Over the years I have signed several petitions against such right wing tirades, inlcuding a CA state school textbook material on Indian history and of course signing a petition that successfully prevented Gujarat's chief minister (who turned a blind eye toward carnage sponsored by BJP types) from coming to the US.
I highly recommend Amartya Sen's The Argumentative Indian for appreciating the historical significance of Indian heterodoxy in politcal thinking. Cheers, anthony xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Anthony P. D'Costa, Professor Comparative International Development University of Washington 1900 Commerce Street Tacoma, WA 98402, USA Phone: (253) 692-4462 Fax : (253) 692-5718 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Fri, 3 Nov 2006, Hari Kumar wrote:
Thanks to Rghu & Ravi for amplifying the the issue. Raghu: "Pfft! 1700 signatories? Big deal. Compare with a 1.1 billion Indians and 1000,000 people of Indian origin in the US (at least 50% of whom are online)." REPLY: Sure - agreed! Raghu: "Also as Ravi points out the article is seriously dated. Joshi is no longer education minister and his party no longer rules India. Has the new government reversed some of those awful textbook changes?" REPLY: 1. Indeed ravi's addition was helpful. I was reminded of this article by the Communist workers party Pakistan e-list, & it just struck me as where the 'real' enemies were (rather than in the sect next to us & trying to talk to us I mean). 2. Yes there have been changes in India. I hesitate to use that emotive word that apparently some here feel should be banned, but the move towards fascism there is even more pervasive now, in my own view. What are we to make of the moves to curtail court justice in India vis-a-vis the case of Afzal (Go to: http://parisar.wordpress.com/) I confess I do not have direct knowledge of the textbook issue. 3. Of course the matter of constitutional rights and constant denial of them in Indian 'justice', and my linking of them to a relationship to 'fascism' - should prompt the question - "Why do I make a distinction between here & there in this regard? (See my earlier note re fascism definitions etc). After all my understanding of the Bush manoeuvres around the rights of Guantanamo bay prisoners etc, might be tarred with the same slogan. I think that there is more 'freedom' to withstand such assaults here than there is in India right now. I grant you - I may be on thin ice on this argument - but I think there is a separation. 4. Finally - to another 'banned' word. that is the word 'conspiracy'. Reverting to the State led move to the hanging of Afzal Guru: I quote from the Indian journal 'Revolutionary Democracy': "Save Md. Afzal Guru From Being Hanged! Two new articles have been added on the Afzal/ parliament attack case which establish that the NDA government had intelligence reports suggesting that the Indian parliament was about to be attacked: Pranab Mukherji's Reply to Home Minister L. K. Advani's Statement in Parliament on 18 December 2001 Manmohan Singhâs Reply to Home Minister L. K. Advani's Statement in Parliament on 18 December 2001 See: http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/ " With Best Wishes, Hari
