITIZENS TO LIGHT CANDLES FOR THE 1725 BHIKHA BEHRAM WELL ON TUE.
13TH APRIL, 2004 AT Azad Maidan, Opp. BMC Headquarters, Off.
Mahapalika Marg, near C.S.T. ( V.T.). The timing shall be from 7.00
to 8.00 p.m.


Citizens had not yet recovered from the shock of ransacking of the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute at Pune, when they heard about
the desecration of the Bhika Behram Well, an A graded heritage
structure, situated near the Churchgate Station, opposite the South-
East curve of the Oval Maidan in South Mumbai.
Built in 1725 by a Parsi philanthropist, the sweet water of the well
has been freely available to the general public.  On the night of
11/12 March, 2004 miscreants smashed twelve beautiful stained glass
panels, encased on the canopy of the well.  Some bearing Zoroastrian
icons were destroyed while others with floral patterns may have been
stolen.  Why was a sacred monument of the peace-loving Parsi
community targeted; and what security and protection can other
communities expect in similar circumstances?  Is there need for
better governance and vigilance by the law and order authorities to
prevent such incidents in future?
NGOs like the `Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT)' and
numerous well-wishers from all communities have shown their concern
and have come out in full support of the `.......Trust' that looks after
the well.  Representations have been made to the President, Prime
Minister, Governor of Maharashtra, Chief Minister and the Police
Commissioner amongst others.  To protest against this vandalism a
silent peaceful Candle Light Vigil is being held at Hutatma Chowk
(Flora Fountain) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 at 7 p.m.  This is a call
for a show of solidarity of all citizens.
Mumbai is a melting pot of various communities of diverse cultures
and traditions.  This spirit must be nurtured and protected from any
element that stirs discord.  The Candle Light Vigil is an opportunity
for Mumbaites to rally round when the very spirit that keeps us
together is disturbed, as has been in the case of the desecration of
the Bhika Behram Well.  We hope that the authorities responsible for
the governance of this city shall urgently do all that is required to
restore lost confidence by bringing to book those involved in this
wanton destruction and/or theft.
(In para 3, please fill in the name of the Trust that looks after the
well)


_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at: 
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

South Asia Counter Information Project a sister 
initiative, provides a partial back -up and 
archive for SACW:  snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
--

_______________________________________________
Sacw mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net