goanet-digest Sunday, April 14 2002 Volume 01 : Number 3826
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In this issue:
[Goanet] Alishka
[Goanet] NEWS: After its NDA allies, BJP faces salvoes from the printed page...
[Goanet] NEWS: Seaside tilt from T-shirt to trident (for Vajpayee in Goa)
[Goanet] NEWS: NRI ad asks Indian government to stop Gujarat killings
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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 12:38:03 +0530
From: Ashley Delaney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] Alishka
Friends,
Alishka's minor operation for her teeth was successful she had 7 of them
removed. now the main operation awaits.
she has left along with her parents (and an uncle and aunt who are needed
for blood donation) to madras yesterday by bus. the operation is scheduled
for tomorrow sometime i am as yet uncertain of the timing as we do not know.
at this time, i request for prayers for the same.
Regards
Ash
=================================================================
Ashley Delaney (Whether you think you can or think you can't, you are
right.)
Res: Abreovaddo, Saligao, Bardez Goa. India. 403511
Ph.(R) 0091-0832-409580 Mobile: 9823014976
MSN MESSENGER: delaneyashley , Yahoo ID: ashleywiz
Instant mail!!!! [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 13:20:04 +0530 (IST)
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] NEWS: After its NDA allies, BJP faces salvoes from the printed
page...
After NDA allies, BJP faces salvoes from the printed page...
PANAJI, Goa. April 14 - Beleaguered by its allies, pilloried by
public opinion, and now the ruling BJP is finding itself blitzed by an
ad-campaign telling it to take serious its task of providing good
governance.
As the ruling party's three-day national executive ended in Goa on Sunday, a
full-page advert surfaced in a section of the press, urging the BJP to "stop
the killing in Gujarat at once, please!".
Put out by NRIs based in the US, the ad asked the Indian government to
"protect life and property of all the citizens, provide immediate and
long-term assistance, prosecute attackers of innocent men women and
children, promote harmony groups to prevent future tragedies, and publish an
action-taken report in 30 days".
"We are deeply anguished by the gruesome atrocities happening in Gujarat. We
are also appalled that the government has not been able to stop the killing
even after 40 days," said the advert published by individuals in
Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and other centres of
non-resident Indian migration.
It is also backed by the India Foundation in East Lansing (Michigan), the
India League of America, Seva International, Vaishnava Centre for
Enlightenment of Michigan, the Vedanta Society of East Lansing, the
Association of Indian Muslims of America in Washington and groups working
for communal harmony in India.
"You must vigorously prosecute and punish the criminals and their
supporters, regardless of how high or low a position they hold. Please take
effective steps for estoring immediate peace to Gujarat," they told Prime
Minister Vajpayee.
On Saturday, some 200 citizens in Goa marched in a peaceful protest in the
Goa capital of Panaji, even as the BJP national executive was underway. The
protest was against what the citizens called "state-abetted communal
killings in Gujara", and was organised by the Forum for Communal Harmony.
It demanded Gujarat's Narendra Modi government be dismissed, President's
Rule be imposed, and an inquiry under a sitting Supreme Court judge be set
up to probe both the Godhra and post-Godhra killings and punish the guilty.
Relief needed to be implemented "without discrimination", it demanded.
This Forum also called on the Goa government to immediately set up a state
human rights commission and a state minorities commission.
Playcards carried read: "Mr PM, hide your face in shame, not from world
leaders, but from the women and children of Gujarat" and "Bharat ki
parampara -- Shanti, Sadbhav Bhaichara" (India's tradition, peace and
communal amity).
"Participation was good. It did make the point," advocate Tina
Almeida, one of the protest leaders, told this correspondent.
On the initial day of the launch of the three-day meet, local newspaper
Herald carried a full-page of articles critical of the anti-minority Gujarat
violence, which was carried just opposite to another full page official
advert issued by the BJP-run state government welcoming "poet, statesman and
prime minister" Vajpayee to Goa.
It carried former IAS official Harsh Manders's article on why
the Gujarat violence "brought shame and more shame to India",
and a case by industry to argue that "secularism (and communal
peace) is good for business". (ENDS)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 15:43:09 +0530
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] NEWS: Seaside tilt from T-shirt to trident (for Vajpayee in Goa)
SEASIDE TILT FROM T-SHIRT TO TRIDENT
FROM RADHIKA RAMASESHAN http://www.telegraphindia.com/ [The Telegraph,=20
Kolkata]
Panaji, April 13:
Goa has proved to be a landmark in more ways than one for the BJP and Atal=
=20
Bihari Vajpayee.
In 1995, when the BJP held its first national executive here with its=20
Hindutva tag intact, Vajpayee did something that stunned hardliners: he=20
attended a dinner on the Kalangut beach in jeans and a T-shirt.
The sartorial departure, it later emerged, was =93politically=94=
significant.=20
At that time, the BJP was finding it difficult to wipe off the taint of the=
=20
Babri masjid demolition. So Vajpayee wanted to convey the message that his=
=20
party had its share of =93easy-going liberals=94 who did not necessarily=20
subscribe to the =93Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan=94 slogan symbolised by the=20
dhoti-kurta regimen.
The 1995 executive was also important for its policy decisions. The BJP=20
decided to strike strategic alliances wherever it could, keep its ideology=
=20
flexible to woo =93secular=94 allies, and consider projecting Vajpayee=
rather=20
than L.K. Advani as its prime ministerial candidate. In 1999, when the BJP=
=20
executive met here again, Vajpayee addressed a public rally mostly in=20
English as a goodwill gesture to the Goans.
The 2002 session will go down as an event where the Prime Minister wore=20
only dhoti-kurta and addressed a public meeting in Sanskritised Hindi. But,=
=20
most important, he spoke like a pracharak unmindful of the fact that 30 per=
=20
cent of Goa=92s population was Christian and was keenly following and=20
reacting to the Gujarat violence as a silent protest march through Panaji=20
today testified.
BJP sources explained why Vajpayee had discarded his =93secular=94 mask. The=
=20
objective, they said, was as much to soften up criticism within the=20
executive on the poll reverses as to tell the Sangh parivar that he was=20
still one of them. The implicit message: the parivar should not ditch his=20
party as it allegedly did in the recent elections.
A discussion on the elections was to have been the main agenda of the=20
executive. Sources said state-level leaders, as well as a section of=20
Central bigwigs, had sharpened their knives to attack the government. =93But=
=20
the emphasis would have been on Hindutva and how giving it up has cost the=
=20
BJP its votes,=94 said a senior member.
=93If the Prime Minister continued to take the plea that he was bound by the=
=20
National Democratic Alliance agenda, there were people ready to ask him why=
=20
he went overboard on secularism from time to time with his Kumarakom=20
musings and the tears he shed in the Ahmedabad relief camps. It was high=20
time the Prime Minister told the party what his own stand on secularism=
was.=94
The sources said the members were even prepared to suggest that if the NDA=
=20
government had to be given up for the cause of =93Hindutva=94, so should it=
be.
The drama over the resignation offer of Gujarat chief minister Narendra=20
Modi and Vajpayee=92s anti-Muslim remarks at yesterday=92s public rally were=
=20
meant to pre-empt such arguments.
=93The message from his speech is that the BJP is still a party with a=20
difference,=94 said Shivraj Chauhan, BJP youth wing chief and MP from Madhya=
=20
Pradesh. =93Our core ideology is cultural nationalism. It has manifested=20
itself in different ways =97 Ayodhya, swadeshi, and now Gujarat. If an=20
attempt was made to equate Godhra with what followed thereafter, it would=20
have amounted to a betrayal of cultural nationalism.=94
BJP vice-president Gopinath Munde said Vajpayee=92s pro-Hindutva speech was=
a=20
reaction to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi=92s =93shrill rhetoric on=
secularism=94=20
in Guwahati.
=93Goa and Guwahati have to be seen in tandem. We have to keep Sonia in=
focus=20
for our own political survival and also to keep our allies together and=20
tell them that they cannot fight the Congress separately,=94 the former=20
Maharashtra chief minister said.
His logic: the more high-pitched Sonia=92s tone on secularism is, the more=
=20
difficult it would be for the NDA=92s =93secular=94 allies to match it. (END=
S)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2002 15:46:25 +0530
From: Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: [Goanet] NEWS: NRI ad asks Indian government to stop Gujarat killings
NRI ad asks Indian government to stop Gujarat killings
By Frederick Noronha, Indo-Asian News Service
Panaji, Apr 14 (IANS) Beleaguered by allies and pilloried by public opinion,
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now been taken to task by an
advertisement sponsored by NRIs based in the U.S.
As the three-day national executive of the BJP ended in Goa Sunday, a
section of the press published a full-page advert that urged the government
to "stop the killing(s) in Gujarat at once, please!"
"We are deeply anguished by the gruesome atrocities happening in Gujarat. We
are also appalled that the government has not been able to stop the
killing(s) even after 40 days," said the advertisement, sponsored by
individuals in Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and predominantly
Indian localities in the U.S.
It is also supported by U.S.-based organisations like the India Foundation
in East Lansing (Michigan), India League of America, Seva International,
Vaishnava Centre for Enlightenment, the Vedanta Society of East Lansing and
Association of Indian Muslims of America in Washington.
It asks the Indian government to "protect (the) life and property of all
citizens, provide immediate and long-term assistance, prosecute attackers of
innocent men, women and children, promote harmony groups to prevent future
tragedies, and publish an action-taken report in 30 days."
Asking the government to restore immediate peace in Gujarat, it added: "You
must vigorously prosecute and punish criminals and their supporters,
regardless of how high or low a position they hold."
The advert comes in the wake of criticism in print closer home.
On the first day of the national executive, the Herald, an English daily in
Goa, devoted an entire page to articles criticising the sectarian violence
in Gujarat, which has claimed nearly 830 lives.
One of the articles was by a former official in the federal administrative
service, who enumerated why the Gujarat violence had "brought shame and more
shame to India."
The other was a case by the industry, pointing out that "secularism is good
for business."
The critical articles appeared opposite a full-page ad issued by the BJP-run
state government, welcoming "poet, statesman and Prime Minister" Vajpayee to
Goa.
The protest against the Gujarat killings spilled on to the streets of Panaji
Saturday with a group, the Forum for Communal Harmony, taking out a peace
march to protest against the "state-abetted sectarian killings in Gujarat."
Marchers carried placards that read: "Mr Prime Minister, hide your face in
shame... from the women and children of Gujarat" and "India's tradition is
peace and sectarian harmony."
The rally demanded the dismissal of the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat
and imposition of federal rule. It also demanded an inquiry by a Supreme
Court judge into the burning of a train at Gujarat's Godhra town February 27
that led to the death of 58 Hindus and the anti-Muslim violence that
followed. Around 830 people have in the state, and most victims have been
Muslims.
- --Indo-Asian News Service
------------------------------
End of goanet-digest V1 #3826
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