South Asia Citizens Wire | 17 September, 2004 via: www.sacw.net
[South Asia Citizens Wire mailers in their current digest format* completed their sixth anniversary earlier this month (individual non digest postings from SACW started in 1996) ! ]
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[1] Bangladesh shows the way (Jean Drčze)
[2] India: "Learning History Without Burden" - the Advisory prepared for India's National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT)
[3] India: Can the Left Confront the BJP? (Sumanta Banerjee)
[4] India: Link population growth with development, not religion (Ram Puniyani)
[5] Online Petition for an Employment Guarantee Act in India
[6] Upcoming event: Meeting on Nepal (New Delhi, September 18, 2004)
[7] India: Jagah: In Search of Spaces - The Gender and Sexuality Exhibition (New Delhi, Sept.25-27)
[8] Pakistan: Letter to the Editor, DAWN - Madressah syndrome (Kunwar Khalid Yunus)
[9] Response to the Article 'Of Figures and Indian Fascists' by J. Sri Raman in SACW | 14 September 2004 (Mukul Dube)
[10] The Idea of India: 'Detox' Plan Needs Mediaeval Foundation (Amaresh Misra)
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[1]
The Hindu - September 17, 2004 Opinion - Leader Page Articles
BANGLADESH SHOWS THE WAY By Jean Drčze
In India, social progress is slower and less broad-based than in Bangladesh, despite much faster economic growth.
IN THE context of the recent panic over the growth rate of the Muslim population in India, recent international data on "human development" in India and Bangladesh make interesting reading. Surely, India must be far ahead of Bangladesh in this respect? Indeed, Bangladesh is not only poorer (much poorer) than India, but also saddled with a large Muslim population. India, for its part, is now a "superpower". One would, therefore, expect its citizens to be much healthier, better fed and better educated than their Bengali neighbours.
Let us examine the evidence. A good starting point is the infant mortality rate: 51 per 1,000 live births in Bangladesh compared with 67 per 1,000 in India, according to the latest Human Development Report. In other words, infant mortality is much lower in Bangladesh.
This is all the more interesting as the positions were reversed not so long ago: in 1990, the infant mortality rate was estimated at 91 per 1,000 in Bangladesh, and 80 per 1,000 in India. India has been neatly leap-frogged, that too during a period when economic growth was much faster in India than in Bangladesh.
Other indicators relating to child health point in the same direction. According to the same Report, 95 per cent of infants in Bangladesh are vaccinated against tuberculosis, and 77 per cent are vaccinated against measles. The corresponding figures in India are only 81 per cent and 67 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, 97 per cent of the population in Bangladesh have access to an "improved water source," compared with 84 per cent in India; and 48 per cent of Bangladeshis have access to "improved sanitation," compared with 28 per cent of Indians.
For good measure, the maternal mortality rate is much higher in India than in Bangladesh: 540 and 380 per 100,000 live births, respectively. Contraceptive prevalence, for its part, is higher in Bangladesh than in India - the "wrong" ranking again!
Perhaps all this has something to do with the fact that public expenditure on health as a proportion of GDP is almost twice as high in Bangladesh (1.6 per cent) as in India (0.9 per cent). The reverse applies to military expenditure, also known as "defence": 2.3 per cent of GDP in India compared with 1.1 per cent in Bangladesh. So much for health. But in education at least, India must be way ahead? Can Bangladesh boast a fraction of India's Nobel prizes, famous writers, nuclear scientists, eminent scholars?
Perhaps not, but Bangladesh appears to be closer to universal primary education than India: it has achieved a "net primary enrolment ratio" of 87 per cent, higher than India's 83 per cent. What is more, Bangladesh has eliminated the gender bias in primary education, in sharp contrast with India where school participation rates continue to be much higher for boys than for girls. Other gender-related indicators also put Bangladesh in a relatively favourable light, compared with India: Bangladesh, for instance, has a higher female-male ratio and much higher rates of female labour force participation.
However, there is a consolation of sorts: the nutrition situation is no better in Bangladesh than in India. In both countries, about half of all children are undernourished. No country in the world fares worse in this respect, but at least India is not alone in the back seat.
Some of these estimates may not be very accurate. Perhaps the ranking would be reversed, in some cases, if exact figures were available. But the general pattern, whereby Bangladesh is now doing better than India in terms of many aspects of social development, is unlikely to reflect measurement errors. This pattern is all the more striking as India used to fare better than Bangladesh in all these respects not so long ago - say in the early 1970s , when Bangladesh became independent.
Bangladesh is no paradise of human development. Like India, it is still one of the most deprived countries in the world. However, social indicators in Bangladesh are improving quite rapidly.
Whether one looks at infant mortality, or vaccination rates, or school participation, or child nutrition, or fertility rates, the message is similar: living conditions are rapidly improving, not just for a privileged elite but also for the population at large. In India, social progress is slower and less broad-based, despite much faster economic growth. This is one indication, among many others, that India's development strategy is fundamentally distorted and lop-sided.
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[2]
"Learning History Without Burden" - the Advisory prepared for India's National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) on how teachers could teach using the pre-2000 and the existing textbooks, which are flawed and biased, and endeavour to work towards more child friendly books in future. [August 2004]
This advisory and the Report of the Panel of historians is also on the web site: www.ncert.nic.in
[A word formatted file of the NCERT advisory 'Learning History Without Burden' is now available at:
www.sacw.net/India_History/ ]
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[3]
The Economic and Political Weekly September 11, 2004 Commentary
CAN THE LEFT CONFRONT THE BJP?
It is about time that those who still believe in the workability of parliament in India (its numerous failures notwithstanding) realise that the BJP is a party which is persona non grata in the Indian parliamentary system. The party has demonstrated on more than one occasion that it is committed to values and norms that are totally alien to those that underpin our Constitution. It is necessary to recognise that those committed to building a theocratic Hindu Rashtra have to be defeated. This is the real challenge before the Indian Left today. But is the Left willing to pick up the gauntlet?
by Sumanta Banerjee
Some years ago, the CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu described the BJP's L K Advani as 'uncivilised'. It provoked a lot of umbrage, not only among BJP-supporters, but also within the liberal intelligentsia who felt that Basu had breached the protocol of 'bhadralok' politics. One hopes that members of this intelligentsia now, watching the unseemly performance of Advani and his party MPs in parliament, realise that the word Basu used was too civilised a term to describe the ill-bred norms that are intrinsic to BJP leaders (including the 'elder statesman' Vajpayee who publicly sanctions such behaviour). As is clear from their repeated announcements, they are bent on sabotaging the functioning of parliament, as long as the present UPA government rules. It shows how little they care for the norms of parliamentary democracy.
Lest I may be accused of picking up only the BJP MPs for parliamentary misdemeanour during the budget session, let me acknowledge that MPs from the then opposition parties had been no less disruptive in the Lok Sabha during the BJP-led NDA regime. But then, as an editorial in one national daily pointed out: "Even during the days of Tehelka and the furore over Kargil coffins, parliament was never disrupted to the extent of blocking debate and transaction of business for days on end" (The Times of India, August 26, 2004). It is this difference in the tactics of the BJP-led opposition in the present Lok Sabha that should alert public opinion about the long-term strategy of the party. Reduced to a minority in the Lok Sabha, and failing to carry out its agenda of Hindutva through parliamentary means, it is now bent on undermining the institution of parliament itself, and forcibly implementing the agenda through street violence. Its plans to bring out 'tiranga' processions in protest against Uma Bharati's arrest, recall the murderous 'ratha-yatra' of the BJP leader Advani.
Incidentally, both Uma Bharati and Advani are still on the list of the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case - just as Laloo Yadav, Shibu Soren and some ministers of the present cabinet appear on lists of other crimes. One surely cannot justify the induction of these unsavoury characters in the UPA cabinet by specious arguments like - they may be criminals, but 'secular criminals', or that their crimes were of a less heinous nature than those committed by the BJP leaders. Such arguments are akin to the same fallacious claims made by the BJP that Advani and Uma Bharati did not indulge in ordinary crimes, but were leading a 'political' movement! If Laloo Yadav is charged with a scam involving crores of rupees, the BJP leaders stand accused of provoking riots (in the course of their 'political' movement) that led to the killings of thousands of innocent people. Both should face trial. But to be fair to the RJD and the JMM - although thoroughly unscrupulous and opportunist in their politics - they seem to have accepted the judicial system and are awaiting the verdict, instead of urging their followers to take to the streets to protest against the arraignment of Laloo Yadav, Taslimuddin or Shibu Soren - and thus create a law and order problem.
In contrast, the BJP had shown scant respect for any of the institutions of our parliamentary democracy - whether it is the judiciary, the executive or the legislature. It gave a pledge before the Supreme Court, and violated it with impunity by demolishing the Babri Masjid. When its leaders were charged under the law for the act, its cadres launched forth a nation-wide carnage of Muslims. Still later, in Gujarat the BJP chief minister Modi surpassed even Indira Gandhi (of the emergency period) in the art of manipulating the police and the state judiciary to suppress news of his misdeeds - which are now coming out, thanks to persistent efforts made by human rights activists who compelled the Supreme Court to probe into happenings in Gujarat under the BJP regime. The BJP therefore has no locus standi to complain about 'tainted' ministers in the UPA cabinet as long as it itself shelters criminals in its folds. Its latest act of impudence is its total disregard of the electoral verdict by refusing to accept its defeat, and take on the role of a responsible opposition in parliament.
Adult Delinquent
The present behaviour of the BJP is not surprising. It has not been able to get over its delinquency from its juvenile period (when it was known as the Jan Sangh). Its leaders and followers had always an uneasy relationship with the provisions of the Indian Constitution, which they are fond of flouting every now and then. They never accepted the goal of a 'secular' republic that is enshrined in the 'Preamble', and openly propagate (in the guise of 'pracharaks' of the RSS) the goal of a 'Hindu Rashtra'. They are also opposed to the provision in the Fundamental Duties chapter of the Constitution which enjoins Indian citizens to 'develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform'. Their minister in the NDA government, Murli Manohar Joshi, tried his best to subvert this provision by introducing subjects like astrology and palmistry in educational courses. Such attempts were not personal quirks of an individual minister, but deeply embedded in an ideology to which the BJP is committed. We should not dismiss the BJP as a party of ruffians looking for immediate gains. The ruffians are being employed by the leaders for a long-term political objective that is motivated by an ideology - the ideology of a theocratic state based on the most obscurantist norms of a Hindu religion that parallel the Talibanised interpretation of Islam.
The BJP is surely entitled to follow its ideology. But then it has to make up its mind whether to operate within the framework of the Indian Constitution, or outside it to gain its objective. It cannot have the cake and eat it too - participating in elections and rejecting the electoral verdict at the same time. All these years it had thrived on a combination of parliamentary politics and street violence. There has to be an end to this. Does the BJP have the guts to reject the parliamentary system, go underground and fight for its objective - as the Naxalites and the various secessionist outfits in Kashmir and the north-east have done? Whatever differences one might have with the ideologies and objectives of these groups, at least they have been more honest than the BJP in the pursuit of their goals by opting out from the system. It is difficult to imagine Vajpayee and Advani, or the Venkaiah Naidus and Arun Shouries in the role of underground leaders in a movement for a Hindu Rashtra! They want to have the best of both worlds - privileges as MPs within the system, and the right of violent assertion of their religious fanaticism outside it.
It is about time therefore that those who still believe in the workability of parliament in India (its numerous failures notwithstanding), realise that the BJP is a party which is persona non grata in the Indian parliamentary system. It has demonstrated on more than one occasion that it is committed to values and norms that are totally alien to those that underpin our Constitution. What is even worse, its religion-based political ideology is contrary to the socio-cultural tradition of plurality of Indian society. It rejects the streams of a multi-religious and multi-cultural Indian past - the only tradition that can be evoked to sustain the spirit of an otherwise fragile Indian nationhood - and instead selectively picks up those components of a historical past which reflect the divisive and orthodox Hindu ideas and practices that suit it to reinforce its arsenal of aggressive Hindutva. During the last five years, the BJP's cultural commissars bowdlerised history textbooks and re-wrote them as seen through the sleazy eyes of their RSS gurus, calculated to create a generation of fanatical louts. Given this deeply entrenched belief-system of the BJP, it would be futile to try to persuade it to reform its manners (as many liberal intellectuals hope to do), and dangerous to allow ourselves to be persuaded by its hypocrisy (usually represented by Vajpayee who is supposed to give it a 'moderate' face). The BJP does not deserve to be treated with kid gloves.
Challenge to Left
After having subverted the functioning of parliament and forcing it to adjourn sine die ahead of schedule, the BJP is now planning to take to the streets - the only arena where both its leaders and cadres can make their mark. In fact, it is their politics of street rowdyism that spilled over into parliament during the budget session. It is adding one excuse after another to its list of pretexts to whip up some sort of mass hysteria in the streets - the issue of 'tainted' ministers, Uma Bharati's arrest, Mani Shankar Aiyer's comments on Savarkar, and the prime minister's alleged misbehaviour with its deputation. It is quite clear that the BJP is out to create mischief in the coming days, leading to a violent situation that would jeopardise the existence of the present government. We may be soon witnessing an all too familiar scenario brought about by a well-crafted strategy carried out in stages - jail-bharo movement; demonstrations by frenzied mobs; police lathi-charge and firings leading to the birth of new martyrs in the list of the Sangh parivar; whipping up of public sentiments against the UPA government; pressures on some of the partners of the UPA to quit the coalition and leading to its fall. It is the same strategy that led to the collapse of the V P Singh-led National Front government in 1990.
Even if we may have reservations about the UPA government, surely we do not want it to be replaced by a BJP-led government again. The Left parties have to willy-nilly lend their support to this government - despite their serious objections to its economic policies. They cannot afford to withdraw support and pave the way for the return of the BJP. In such a situation how can the Left make the best of a bad job?
The Congress Party which leads the coalition is susceptible to the blackmailing tactics of the BJP. Some of its former chief ministers had earlier succumbed to such pressures by following a policy of 'soft Hindutva'. Given the composition of the Congress Party, one cannot expect it to put up a serious resistance against the militant offensive of the BJP. The mantle falls on the Left, which is committed to secular values and has an organised base of cadres and followers. Instead of leaving their leader Somnath Chatterjee alone as the speaker to handle the unruly crowd of cantankerous BJP MPs in parliament, the Left should rally their cadres to preempt the BJP ruffians from going on another rampage as they did in 1992, and again in Gujarat.
In fact, the BJP's strategy of disrupting the parliamentary system and coming out on the streets offers an opportunity to the Left to launch a counter-offensive against the party. The streets can be a public arena - through street-corner meetings - for revealing facts about the pro-British collaborationist role of the gurus of the BJP during the freedom struggle, the part played by the present leaders of the BJP in the communal riots that had been plaguing our country (well-recorded in the numerous reports of judicial commissions), and their persistent acts of violation of the provisions of the Indian Constitution. The Left should confront the BJP leaders in public with these questions, thus forcing them to shed their garb as a constitutional party and come out in their real colours. Such a confrontation is necessary to clear the mist that had enveloped the role and functioning of the BJP in Indian politics all these years. Does it abide by the Constitution? Is it a part of the RSS, which advocates a Hindu Rashtra that goes against the tenets of our Constitution? How many of its MPs are members of the VHP which publicly declares that Muslims are aliens in India?
There had been a lot of prevarication in the Indian state's dealing with communal forces like the BJP. We have paid an enormous price for such dilly-dallying, by suffering some of the worst communal riots in the country since partition. It is about time that we make a sharp distinction between the two streams of thinking and practice - represented on the one side by those who believe in a secular and pluralistic Indian society, and those on the other side who are dedicated to the building of a theocratic Hindu Rashtra. It is necessary to recognise that there cannot be any compromise between the two, and that the latter have to be defeated. This is the real challenge before the Indian Left today. But is the Left willing to take up the gauntlet?
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[4]
OneWorld South Asia 15 September 2004
LINK POPULATION GROWTH WITH DEVELOPMENT, NOT RELIGION by Ram Puniyani
Though the current controversy over the population growth rate in Muslims is misplaced, related issues like poverty and illiteracy in the community need redressal.
The current social common sense rides on many misconceptions. These myths form the base of 'hate other' ideology and have started creating emotional and physical walls between different communities in great measure in recent years. One of these myths is that Muslims marry four times.
In the prevailing scenario the census commission's observation that the rate of rise of Hindu population has declined from 25.1 per cent in 1981-1991 to 20.3 per cent in 1991-2001 and the rate of Muslim growth has gone up from 34.5 per cent to 36 per cent during the same period only adds to the misconceptions.
This despite the fact that a national newspaper published the news that the census commission has goofed up. In its report on religion, it forgot to mention that the previous data of 1991 did not include Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir. So the comparison and the supposed rate of rise seemed higher.
In reality there is a decline in the Muslim rate of growth to 29.3 per cent, which is a decline of 3.7 per cent. The total population of Muslims remains 13.4 per cent while the Hindu population is 80.5 per cent.
At the time of Partition the Muslim population was 11.6 per cent. Even in the current data there are some holes. To begin with many Adivasis (tribals) have now got themselves registered in the category of 'other religions,' rather than Hindus, which was earlier automatically put in front of their names. This time the minority Jains (who practice vegetarianism and advocate non-vi9lence) have also been put as a separate category.
So this decline in the rate of rise of the Hindu population is not as great as it appears. The national census commission did not highlight these intricacies of the data analysis, thereby affecting the interpretation. Was this lopsided presentation deliberate? Or, is it that our learned demographers cannot handle this simple analysis?
To begin with, one is surprised by the correlation of population and religion. The rise of population is more an index of poverty and lack of education rath than the teaching of any religion. And no religious community is spread uniformly all over India. The population growth rate among Muslims in Kerala is very low as compared to Muslims in other parts of the country.
Since Muslims have been discriminated against, their overall rate of population growth is higher. The last two decades in particular have seen an increased intimidation and consequently ghettoisation of the Muslim community. The more recent 2002 Gujarat carnage is a case in point. In such an adverse situation, social reforms and progress take a back seat.
There is a need to provide an atmosphere where the community can enjoy social and political life with security and dignity. Despite such an adverse situation, a decline in the population growth rate suggests that social workers are consciously focussing their efforts on education and progress in the community.
Religion based census data can serve a better purpose, though. If this opens our eyes to the plight of a particular community and its poverty, illiteracy and insecurity and we aim to redress it as a nation, the data will be worthwhile.
One hopes the government will take suitable remedial efforts to recognise that population control cannot be achieved without social progress and spread of literacy.
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[5]
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Online Petition for an Employment Guarantee Act in India
We shall appreciate if you could sign the petition to to be submitted to Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India regarding legislating the Employment Guarantee Act promised in the National Common Minimum Programme. Please click the URL below (or paste it in your browser) to sign the petition.
<http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ega04/petition.html>http://www.PetitionOnline.com/ega04/petition.html
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[6] [MEETING ON NEPAL]
Date: 16 September 2004
Dear friend,
Our neighbouring country Nepal is today passing through a critical phase. Earlier in 1990 as a result of the prolonged historical struggle by the people of Nepal, the Panchayati System was given a burial and a multi-party system was established in its place. At that time the Nepalese people preferred the constitutional monarchy as they were made to believe that based on British pattern the monarchy would just be in name only. But the way the present king Gyanendra dissolved the national parliament and took over the reigns of power made it amply clear that Nepal was still being ruled by monarchy. Moreover the spectacle of the formation of 15 governments within a span of 14 years is in itself a proof of the immaturity and incompetence of political parties in Nepal.
Since 1996 the Maoists in Nepal have continuously been waging a 'Peoples War' and for the last few months the youth and studentsí movement is rapidly gaining ground. Even the five major political parties of Nepal have launched an Anti-regression movement to oppose the dissolution of parliament by the king. All these movements have a common thread - to smash the institution of monarchy and establish true democracy. Today, Maoists have only one demand i.e. 'the election of a new constituent assembly'.
The prevailing socio-political upheaval in Nepal has provided an opportunity to US-led imperialistic regimes to intervene thereby endangering the sovereignty of not only Nepal but of all the nations of South Asia. In the name of Maoists of Nepal, the government of India has also started harassing the Indian organisations belonging to the students and youth of the districts falling near Indo-Nepal border. This harassment is being carried on the false allegation of these organisations providing help to the Maoists.
In nutshell the prevailing conditions in Nepal are grave and require urgent deliberations by South Asian fraternity.
Accordingly, to initiate deliberations we have organised a discussion on Saturday, September 18, 2004 at 10.30 A.M. at Gandhi Peace Foundation, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg. You are requested to participate in it along with your friends and extend your moral support to the democratic forces in Nepal.
Anand Swaroop Verma On behalf of 'India-Nepal Peopleís Solidarity Forum', New Delhi
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[7]
JAGAH: IN SEARCH OF SPACES The Gender and Sexuality Exhibition presented by the Nigah Media Collective
Venue: Arpana Fine Arts Gallery, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature (4/6 Siri Fort Institutional Area, New Delhi 110049, tel : 91-011-2649 8070 / 2649 4444)
Date: 25-27 September 2004
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[8]
Letter to the Editor, DAWN - 07 September 2004
MADRESSAH SYNDROME
In 1998 I had single-handedly opposed the CDA move to legitimize establishment of madressahs in the capital territory. The CDA proposal was in the form of a bill through which the authority was being permitted to establish madressahs in the capital.
This also led to legalization of previously constructed structures, which was beyond the mandate of the CDA. My opposition was based on the grounds that Islamabad should be free of religious seminaries. It was rejected through the brute majority of the treasury benches.
This led some religious parties and clerics to acquire land and consolidate their foothold in Islamabad. And now Islamabad has witnessed a series of terrorist activities.
At first it was wrongly propagated that madressahs had for centuries served as seminaries for imparting education and, secondly, poor economic conditions justified their existence.
If this is true, madressahs should not have mushroomed in upper middle class areas like Islamabad where residents are least interested in sending their children to such seminaries. The same is the case with Karachi.
The bottom line is that 95 per cent of students and 100 per cent of the faculty of madressahs in the two important cities are not locals. Food served in these madressahs is five times better than what 80 per cent of ordinary Pakistani students get.
Also, since most of the madressahs are physically linked with the mosques, utility bills, including electricity, are not paid. In contrast, many government schools in Karachi have neither electric fans nor drinking water.
Also, in the neighbourhood of the Quaid's mausoleum in Karachi, one can see seminary after seminary built in violation of the restriction that no building structure is allowed after one ground and one first floor. Another cluster of seminaries is found in Karachi's cantonment areas and in the various phases of the DHA.
Have we ever thought why this madressah syndrome is not found in other Muslim countries, though some are poorer than us? The fact is that many madressahs are a by product of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. They were used for purposes other than education.
Madressah students were used as cannon fodder. Most of the religious parties now in parliament have reaped a harvest in US dollars and arms and ammunition in the name of jihad by employing madressah students first in Afghanistan and then elsewhere.
Before the early 1980s, madressahs were largely non-existent in Pakistan, except in their logical strength. We were also poor in the 1970s, '60s and '50s but did not suffer from the madressah syndrome.
The USSR-Afghanistan conflict is long over and so are other factors, after our change of policies following 9/11. I hope Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will be bold enough to restore peace and prosperity to Islamabad and Karachi - one the country's capital and the other the country's financial capital. The quarter- century legacy of Zia's political Islam must end now.
KUNWAR KHALID YUNUS
Islamabad
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[9]
RESPONSE TO THE ARTICLE 'OF FIGURES AND INDIAN FASCISTS' BY J. SRI RAMAN IN SACW | 14 SEPTEMBER 2004
Date: 14 September 2004 Subject: population
Though he presents the quote reproduced below, J. Sri Raman pays no attention to the desirable increase in the growth rates of the Hindu populations of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
"The Hindus will be reduced to less than of the subcontinent's population by 2050", said [the RSS] spokesperson Ram Madhav, making it clear that the RSS was not happy with the Muslim growth rate in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh, either!
Mukul Dube
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[10]
The Times of India - September 17, 2004
THE IDEA OF INDIA: 'DETOX' PLAN NEEDS MEDIAEVAL FOUNDATION by Amaresh Misra
Congress's anti-sangh parivar detoxification campaign needs a perspective. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi launched similar anti-communal tirades in the 50s and the early 70s, but the sangh parivar, despite its overtly extremist character, managed to bounce back. What perhaps explains some of this resurgence is the beguiling clarity with which it looks at the past. It categorises mediaeval India as a dark period, pushing liberal historians into a quandary.
During the 90s, the Congress, liberal-secular Hindu and Left intellectuals were asked: Wasn't there Muslim domination before the British? Was Babar justified in destroying a temple and building a mosque at Ayodhya? Did not Muslims destroy Indian culture? The standard secular reply was defensive: Some Mughal emperors may have done something (bad) but the need is to look beyond and focus on the present; let's not rake up the past; let's concentrate on issues which unite and not divide and so on and so forth.
In contrast, the parivar's view of historical wrongs is a powerful idea. It may not give the BJP enough seats to form a government on its own but has certainly ensured that irrespective of government change, the anti-Muslim Hindu consciousness remains the norm. In this context, it is not surprising that detoxification faces resistance from within.
The crucial and decisive issue is the status of years 1206-1857: Were they years of darkness and bondage as depicted by the parivar? Available evidence suggests that these years saw India coming of age in matters of statecraft, engineering, metallurgy, physics, defence industry, weaving, shipbuilding and astronomy. India's wealth stayed in India for Indians. 'Muslims' did not destroy Indian culture; the best and second best among them gave ancient traditions a contemporary expression. They saved Indian culture from stagnation.
Delhi's Khilji mosque, Jaunpur's Attala Masjid, Tughlaq architecture, Sharqi painting, and Deccan schools of art and masonry blended the beam and the lintel with the dome and the arch. The temples constructed during the 18th century by Maratha personalities in Benares and Mathura have a 'Muslim' look: Kashi's Vishwanath temple, next on the sangh parivar's hit list, can still be confused for a mosque because of its oblong cupola.
The Mughal era was path-breaking. The old system of bookkeeping was mixed with Islamic accountancy in Siyaqnamah. Ayurveda was revived and interpreted in the light of Unani prescriptions. Mughal-Deccani painting borrowed motifs and styles from pre-Sultanate Jain, Rajput and southern schools. Dhrupad, Khayal and Qawwali matured out of several folk and pre-Sultanate musical structures. The tabla and sitar were fashioned out of the mridang and veena.
Amir Khusro, the father of this lost Indian renaissance, discovered khari boli. He composed several lullabies, riddles, children's poems and serious masnavis. Amir Khusro humanised and modernised the Indian ethos. Can the sangh parivar deny that? Emperor Akbar had Mahabharata, Panchatantra, Puranas and Ramayana translated in Persian. Their copies can be found today in several national and regional libraries of India. Mahabharata and Ramayana begin with Bismillah-ur-Rahim and have beautiful miniatures of Indian gods.
The culture evolved by the Mughals was cosmopolitan. Caste and religion were neither manipulated nor swept under the carpet. The Mughal pan-Indian gesture encompassed the spunk of the Bhumihar, the spine of the Turani, the pride of the Multani, the ruggedness of the Bihari and the resilience of the Dakhani. Before Akbar, Lord Krishna's statue was painted in black; the emperor reinterpreted 'Shyam Varna' mentioned in the Puranas as a shade of blue.
True Hinduism is not Hindutva but Sanatan Dharma established by Adi Shankaracharya and carried forward by Tulsidas and Surdas. Written under great orthodox pressure, Tulsi's Avadhi Ramcharitmanas projected the absolutist ideal of a contemporary king. Akbar was celebrated as a symbol of Ram in several Rajasthani ballads.
Sanatan Dharma's ekeshwarvaad (One God) was often equated with Islamic monotheism. Respective Shankaracharyas blessed Akbar, Shivaji and Tipu Sultan, warriors who fought for justice. There was no communal element in the fight of Sikhs and Marathas against the Mughals. Hindus and Muslims fought on both sides. Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Delhi declared Hindustan dar-ul-harb (where jehad is legitimate) only after Lord Lake captured Delhi in 1803, not when Marathas ruled Delhi in alliance with the Mughals.
The Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb or composite culture continued till 1857 through Urdu, Rekhti and a unique common Hindustani identity. All problems from modern communalism to invented histories can be traced to our defeat in the 1857 mutiny. The British doctored pseudo-reformist Hindu and Muslim currents after 1857, separating Hindi from Urdu and Hindu history from Muslim history. Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb, which had filtered down to peasant village and artisan culture, was sidelined. The ensuing distortions culminated in the tragedy of Partition.
There was little resistance when VHP goons levelled Vali Dakhani's mazaar in Ahmedabad during the recent Gujarat riots. Urdu's father-figure Vali Dakhani symbolised Indianness, on which the sangh parivar had launched an audacious, brutal attack. The parivar fulfilled what the British had dreamt of doing.
The line followed from 1206 to 1857 offers hope amidst despair. Indians need to be reminded that in their cosmopolitan past lies their only way forward.
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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/
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Sister initiatives : South Asia Counter Information Project : snipurl.com/sacip South Asians Against Nukes: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org Communalism Watch: communalism.blogspot.com/
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