[Please note there will be no SACW dispatches during the period 22 November - 8 December, 2004 ! ]
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South Asia Citizens Wire - 20-21 November, 2004 via: www.sacw.net
[1] India: BJP: back to the basics (K.N. Panikkar)
[2] India: Crime and Religion in a Soft State (I.K.Shukla)
+ Swami And Fiends
[3] Gujarat Riots, Getting Away With Murder - tracking vhp's gen secy on day 1,2 of riots (Stavan Desai)
[4] Gujarat Riots Cases Retrial:
- Zahira's somersault (Dionne Bunsha)
- VHP is funding Zahira's expenses (Bhupen Patel)
- Gujarat Genocide Trials: Appeal For The Protection of Witnesses signed by 1265 people
[4] India: National Meeting against Indian Penal Code section 377 - (Bangalore, 12-13 Dec, 2004)
[5] Upcoming event on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal accident :
Film screening: Bhopal: The Search for Justice (November 29, 2004, Vancouver)
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[1]
The Hindu Nov 20, 2004
BJP: BACK TO THE BASICS
By K.N. Panikkar
The BJP is left with no other alternative but to appeal to the RSS for succour.
THE DEFEAT of the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in the election to the Maharashtra State Assembly confirms the verdict of the people in the parliamentary poll. The politics of dissension and discord, which the BJP had pursued, did not receive the approval of the nation. Although no single party was voted to power, popular opinion favoured the secular forces. Even the parties that had sided with the communal forces have been shown the door. That this occurred despite the pro-communal blitzkrieg of the mainstream media and enormous amount of money pumped into the propaganda campaign underlines the strength of Indian democracy. But for this role of a section of the media, the BJP would have suffered a more humiliating defeat.
The defeat has left the Sangh Parivar in disarray. The introspection that followed has led to two conclusions. First, it lacks a sufficiently large social base to carry forward its agenda. Secondly, the appeal of its ideology is still in a nebulous state, even among its followers. The Sangh Parivar is, therefore, in the process of identifying new social groups for incorporation into its fold. At the same time, it realises the necessity of greater ideological cohesion to bind its various constituents. The journey of L.K. Advani to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters at Nagpur immediately after his nomination as the BJP president was in pursuit of this quest.
For the BJP, the access to power it gained in 1999 was a windfall. It was not expected, not even by the optimists in the party. Nor was it the result of a popular mandate in its favour. Its share of votes was only just above 20 per cent and the number of seats was much below the halfway mark. Yet, a government was formed under its leadership with the support of political parties that had nothing in common, ideologically or programmatically.
The common minimum programme based on which 22 parties cobbled together a coalition was, therefore, a compromise, which had far too many rough edges. The friction among the coalition partners was therefore inevitable which, despite the best efforts of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who tried to project a liberal face to sustain the alliance, developed serious fissures. While the BJP was not able to implement the Hindutva agenda, despite the constant pressure from other sections of the Sangh Parivar, the right-wing hidden agenda that the BJP increasingly pursued was disconcerting to the coalition partners. By the end of the term, therefore, several allies deserted the coalition and those who chose to remain were mauled by the electorate. The failure of the coalition government was partially the result of its own internal contradictions. The alliance is now at the verge of collapse. The lesson the Sangh Parivar drew from the defeat and the subsequent developments is that its future would depend upon its ability to strike out on its own.
The BJP drew its strength mainly from two sources. First, from the social and cultural work of the organisations sponsored by the RSS. Secondly, from its ability to invoke emotive issues for political mobilisation. By the end of its Government's term, the BJP suffered on both counts. The members of the Sangh Parivar felt that the Government did not do enough to realise the agenda of Hindutva, which included the construction of the temple at Ayodhya, the enactment of a common civil code, and the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Therefore many of them became lukewarm in their support and did not work hard enough for the party. At the same time, the euphoria aroused by the mandir agitation had died down and the party could not invoke another such issue to appeal to the religious sentiments of the Hindus. The effort to arouse national pride through the `shining India' campaign lacked any emotional content.
The commitment of the BJP Government to the agenda of Hindutva was never in doubt. Almost all leaders of the party, beginning with the Prime Minister, had repeatedly expressed their commitment to the construction of the temple at Ayodhya. They, however, could not implement it because the party came to power rather prematurely, much before the communal hegemony was fully realised. Yet, the BJP did not want to give up the advantages accruing from the control over state institutions, even if bridled by the compulsions of a coalition. The access to state power, it was believed, would open up immense possibilities for expanding its social base and for disseminating its ideology. The defeat in the election has left this project incomplete.
The Sangh Parivar is, therefore, forced to seek other strategies. Hence the new slogan immediately after the election: from Sansad to sadak, from the Parliament to the streets. The implication of the proposed change, however, is not privileging agitational politics over the parliamentary, but greater emphasis on `constructive' activities in order to further the communal divide. Towards that end, the Sangh Parivar has already chalked out a programme to promote the Hinduisation of social and cultural life, particularly of those who were traditionally excluded from the Hindu social order.
The Dalits and the Adivasis appear to be the targets of particular attention. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has already prepared a blueprint for the `emancipation' of the Adivasis through constructive activities covering their economic, social and cultural life. As a beginning, the Ekal Vidyalaya foundation, an outfit under RSS control, has initiated steps to set up a chain of single teacher schools in the Adivasi villages.
This is part of a larger programme to incorporate those who are traditionally outside the Hindu social order into political Hinduism. The creation of a new religious identity is central to this project, which is effected through the transformation of daily life practices. A change in the pattern of worship is being brought about. The places of worship of the Adivasis and Dalits are being transformed into Hindu temples, with brahminical deities replacing the earlier folk and local gods and goddesses. In doing so the Sangh Parivar appeals to the sanskritising potential of Hinduisation for the Dalits and the Adivasis. The aggressive intervention of the Sangh Parivar in these areas has two implications. First, it is likely to entail the loss of the traditional culture of these groups. Secondly, conflicts would accrue with the Christians who are already doing philanthropical work in these areas. The attack on the Christians during the last six months is a part of this conflict.
The politics of Hindu communalism was mainly rooted in cultural nationalism, defined as an identity derived from Hinduism, as evolved from the time of ancient religious scriptures. Initially conceived by V.D. Savarkar and later elaborated by M.S. Golwalkar in order to define the nation as Hindu, the Sangh Parivar has now decided to rearticulate it to regain lost ground. This is likely to foreground new symbols for religious mobilisation and possible antagonism between religious communities. Baba Budan Giri in Karnataka where the Vishwa Hindu Parishad has already succeeded in undermining an ideal syncretic tradition is a good example. It is likely that other sites of dispute would emerge during the next five years.
The Sangh Parivar is in the process of reorienting its course of action and ironing out its internal differences. There is a three-way division in its social base. The BJP draws its support mainly from the urban middle class, the VHP has its influence among the merchants, traders, and unemployed youth, particularly in the rural sector, and the RSS derives its strength from the members of the upper castes. Although the aspirations and interests of these three segments are vastly dissimilar they had bestowed faith in the Vajpayee Government to represent and safeguard their interests. But once in power the BJP was keen to sustain the Government, for which ensuring the support of the allies was imperative.
The BJP was, therefore, reluctant to pursue fully the Hindutva agenda, as the allies had reservations. Consequently, the performance of the Government, except that of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which had relentlessly pursued the RSS agenda, did not live up to the expectations of its supporters. The Sangh Parivar, therefore, faced a crisis of confidence, leading to mutual distrust and recrimination.
The defeat in the election deepened the crisis, so much so that the tension within the Sangh Parivar has come to the fore, with its constituents at loggerheads with each other. The RSS being the ideological mentor and relatively more disciplined is the only force that can hold them together. Therefore the journey of Mr. Advani to Nagpur, as the BJP is left with no other alternative but to appeal to the RSS for succour. Hindu communalism is thus poised to go back to the basics laid down by the RSS. And the basics are cultural nationalism and the politics of Hindutva. Given the past experience, it is reasonable to anticipate that their re-articulation will impact adversely on peaceful social relations.
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[2]
[20 Nov 2004]
CRIME AND RELIGION IN A SOFT STATE I.K.Shukla
The arrest of Jayendra Saraswati, the Kanchi Shankaracharya, has revved the saffronazis� collective temperature, as if it were a lucky break in their gloomy desperation which nearly drowned them sequent to reversal of their electoral fortunes. And, again, it is to their electoral restoration that the HinduTaliban are shamelessly and daringly seeking to bend this godsend. Jayendra Swami�s misfortune has been morphed into Hindutwa�s good luck. Somebody�s misfortune will always pave Hindutwa�s way to heist the vote bank. This is the only way it could make and secure its upstart ascent to power. Babri Mosque, Bombay pogroms, UP mayhems, and Gujarat genocide are some of the bloodiest stations of its chariot of fire. Out of power, Hindu theo-terrorists will be perforce more violent, more volatile, more vulgar.
Where does this propensity to outlawry and belligerence come from? It flows from the construct of Hindu Rashtra that posits exclusivist extremism, communal fascism, and ethnic cleansing. All this geared to maintaining Hindutwa hegemony of mono-theocracy by �purging� all the �others� who concretize and symbolize the Indian identity of multiculturalism and pluralism integral to the national culture and history. In brief, it is a tribal bid to maintain the status quo and keep the national wealth within a very limited class of traditionally privileged, parasitic, and predatory elite, the upper caste of Hindus.
This agenda impels defiance of and contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law. Hindutwa has openly proclaimed itself above both without ever mincing words. And it is quite consistent with its paradigmatic logic and ideological avowal of Hindu supremacy at the cost of minorities who are slated either for brutal subjugation or total liquidation. In both cases the instrumentality of horrific terror and violence as a policy and practical imperative remains paramount and inevitable.
This would explain the Hindutwa deficit of moral, modern, and democratic values and its pronounced antipathy to egalitarian social concerns that should engage a political party which ought to be seeking to improve the life of millions in the present. Hindutwa forswears any such commitment. Neither the alleviation of the miserable plight of the masses constitutes its prime concern, nor do the state interventions appeal to it that would improve, on a permanent basis, their day to day life of misery and privations. All of this mundane muddle can be assigned as maya to gods and goddesses (of whom there are millions) or, still better, karma. That leaves Hindutwa free to be drugged with and agitate for an imaginary past to restore which it would spill blood and steal the national till. Demographically then the national pie can be expropriated solely for the antediluvian tribe and its hangers on.
Jayendra Swami fits well into this picture. You scratch my back, I do yours. His �mediation� efforts with respect to the Babri Masjid stalemate should be seen in this light. It was a smart move, both to ignore and override the remit of the judiciary, including the Apex Court, and also to hoodwink or bamboozle the Muslims into accepting him as an �honest broker�, like the US in the case of Palestine. Without his known partisan commitment pledged to restore Hindu glory he could not have been allowed by the saffros to lend his �good offices�. If he could help the BJP and VHP thus to save face and be obliged to him, closeness to them (power centre) would certainly prove advantageous to him in the future in ways more than one. Calculations on the part of both Jayendra Swami and Hindutwa honchos were remarkably self-serving and pragmatically reciprocal.
That is another reason why the RSS clan is so aggressively and clamorously driving one more gangster chariot of still another ugly yatra through the land. This is a bold plan to mobilize the lumpens as �saviors� of Hindu Dharma. (One was Dara Singh, in Orissa, who torched alive Graham Staines and his two sons in the cause of Hindutwa). Plainly, however, it is subversive of the law and it must be treated as such. Any mollycoddling will boomerang on the polity and the UPA. Any indulgence for and compromise with crime and corruption by the UPA would only embolden the anti-socials, threaten social order, and wreck it wholesale. Congress has done itself no credit, but earned opprobrium by withdrawing the Hubli case against Uma Bharati.
Without the long pussyfooting accorded the Hindutwa hegemons India would not have been tarred and torn by the likes of Thackeray, Modi, Singhal, Togadia, Sudarshan, Joshi, etc. By any yardstick of juridical and moral norms they should long have been in the slammer and pre-empted from sowing discord between the communities and spouting vitriol against them to disrupt peace and harmony in the nation. Allowing them freedom to behave as they did was to license hooliganism and legitimate and endorse Hindu terrorism. If Congress-led UPA has not learnt from the past experience, it will only aggravate the malaise by treating it with kid gloves instead of with the iron heels that good governance and stability demand.
Another commonalty between the Hindutva bandwagon and Jayendra Swami was the upstart nature of their ambitious bid for power and legitimacy. Kanchi Math may not have been a pariah like the BJP brigade, but its disputed status since its inception, besides the original four Jyotishpeethas � Puri, Sringeri, Dwaraka, Badrinath, has long detracted from its claims of authenticity and parity with them. Jayendra Swami�s ambitious bid, piquantly, seems to have been to upstage them and thus assert equality with them (if not also political superiority over them). If he could pull it off by unraveling the Ayodhya tangle, he would have made his place in the history of Kanchi Math, if not that of India.
What he forgot in his less than spiritual leap is that Hinduism has no place or role for a Hindu pope. (Nor, any organization political or religious, was ever allowed to be Hindu Vatican). His whole vocational absorption requires him to be a man of scholarship (dedicated to the goddess of learning, Saraswati, thus a Saraswat) and absolute piety, that is, total detachment from politics and material pursuits. But his lukewarm and nominal attachment to studies and penance, he seems to have replaced with a craving for power or proximity to power (with a lush life style) that lends an aura of importance, however fleeting or jejune. Though in the post-Independence India, he is not the only one guilty of this deviance and derogation.
What is breath-taking is the effrontery of the Hindutwa brigade to take on the state, and make a sub judice criminal case a political ball to be played on the streets by mobs of frenzied or hired riff raffs available to VedicTaliban. It is not only their seditious drive that needs to be scotched ruthlessly and rapidly, but it also warrants their trial for contempt of court. They are openly calling for exemption of sadhus from law courts, and total immunity from prosecution for Shankaracharyas. So, the Hindutwa brigade seems to have set itself up above both the courts and the Constitution. Crimes committed by these �religious� persons are no crimes, it avers, and deserve no punishment, asserts the saffron cabal. This charter of immunity would license their crimes as unpunishable. It also absolves preemptively the members and leaders of RSS family for their crimes in Ayodhya, Gujarat, and from venal scams like the one unearthed by Tehelka.com.
Why is this cleric�s arrest being called by the saffros an attack on Hindus, boggles the mind. It is just like Modi claiming that charging him with crimes was tantamount to accusing five crore Gujaratis. Did he mean all five crore Gujaratis were rapists, arsonists, assassins, and robbers, in league with him and active in the killing field? Would Gujaratis agree, if only to enhance the glory of Hindutwa?
Advani has declaimed that religion cannot be separated from politics. What he means is blazingly clear: religion alone will play politics; religion (Hindutwa) would dominate political discourse; any crime committed by and any corruption indulged in by religio-politicos would be out of the ambit of law. He willfully forgets what Europe suffered for centuries with church colluding and identifying with the state. Or, he very cynically wants a repetition of the same in India. He and his dinosaur ilk must be made to realize that for his ignoble and long obsolete vision of religion and state collaborating against the people and desecrating the polity, he must be suffering from a time warp. He must be living in a bloody, brutal, past - better forgotten for its inhumanity, barbarism, and bottomless avarice. Church and state, like bandits, robbed the citizens by heavy exactions and by confiscating their properties. In the case of Gujarat genocide this robbery was a communal enterprise.
Advanis must have forgotten that not so long ago when in the US several church functionaries were caught in sex scandals, no political party raised any ruckus about it, nor the so-called followers of the church, neither the clerics nor the laity, demanding that the guilty be above law, left alone, and let go without arrest, arraignment, and punishment by the courts. They knew that would be ultra vires of the nation�s Constitution and detrimental to the rule of law. They did not side with the guilty. The HinduTaliban want criminals unshackled by the laws of the land just like its own rank and file and superimpose themselves as a suprastate on the nation.
That it could find in this sleazy episode a pretext and a tool for its own ends betrays Hindutwa�s bankruptcy and utter decrepitude. That functionaries of other religions have joined forces with these scabrous anti-nationals and proven subversives does them no credit. Have they too something shady in their affairs to hide? This question will be uppermost in the minds of people all over. It is better that they cleansed their stables in time, rather than seek expedient but immoral immunity.
It is time they all saw reason as the instrument of progress and human enrichment, and not duck under superstitions and purvey ignorance that only demeans humanity for the benefit of a few and perpetuates inequalities and injustices as some despotic god�s will.
It would be salutary for the Congress to remember, from its own past experience and from remembrance of things distant but pertinent to the present, that the soft state pandering to religious extremists and theo-terrorists contributes mightily to social anarchy and irreversible disintegration as it writes its own suicidal note. It is allowed no time to write its own epitaph. Buckling to bullies and brigands is called cowardice and brings neither security nor honor.
Let the anti-socials learn a lesson or two, let the state vigorously assert itself.
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[see also]
Swami And Fiends http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=1&fodname=20041129&fname=Cover+Story+%28F%29
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[4]
Frontline Volume 21 - Issue 24, Nov. 20 - Dec 03, 2004
ZAHIRA'S SOMERSAULT
Dionne Bunsha
The shocking turnaround by the star witness in the Best Bakery case has raised concerns about the effectiveness of the re-trial.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2124/stories/20041203003304000.htm
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Mid Day November 20, 2004 VHP IS FUNDING ZAHIRA'S EXPENSES By: Bhupen Patel
The Sangh Parivar has a firm grip on Zahira Shaikh and her family.
A Vadodara-based organisation, Janadhikar Samiti, has been providing financial and legal assistance to the star witness in the Best Bakery case and her family in their 'fight' against social activist Teesta Setalvad.
But the samiti is not as non-political as the English translation of its name - People's Rights Group - sounds. It has powerful connections with the Parivar.
The samiti counts among its own Ajay Joshi, president of the Vadodara unit of VHP, and Anil Desai, a sitting BJP corporator from Vadodara. Joshi and Desai were in fact on the panel of lawyers who appeared for the 21 accused in the case in a Vadodara court.
The group's name came to light yesterday when Zahira's brother Nafitullah told the special court in Mazagaon conducting the Best Bakery retrial that the samiti had been helping the family.
Joshi confirmed his links with the group. "I am a supporter of the samiti. Whenever they call me for meetings I make it a point to attend," he told this paper. Desai was unavailable for comment.
Tushar Vyas, founder-president and convenor of the samiti, admitted the group was "helping Zahira and her family in every possible way."
The samiti had given them free legal aid, had arranged for Zahira Shaikh's press conference on November 3 (in which she accused Setalvad of pressuring and threatening her to speak against innocents) in a three-star hotel Surya Palace in Vadodara and was even taking care of the family's accommodation expenses in Mumbai, he said.
According to Vyas, Nafitullah and others in the family had met him nearly a year ago. "They complained they were being pressured and manhandled by Teesta Setalvad. Since we allot free legal aid, we extended support to Zahira and her family, as we would do for any needy person," he said.
"The samiti arranged the Surya Mahal press conference, asked advocate Atul Mistry to look after the family's legal needs and is bearing their accommodation expenses in Mumbai," he noted.
Vyas said the Samiti was formed a year-and-a-half ago and had its office in an apartment in Mangalmurti Kothi, Chara Rasta, Vadodara.
The group had among its members retired government district sessions court judge V S Moghe, retired dean and faculty of Law Commission professor H C Dholakia, retired science professor A M Parikh, two chartered accountants and one dentist, he added.
The Samiti had organised many seminars, Vyas said, and mentioned two that reaffirmed its links with the Parivar.
In April 2004, he said, it had held a seminar on 'Threat to the judiciary from pseudo-secularism' at the Town Hall in Gandhinagar. The other seminar, on 'The Supreme Court verdict on the riot case retrial,' was held in July 2004.
Asked who was financing the Samiti, Vyas replied: "We get donations from common individuals. There are doctors, lawyers and several others helping us, but no politicians."
What Nafitullah said about the Samiti
* He met 'Tushar uncle' of Janadhikar Samiti a year-and-a-half ago after the Vadodara court acquitted the 21 accused in the Best Bakery case
* The Samiti helps the needy and gave him clothes the first time he got in touch with its members
* He later met the Samiti members again in October 2004, after he fled Mumbai
* They arranged for accommodation for the family
* The Samiti arranged Zahira's press conference in Vadodara, provided the family with lawyers and is bearing all their expenses.
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19 November 2004
To: President of the Republic of India, to the Prime Minister, to the Minister for Home, and to the National Human Rights Commission
GUJARAT GENOCIDE TRIALS: APPEAL FOR THE PROTECTION OF WITNESSES
[...]
Initiated by Mukul Dube and Harsh Kapoor
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The above appeal has been endorsed and signed via the Internet by 1,265 people from India and elsewhere. Some 11 people signed twice, and one instance in each case has been replaced with the word "duplicate". In addition, 2 signatures were blanks which have been marked "void". The list of signatories along with the petition has now been sent to the President of India, to the PM, Home minister etc. People are invited to continue to sign on. A second lot of signatures will be sent to the authorities before the end of 2004. The petition is available on the Internet at:
www.PetitionOnline.com/gapw/petition.html
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[5]
Indian Express November 21, 2004
GUJARAT RIOTS, GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER
an express investigation, part one / tracking vhp's gen secy on day 1,2
3 yrs later, cellphones start talking: who called whom when Gujarat was burning
Two CDs with more than 5 lakh entries have been lying with the Gujarat police and are now with the Nanavati-Shah riots panel. These have records of all cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad over the first five days of the riots which saw the worst massacres. Staff Reporter Stavan Desai spends several weeks unmasking the story hidden between and behind these numbers. The first of an exclusive series
AHMEDABAD, NOV 20 : Vishwa Hindu Parishad's general secretary in Gujarat is a pathologist called Jaideep Patel. He was booked for rioting and arson in the Naroda Patiya massacre, the worst post-Godhra riot incident in which 83 were killed, many of them burnt alive. The police closed the case saying there was not enough evidence.
Two compact discs could change that.
For, they contain records of all cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad from February 25, 2002, two days before the horrific Sabarmati Express attack to March 4-five days that saw the worst communal violence in recent history.
This staggering amount of data-there are more than 5 lakh entries-was investigated over several weeks by this newspaper.
They show that Patel was in touch with the key riot accused, top police officers, including the Police Commissioner, top government officials, and even the Chief Minister's Office while Naroda burned.
The CDs, obtained by the Crime Branch of the Gujarat police way back in April, are now sitting with the Nanavati Shah Commission. They have been obtained by The Sunday Express and are a treasure trove of information that investigators could build on in their search for justice for the riot victims.
These are not transcripts of conversations.
These show:
* How the riot accused were in regular touch with politicians, police officers and government officials. All at a time when the city and the state was burning, when the Narendra Modi government looked the other way and the Opposition Congress went to sleep.
* Using cellphone tower locations, the data also gives information on the physical location of the caller and the person at the other end.
In the first of a series of reports detailing the records of the key characters of the Gujarat riots, The Sunday Express looks at the movements and calls of VHP leader Jaideep Patel.
Records show that Patel, who lives in Naroda, was there when the massacre began, then left for Bapunagar which also witnessed killings and returned to Naroda. And that he was in touch with other riot accused, Babu Bajrangi, Ashok Govind Patel, Bipin Patel and local BJP MLA Maya Kodnani.
February 27, 2002
Sabarmati Express attacked at 8.05 am, bandh called by VHP in the evening, BJP backs the bandh
Patel is in touch with senior police officials, his VHP colleagues in Delhi, state Home Minister, BJP chief
Recalling the calling
* When asked to explain his cell records, Jaideep Patel said: ''I don't remember who all I spoke to, it's been a long time since Godhra. But I brought the bodies to Ahmedabad, I might have spoken to cops as some Godhra victims could have been from Naroda. I might have spoken to people in the govt, I do not know. After all, I am a leader of the Hindus, several people speak to me everyday. It can't be said that because I spoke to certain persons, something happened somewhere.''
* Why was Minister Gordhan Zadaphia in touch with Jaideep Patel?
Zadaphia: ''When the inquiry commission will ask...I will reply. If I'm speaking to different persons who I think can help me restore normalcy, there is nothing wrong.''
* Why did the Chief Minister's Office contact Jaideep Patel?
PS Tanmay Mehta, who made the call: ''I do not know anything about this.''
* Did the Crime Branch study the cellphone records before closing the case against Patel?
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) P P Pandey: ''There are certain aspects about it yet to be looked into. As the Police Commissioner is on leave, I cannot comment.''
* Will the review panel, set up at the behest of the Supreme Court, look into these records while scrutinising the 2,100 closed riot cases?
DGP A K Bhargav who heads the panel: ''These cellphone records have little value, they do not prove anything. Yes, these can be used to trace the movements of an accused.'' * 11.09 am: Patel leaves the city for Godhra.
* 12.48 pm: Patel is in Godhra and one of the first persons he speaks to is then Ahmedabad DCP (Zone V) R J Savani who calls him at 1.05 pm.
* 2.29 pm: Patel receives a call from a Delhi number and speaks for 215 seconds. This number is registered in the name of Bharatiya Sanskriti Pratishthan, Sector-6, R K Puram, New Delhi, the VHP headquarters.
* 3.30 pm: Patel calls state BJP President Rajendrasinh Rana and speaks for 267 seconds. At 4 pm the VHP called for a Gujarat Bandh the next day, on February 28, 2002, and the BJP quickly declares its support.
* 5.00 pm: Patel receives a call from Bharatiya Sanskriti Prathisthan, Delhi and speaks for 357 seconds.
* 5.07 pm: Patel again receives a call from this Delhi institution.
* 5.14 pm: DCP Savani calls Patel and speaks for 117 seconds.
* 5.17 pm: DCP Savani again calls Patel.
* 8.03 pm: Then state MoS (Home) Gordhan Zadafia calls Patel and speaks for 159 seconds.
* 8.39 pm: Patel calls Zadafia.
* 9.13 pm: Patel calls Zadafia again, this time for just 3 seconds.
* 9.16 pm: DCP Savani calls Patel and speaks for 138 seconds.
* 9.20 pm: Patel again calls Zadafia and speaks for 186 seconds.
* After 11.58 pm: Patel leaves for Ahmedabad with the bodies of the 58 persons who were killed in the S6 coach of Sabarmati Express.
FEBRUARY 28, 2002
Ahmedabad erupted; worst massacre in Naroda Patiya; curfew imposed in all 30 police station areas
Patel is in touch with Naroda corporator minutes before massacre begins
* 2.34 am: Patel enters Ahmedabad with the 58 bodies of Godhra victims, heads for Sola Civil Hospital.
* 9.17 am: Patel calls then state Health Minister Ashok Bhatt and after 10 minutes, leaves for Naroda.
* 10.11 am: Patel reaches Naroda and at 10.52 calls one Ashok Govind Patel of Naroda and speaks to him for 80 seconds.
(Ashok Govind Patel, who has been in constant contact with Jaideep Patel, is a BJP corporator from Naroda and an accused in the killing of eight persons in Naroda on February 28, 2002 and also in the case in which Jaideep Patel was named as an accused and which was later closed by the Crime Branch.)
* 11.05 am: Patel receives call from a cellphone which was allegedly being used by the prime accused in the Naroda-Patiya massacre, Babu Bajrangi.
The phone is registered in the name of one Priyanka Mahendra Pandya, B/3 Pragat Ghanshyam Society, Ranip. Records reveal that the phone had been carried to Godhra the previous day and was located in Naroda area from morning of February 28, 2002 till 8.28 pm.
When contacted by The Sunday Express, Mahendra Pandya, father of Priyanka Pandya, said: ''I have been using this cell number for more than year. Three years ago, it was with Babubhai (Babu Bajrangi).''
According to the police FIR, the attack on Naroda-Patiya started at 11 am and went on till 8 pm.
* 11.12 am: Patel again receives a call from Naroda corporator Ashok Patel.
* 11.21 am: Jaideep Patel leaves for Bapunagar area. This was one area in the city which witnessed unprecedented violence and the maximum number of deaths in private firing was reported from this area. This was under the control of DCP R J Savani.
* 11.32 am: Reaches Bapunagar and calls Minister Zadaphia.
* 11.37 am: Key accused in the Naroda-Patiya massacre, Bipin Panchal alias Bipin Auto, calls Patel and speaks for 62 seconds.
* 11.40 am: Patel calls then DCP (Zone IV) P B Gondia, under whose jurisdiction Naroda-Patiya and Gulbarg Society fall-38 persons, including ex-Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, were killed in Gulbarg-and speaks for 85 seconds.
* 11.52 am: Patel again calls DCP Gondia and this time speaks for 106 seconds.
* 11.55 am: Patel calls Ashok Patel and speaks for 63 seconds.
* 12.01 am: Ashok Patel calls back.
* 12.07 pm: Patel calls Ashok Patel and speaks for 71 seconds.
* 12.10 pm: Patel calls then Naroda BJP MLA Maya Kodnani and speaks for 79 seconds.
* 12.20 pm: Patel calls DCP Gondia and speaks for 42 seconds.
* 12.25 pm: Patel returns to Naroda.
* 12.39 pm: Patel returns to Bapunagar area.
* 12.57 pm: Patel receives call from the cellphone being used by Babu Bajrangi.
* 1 pm: Bipin Panchal calls Patel and speaks for 86 seconds.
* 1.17 pm: Bajrangi calls again.
* 1.19 pm: Bipin Panchal calls.
* 1.23 pm: Bipin Panchal calls again.
* 1.43 pm: Bipin Panchal calls again and speaks for 72 seconds.
* 3.25 pm: Patel receives a call from the Chief Minister's Office and speaks for 141 seconds.
* 7.20 pm: Patel receives call from a cellphone registered in the name of Sanjay Bhavsar of General Administration Department, Government of Gujarat, and speaks for 102 seconds.
* 7.24 pm: Bhavsar calls again.
* 7.28 pm: Patel calls Bhavsar.
* 7.31 pm: For the first time in the day, Patel calls then Police Commissioner P C Pande and speaks for 47 seconds.
* 8.29 pm: Patel returns to Naroda area.
* 9.11 pm: Tanmay Mehta, Personal Assistant to the Chief Minister, calls Patel. The conversation lasts 209 seconds.
* 11.32 pm: State BJP President Rajendrasinh Rana calls Patel and speaks for 13 seconds.
By midnight, senior police officers, including Joint Commissioner of Police M K Tandon had reached Naroda-Patiya. The massacre was over, the survivors were being moved to hospitals and relief camps hastily set up by the Muslim community at Shah Alam and Dariya Khan Gummat. Another massacre had taken place in Gulbarg Society. Defence Minister George Fernandes arrived in town, the death toll was 125 and counting.
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[6] [National Meeting against Indian Penal Code section 377]
Dear friend(s)
Sec 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), criminalizes 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' (many Indian Judges consider all sexual acts other than penile-vaginal sex as unnatural) and is used by the police widely to threaten/blackmail/extort money from kothis, doubledeckers, homosexual/bisexual men and hijras. Sexuality minorities from the poor backgrounds and male/transgender sex-workers are worst affected by IPC 377, as they have to use public spaces a lot of time. There are judicial decisions that have criminalized sexual activities like fellatio (oral stimulation of penis), cunnilingus (oral stimulation of vagina) and anal sex. The punishment for these 'criminal activities' can be anything between ten years to life imprisonment.
Though both sexuality minorities and heterosexuals engage in anal and oral sex, only sexuality minorities are perceived to be engaging in these 'deviant' sexual practices by the moralistic police and society. In Indian democracy, where every citizen is promised equal rights and non-discrimination, IPC 377 obstructs sexuality rights and right to life/liberty/privacy of every individual and the attainment of human rights of marginalized sexuality minorities.
Various groups, organisations and individuals working for the rights of sexuality minorities, sex-workers, human rights have been raising their voices against IPC 377 in different parts of India for a few years now. There have been legal interventions, public protests and innumerable discussions around IPC 377. Needless to say the process has not been a smooth one and has faced opposition and antagonism from the state to the public due to the largely queerphobic attitude of our society, its systems and their keepers. The latest blow to this process has come from Delhi High Court, when the court dismissed a petition on IPC 377 (requesting the court to read it down to exclude consensual sexual acts between adults in private) filed by Lawyers Collective on behalf of Naz Foundation (India) Trust. Same court has dismissed the petition to review their judgement.
We feel there is a need to coordinate all our efforts all over India in order to build public opinion, only which can eventually yield pressure on the system to repeal this anti-human rights law. The process will also help in changing societal attitudes towards sexuality minorities.
In this regard, we are organising a national meeting to discuss future strategies for coordinated efforts against 377 in Bangalore on the 12th and 13th of December, 2004.
We invite everyone to be present in this meeting and lend your support, ideas and suggestions so that we can all together design a nation-wide plan to abolish IPC 377.
Friends, please confirm your participation at the earliest so that we can organise your stay and take care of other logistical details for the meeting. As we have limited funds, we regret that we will not be able to provide travel, stay and food expenses for everyone. However, we will be able to provide second class train fare and accomodation to a limited number of participants. The stay and food should cost around Rs. 400-500 per person. Please, once again, confirm your participation at the earliest.
Please circulate this invitation widely.
In Solidarity,
SANGAMA along with Alternative Law Forum (Bangalore), Bharosa (Lucknow), FIRM (Trivandrum), Lawyers Collective, Naz Foundation (India) Trust, Parma/Vikalp (Baroda), PUCL-Karnataka, Sahodaran (Chennai), Saksham (Rajamundry, AP), Sangram (Sangli), SIAAP (Tamilnadu), Snegyitham (Trichy), SWAM (Chennai), WINS (Tirupati)
Contact Persons: Mamu and Manohar
Phone: 09880223470 (Mamu), 09880223460 (Manohar), 080 22868680/121 (SANGAMA)
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Address: SANGAMA, Flat 13, Royal Park Apartments, 34 Park Road, Tasker Town, Bangalore - 560051.
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[7]
Dear friends:
On Dec. 2, it will be twenty years when a gas leak in a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal killed thousand of people over night, and left hundreds of thousands permanently maimed. The effects continue to mar the lives of people till today.
We invite you to join us to remember the tragedy and to know what has happened since, Come and wtch a latest NFB movie on the subject. Come and listen to Dr. David Sazuki and other people on the panel.
The admission is free, but limited to the capacity in the theatre. So be there on time.
The following link will take you to a variety of material on the background, including the many lies Dow Chemical has been mouthing.
www.bhopal.net/res.html
See you there on November 29, 7 p.m.
hari sharma for SANSAD
On the ocassion of the 20th Anniversary of the worst Industrial Disaster of the world: BHOPAL
SANSAD is pleased to join
Amnesty International and Greenpeace
to co-sponsor the Vancouver premiere of
Bhopal: The Search for Justice (a 52-minute documentary produced in 2004) directed by Peter Raymont and Lindalee Tracey
Presented by
The National Film Board of Canada & White Pine Pictures
Monday, November 29, 2004, 7:00 p.m. UBC Robson Square Theatre Room C-300, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver. [Canada]
A panel discussion to follow:
Panelists: Dr. David Sazuki Dr. Hari Sharma, SANSAD Lindaleee Tracy, of the Film-makers team Mr. Don Wright, Amnesty International A representative of the Greenpeace
On December 2, 1984, the release of poisonous methylisocyanate gas from the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India killed tens of thousands of people and maimed hundreds of thousands more. It was, and remains, the world's worst industrial disaster. Twenty years later, amid charges of corruption, graft and greed, little compensation has been paid to the victims and their families. Bhopal is a sad, disgraceful testament to the absence of environmental and human justice.
This powerful new documentary explores and analyzes the prospect for environmental and human justice in Bhopal. At stake is more than fair compensation for the many affected and afflicted - "Bhopal" has become a rallying cry and a test case for international environmental law and human rights.
For further information: Amnesty International: 604-294-5160 SANSAD: 604-420-2972
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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/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
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/
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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