South Asia Citizens Wire | December 3-4, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2331 - Year 8
[1] Cuban Doctors In Pakistan (Aasim Sajjad Akhtar) [2] Linking school children across conflicts,and divides: Some schools in India-Pakistan link-up (BBC) [3] India: On the 22nd anniversary of the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal: (i) Sambhava Exhibition Inaugurated (Press Release by Sambhavna Trust Clinic) (ii) 22 years of tearful remembrance (Central Chronicle) [4] India: Hindutva at work in Karnataka: - Is Chikamagalur turning into South India's Ayodhya? (Priyanjana Dutta) - Simmering Tension: The Sangh Parivar holds Shobha Yatra despite it being banned by HC. - VHP, Bajrang Dal take out Shoba Yatra - Komu Souharda Vedike activists arrested in Chikmagalur - Action - Alert: Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike activists arrested for fighting communalists in Karnataka - BJP carries out Shobha Yatra amid concerns (Maya Sharma) - BJP's Shobha yatra runs into controversy - Hindu Sena to hold Datta Jayanti on December 4 - Ties between ruling JD(S), BJP in K'taka under strain (Shekhar Iyer) - JD (S) leaders plan meet against Gowda - Deve Gowda swears by secularism (Muralidhara Khajane and Laiqh A. Khan) - Communal Frenzy in Coastal Karnataka (Dr V.Lakshminarayana) - Mangalore 'Riots' (Nalini Taneja) - Saffron spread (Pamela Philipose) [5] India: The Hindu Rashtra and its exclusions (Jyotirmaya Sharma) ____ [1] Monthly Review November 2006 CUBAN DOCTORS IN PAKISTAN: WHY CUBA STILL INSPIRES by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (Aasim Sajjad Akhtar is a political activist associated with the People's Rights Movement (PRM), a confederation of working-class struggles. He also teaches colonial history and political economy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.) [. . .] For all of the talk of Cuba being wedded to the failed communist experiment and the obsolete ideals of the Cold War period, it is mainstream America that still uses the language that was commonplace at the height of the superpower conflict. Cubans who come over to Miami are "defectors" and are treated as liberated prisoners of war by the exile community. Just how preposterous such portrayals actually are is reflected in the fact that Cuba's biggest income-earning industry is tourism-millions of Europeans, Asians, and Africans (and even a fair share of Americans) visit the island every year, none of whom are considered by their own governments to be "spies" or possible "defectors." Cubans' remarkable commitment to internationalism is also down-played globally due to the smear campaign that Washington and the U.S. dominated corporate media spearheads. Cuba has sent its troops around the world in support of numerous liberation struggles, including many in Southern Africa and Asia. Perhaps even more significantly, Cuban doctors are found in the remotest of areas worldwide, serving populations that may never have seen doctors before. The most recent such episode was in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in Pakistan's mountainous region in October 2005. The Bush administration has consistently referred to Pakistan as a "front-line state" in the post-September 11 period, and one would think that the earthquake would have presented an opportunity to reward the military regime of General Pervez Musharraf for its extremely unpopular support for the "war on terror." But it was at this time of great suffering of the Pakistani people that imperialism's hollow slogans of neoliberal internationalism were exposed, while the virtues of socialist internationalism were plain for all to see. Over 2,500 Cuban doctors lived and worked in the earthquake-hit zones for six months after arriving in late October 2005. For many of these doctors, this was the first time that they had been exposed to any kind of winter, let alone a relatively harsh one in an area with very little in the way of protection, particularly after the devastation of the earthquake. The Cubans developed intimate relationships with thousands of those they treated, even though they were very careful not to engage in too many discussions and debates on politics, particularly relating to the discontent that is rife against the army's domination of public life. For many Pakistanis, the Cuban experience was a revelation. In the first instance, there was a stark sense of disbelief that these individuals came to Pakistan of their own free will and that they stayed well beyond the point that most global relief efforts had wound down. Pakistanis found it very hard to understand the picture that the Cubans painted of the dynamics of Cuban society. They could not relate to the idea that the majority of Cubans believed in and were committed to a profound sense of social equality, especially when they compared this to the deep-rooted hierarchies that permeate Pakistani society. Perhaps more unbelievable was the notion that the state actually promoted this shared solidarity-Pakistanis know the state to be committed only to undermining such processes. The Cubans too found many aspects of what they saw around them to be somewhat unbelievable, perhaps most of all that so many of their patients were actually seeing a medical doctor for the first time in their lives. The Cubans also distinguished themselves from the rest of the relief effort by either living in tents under the same conditions as those displaced by the earthquake, or when in Islamabad, renting rooms at the most modest hotels that they could find. This was in stark contrast to the staff of most of the international aid agencies, who not only contributed to the creation of an extremely harmful and artificial parallel economy in the earthquake areas by paying for everything in foreign exchange and doling out huge amounts of money to meet their basic "subsistence" needs, but who also tended to spend an enormous amount of time in five star hotels in Islamabad and other big cities. As with all major donor funded operations, a healthy chunk of the monies committed to earthquake relief was channeled toward the overhead costs of the relief teams themselves. Not so with the Cubans who were provided a fairly meager allowance even by Pakistani standards and shopped and ate in the working-class areas of Islamabad (hidden as they are from view by a very sinister planning process), interacting extensively with ordinary people in these areas in a spirit of great camaraderie. The Cubans have since committed to providing training services to Pakistani doctors for free, admitting Pakistani medical students to universities in Cuba, and continuing to send Cuban doctors to Pakistan to work in under-serviced areas, a practice that was much more common when the socialist bloc still existed, but is now slowly being experimented with again in friendly Latin American countries. In some cases, such as those of Venezuela and Bolivia, the Cubans are receiving cheap oil and gas in return for their medical expertise, but in the Pakistani case, the Cuban offer of assistance was made (and accepted) without demand for something in return. There has been talk of a broader preferential trade agreement between the two countries, although there has been no explicit progress on this initiative as yet, ostensibly because General Musharraf would rather not annoy his more prized ally ninety miles to the north of the little island. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Pakistanis who came into regular contact with the Cubans were kept under strict watch. In cases where there was a suspicion that the interaction had moved beyond basic conversation about health-related issues, and particularly when the Cubans met local political activists with even a slightly leftward tilt, the intelligence agencies wasted no time in asserting themselves. A number of people were questioned about their exchanges with the Cubans and implicitly warned not to meet them again. Pakistan has long been a bulwark against communism-and is now ostensibly a bulwark against terrorism-hence the tolerance for any "communist" influence is virtual nil. It is a testament to the nature of the Pakistani state that it constantly complained about its lack of capacity in dealing with the earthquake, particularly in terms of a shortage of civil servants, and yet still had enough state functionaries to collect intelligence on the activities of a team of Cuban (read: communist) doctors who were arguably the most effective of the many foreign relief teams that came to Pakistan after the earthquake. Like its patron the United States, the Pakistani state clearly has not moved beyond the hang- ups of the Cold War, while, to their credit, the Cubans avoided any controversy and dedicated themselves totally to their work, making sure to engage publicly only on matters related to their medical tasks. U.S. involvement in the earthquake areas was also very conspicuous. Apache helicopters that were graciously excused from duty in Afghanistan made numerous daily trips with various aid supplies from air bases in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to the earthquake-affected areas. The helicopters were, without doubt, extremely valuable because the road network was badly disrupted: many roads were simply unusable while those that were intact had to deal with a massive increase in traffic that seriously undermined the relief effort, which effectively became a race against time. But what was not well known to the general public was the cost that was being incurred for limited use of the aircraft. It was initially reported that the Americans were "renting" the helicopters to the Pakistanis, their most prized of allies, although this was quickly denied and the original story discredited. A relatively small number of American troops were also sent over from Afghanistan to conduct sporadic missions to the remotest of peaks where it was impossible to transport medical help or supplies by road. On the whole the Bush administration committed $150 million in congressional aid to Pakistan for the earthquake, in comparison to over five times that amount for the tsunami relief effort in 2004-05. As with most such aid however, only a fraction of it has been disbursed as of this time, and, as is also the common practice with foreign aid, the vast majority of the funds committed is in the form of loans-albeit low interest. This means that the interest owed will end up being greater than the value of the principal loaned. In fact, of the more than $6.5 billion committed to Pakistan by the international donor community, only a fraction was committed in grants. The government has actually received a little over $1 billion. What is remarkable about these amounts is how they actually compare to the tens of billions that the United States is spending annually in nearby Afghanistan, the first major front of the "war on terror." Further, the total U.S. defense budget for 2007 is $447 billion. It should be borne in mind that there are over two hundred Apache helicopters in Afghanistan of which only eleven were deemed expendable enough to be sent over to Pakistan. The U.S. strategy in Afghanistan is not improving things in that terribly unfortunate country. In fact it is further exacerbating an already dire situation. Meanwhile, the U.S. munitions industry continues to make billions of dollars by selling weapons to warring factions in Afghanistan and earns even more from its sale of F-16 aircraft and weapons technologies to Pakistan. On the whole, the United States has directly contributed to the militarization of Pakistani state and society, and it shares responsibility with the Pakistani military for the political process being a shambles. Even as the sheer magnitude of the devastation caused by the earthquake became clear, the American intervention remained dwarfed by its unending desire to dominate the region. All in all, the differences between little, embargo-stricken Cuba's contribution to earthquake relief and that of the world's richest and most powerful country, the United States, were stark. Pakistanis have been bitterly opposed to the present government's naked policy of alignment with imperialism, yet they are typically only exposed to the hateful sloganeering of the religious right as an alternative to the Musharraf junta's adoption of a radical neoliberal policy framework. The religious right claims that it is the only principled opposition to the military's pro-imperialist stance even though it too has a very similar political philosophy (read: Islam vs. the infidel West) to the U.S. with-us-or-against-us war on terror. Since the religious right's takeover of power in the North-West Frontier Province and signing of the constitutional amendments package that legitimized the lame-duck arrangement that allows Musharraf to retain almost absolute power, the majority of the Pakistani people have had their long-held suspicions about the religious right confirmed-that it offers no alternative to neoliberal capitalism at all, and that, in fact, its politics mirror that of its alleged sworn enemy, the imperialist United States. It was therefore very significant that Pakistanis-particularly working people, including those in serious need-were able to spend time with the Cubans and learn about a genuine alternative to the soulless and exploitative social order that exists in Pakistan and the vast majority of societies around the world. [. . .]. http://www.monthlyreview.org/1106akhtar.htm ______ [2] Generation Next Global link-up The BBC will connect children and schools across conflicts, tensions and divides School Day 24, taking place on 6 December, is all about linking schools across conflicts, tensions and divides. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/6187034.stm o o o BBC News 28 November 2006, 19:39 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6192278.stm SCHOOL DAY 24: INDIA-PAKISTAN COMPOSITE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN DELHI AND PAKISTAN TAKING PART IN THE LINK-UP India and Pakistan Indian students are linking up with pupils at a Pakistani school to share perspectives about their countries' past and look at the differences in their respective history textbooks about the period before 1947 when both nations were one. India gained independence on 15 August, 1947. A new country, Pakistan, was also born on that day. Until 1947 they were one nation fighting together to end British rule. But this same freedom struggle is taught differently. Although both countries share a common history, youngsters are reading it with different perspectives. The link-up will ask: how can citizens of both countries expect to be friends when books instill a sense of rivalry? India and Pakistan have fought three full fledged wars in 1948, 1965 and 1971 and also had a direct conflict in 1999. Kashmir, a mountainous region, has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for more than five decades. _____ [3] ON THE 22ND ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNION CARBIDE DISASTER IN BHOPAL PHOTO URL: http://www.centralchronicle.com/20061203/mah.jpg PHOTO CAPTION: Members of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Sangathan, an organization for the welfare of Bhopal gas victims, holding Mahatma Gandhi posters, during a demonstration in Bhopal, India, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006. o o o [Press Release] December 01, 2006 SAMBHAVA EXHIBITION INAUGURATED BY DOCTOR WHO PERFORMED BHOPAL AUTOPSIES AFTER THE 1984 DISASTER Sambhavna Trust Clinic, Bhopal, November 29, 2006 The Sambhavna Trust Clinic that provides free medical care to the people poisoned by Union Carbide in Bhopal will be holding a 4-day exhibition at the Swaraj Bhavan on the occasion of the 22nd anniversary of the worst industrial disaster in the world. Viscera-specimens-450.jpg The exhibition will be inaugurated by Dr D K Satpathy, Director, Medico Legal Institute at 5 PM tomorrow and will continue till December 3rd the day of the anniversary. Specially aimed at children and those born after the disaster the exhibition presents photographs, documents and other artifacts in simple language. An on the spot painting competition will be held for school students in three categories on all days. Dr Satpathy who carried out the largest number of autopsies following the disaster on December 3, 1984 will be speaking on the contributions of forensic science in apprehending those responsible for the disaster. Journalist Mr Rajkumar Keshwani who had forewarned about and campaigned against the hazards of the Union Carbide factory will be speaking at the exhibition venue on December 2. Former operator of MIC plant in the factory and author of a book on the technical causes of the disaster Mr T R Chouhan will answer questions on the evening of December 1. The Sambhavna Trust Clinic completed 10 years of its work this year. Nearly 18000 (17, 980) people are registered for long term care at the clinic through Allopathic, Ayurveda, Panchakarma and Yoga systems of healing. This year till November 6608 people poisoned by Union Carbide [4524 female, 2084 male] visited the clinic. The members of the Sambhavna Trust Clinic said that this year they have started several new works in the face of adversity and loss due to the floods in the city in mid August. Facilities for eye care, large scale production of herbal medicines, microbiological tests in the pathology laboratory have been added to the clinic this year despite heavy financial losses due to damage to the walls and the herbal garden in the clinic. In addition several medicinal plant gardens were created in the affected communities. The members stated that proper medical care that includes healing through Ayurvedic, Unani and Yoga systems of medicine, Clinics in every affected community, Gainful employment, Pensions, Safe drinking water, Clean up of contaminated soil and ground water, Medical research, Health education and Health surveillance are critically needed for the improvement of health of the people poisoned by Union Carbide. Satinath Sarangi Amita Gupta Masarrat Jehan Ritesh Kumar Pal o o o o Central Chronicle December 3, 2006 22 YEARS OF TEARFUL REMEMBRANCE By Our Staff Reporter Bhopal, Dec 2: ''We do not have any sensational news for you, we have the sorrow and suffering of the Gas Tragedy victims and the documents linked with a long battle for justice. But is anyone still interested about those affected by the world's worst industrial disaster?'' When social activist Abdul Jabbar raises this poignant question his eyes reveal the fatigue and sadness of the past 22 years during which he has been involved with the case. Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangathan Convenor Jabbar needs to wipe his clouded eyes repeatedly as he was also affected by the methyl isocyanate that leaked from the Union Carbide India Ltd (UCIL) factory here on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, immediately slew thousands and affected lakhs. Responding to a query, he says, ''I am tired and also vexed but not disappointed. I will continue championing the cause of the victims' rights. Over the past 22 years, 34,000 persons died as a consequence of the inhalation exposure. One-lakh persons were either temporarily or permanently handicapped. To add insult to injury, those responsible are yet to be brought to book.'' Meanwhile, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur, also a former chief minister, told that the state government is extending all possible assistance and treatment to the victims. ''I was myself a witness to the tragedy and therefore the rehabilitation of those affected is my foremost priority. Time and again we have requested the Centre for aid and Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's stance has been co-operative. The Centre should either help in securing more compensation from Union Carbide or sanction financial assistance itself,'' he feels. Pointing out that Singh agreed in principle on the demand for doling out aid to the remaining 20 wards of this city, the minister adds that the Centre has been urged for help in constructing an international-level memorial in front of the now-closed UCIL unit and safe removal of toxic substances in the soil of the premises. ''Treatment of victims is done free of cost at the Bhopal Memorial super-speciality hospital at Karond and related medical institutions. No complaint has been made to me in that regard,'' Gaur says while denying any proposal to wind up his department. On December 1, 1987, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a charge sheet in the district court against a total of 12 accused including the then Union Carbide Corporation chairman Warren Anderson, the then UCIL chairman Keshav Mahindra, managing director Vijay Gokhale and Union Carbide Eastern, Hong Kong. The bench declared Anderson as an absconder. Accused RB Roychoudhry, the then assistant works manager, is deceased. The case is being argued in the chief judicial magistrate's court for about two decades and in February Mahindra and eight others together appeared before the bench for the first time. ''Hearings ought to take place every day. When the fake passports case, in which (underworld don Abu Salem's starlet girlfriend) Monica Bedi is one of the accused, can be heard regularly why not the criminal case relating to the world's worst industrial disaster?'' feels Jabbar. Mayor Sunil Sood paid homage to the victims of dreaded 'Gas Tragedy' on Saturday. Bihar Sanskritik Parishhad, BHEL has decided to organise a two minutes silence followed by homage to the gas victims on December 3 at Saraswati Aradhana Kendra, Berkhera. WCR Indian Scouts and Guides G.No.1 is going to offer a 'Flowery Wreath', followed by two minute silence and homage to the gas victims at Shaheed Smarak on December 3 at 8:30am. The 22nd anniversary of Gas Tragedy would be observed as 'Demand Day' by Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila & Purush Sangharsh Morcha. Member of the Morcha would hang the effigy of Warren Anderson and would also present a memorandum to the governor, chief minister and gas relief minister. Gandhiwadi Jankalyan Samiti under the leadership of Kallu Pehlwan is going to burn the effigy of Warren Anderson at Itwara Square on December 3 at 11:00am. After paying homage to the gas victims, food would also be provided to the poor. Shiv Sena offered homage to the gas victims at Bhawani Chowk premises on Saturday. The party workers also burnt the effigy of Warren Anderson. Sena demanded that 22 years have passed and union government has not fulfilled its promises. _____ [4] Hindutva at work in Karnataka: Turning Bababudangiri into Ayodhya News and Reports Is Chikamagalur turning into South India's Ayodhya? Priyanjana Dutta (CNN-IBN , December 03, 2006) http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/12/is-chikamagalur-turning-into-s-indias.html SIMMERING TENSION: The Sangh Parivar wants to hold a Shobha Yatra despite it being banned by HC. http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/27599/is-chikamagalur-turning-into-s-indias-ayodhya.html VHP, Bajrang Dal take out Shoba Yatra Komu Souharda Vedike activists arrested in Chikmagalur http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/03/stories/2006120307440400.htm Action - Alert: Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike activists arrested for fighting communalists in Karnataka Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 19:57:39 +0530 http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/12/action-alert-karnataka-komu-souharda.html BJP carries out Shobha Yatra amid concerns Maya Sharma http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/12/bjp-carries-out-shobha-yatra-amid.html BJP's Shobha yatra runs into controversy NDTV Correspondent Saturday, December 2, 2006 (Chikmagalur): http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/12/bjp-carries-out-shobha-yatra-amid.html The Hindu, Nov 11, 2006 Hindu Sena to hold Datta Jayanti on December 4 http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/11/karnataka-hindu-sena-to-hold-datta.html HindustanTimes.com » States » Karnataka » Story Ties between ruling JD(S), BJP in K'taka under strain by Shekhar Iyer http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/10/ties-between-ruling-jds-bjp-in.html JD (S) leaders plan meet against Gowda http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112603840800.htm Deve Gowda swears by secularism by Muralidhara Khajane and Laiqh A. Khan http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/26/stories/2006112603850800.htm Liberation November 2006 Communal Frenzy in Coastal Karnataka by Dr V.Lakshminarayana http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/11/communal-frenzy-in-coastal-karnataka.html Mangalore 'Riots' by Nalini Taneja http://communalism.blogspot.com/2006/10/mangalore-riots.html o o o The Indian Express February 03, 2006 Saffron spread BJP has used its UP strategies to rise in Karnataka. Will it be different now? by Pamela Philipose Politics in Karnataka could be the script for a fine Yakshagana performance. The angst of a wronged father confronting a wayward son who threatens to squander a carefully constructed political legacy, has mythological resonances that will long echo through the capacious corridors of Bangalore's Vidhana Soudha. H.D. Deve Gowda knows well the price the Janata Dal - which flags the word 'secular' as part of its nomenclature - will have to pay for son H.D. Kumaraswamy's pact with the BJP. He sees it for what it is: political suicide. The BJP's ascent to governance in Karnataka - if things go according to plan - will see the emergence of a bipolar polity in the state. It will also mean an end to the Janata Dal, as we know it, 12 short years after its big moment when various factions led by strongmen H.D. Deve Gowda, S.R. Bommai and R.K. Hedge fought elections together and gave the state its first Janata Dal government. For the BJP, breaking the south-of-the-Vindhyas barrier will come as a major psychological boost - the culmination of 16 years of concerted labour. While covering the 1991 General Election in the state, I could distinctly discern the saffron tint in the air. The Congress, which until then had enjoyed unchallenged suzerainty in the state, had trouble even in encashing politically the sympathy generated by Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. I remember speaking at that point to the erstwhile maharaja of Mysore, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, who had deserted the Congress for the BJP. He believed that time was on the BJP's side: "The youth are the moving force today, and they are supportive of the Hindutva cause. The Rajmata may have invited me to join the party, but I am convinced about the BJP's politics. I am a practicing Hindu and the Congress Party's policy of minority appeasement was too much." He subsequently found it more advantageous to return to the Congress, but there was no denying the political frisson he had referred to. That election saw the BJP emerge with four seats in Karnataka - a first in the south - and, more significantly, 29 per cent of the votes. In '89, it could secure only 2.6 per cent of votes! How did this happen in a state that had witnessed the Congress's one-party dominance ever since its birth? The cynical and corrupt politics of the Congress certainly helped, but without doubt Karnataka was the most receptive among the four southern states to the passions unleashed by the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. The Sangh Parivar's Rama Jyothi processions introduced a new dynamic into local politics as a string of riots, in towns like Ramnagaram, Channapatna, Kolar, Devangere, erupted in September-October '90. In Mangalore, Congress's Janardhana Poojary who won election after election by cleverly posing as the 'Poojary of the poor', bit the dust in that election. The BJP's V. Dhananjaya Kumar, buttressed by vocal support from local temple trusts and pilgrim centres, like the influential Pejavar Mutt and the Shree Kshetra Dharmasthal, defeated him by 35,000 votes. Over the next decade the BJP consolidated its hold in three pockets of the state: the coastal belt, the Bombay-Karnataka and the Hyderabad-Karnataka regions. There is a popular misconception that the BJP's politics in the south is markedly different to its north Indian variant. The fact is that the party's political strategy - the "exclusion-inclusion" paradigm - was essentially the same in Karnataka, as in UP. It played the Hindu card and deepened communal divides in the state, while working for a homogeneous Hindutva identity by melding together disparate caste groups. To help in polarising the state along communal lines, the Karnataka BJP threw itself into the Idgah Maidan campaign in Hubli, with some help from national leaders. In 1992, during Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta Yatra, local party workers attempted to hoist the flag in the Maidan to contest the ownership rights of the Anjuman-e-Islam. The party persisted with the campaign for the next two years, through episodes of rioting and deaths in police firing. Even after the Anjuman-e-Islam authorities defused the issue by themselves deciding to hoist the national flag, the Sangh Parivar continued to target the Idgah Maidan, making Hubli something of a communal hotspot. Its exertions saw a rise in local profile. By 2002, a party that had no presence in the Hubli corporation ten years earlier, had come to occupy 40 per cent of its seats. The conscious search for an Ayodhya-like flashpoint, also saw the Sangh Parivar home in on the Guru Dattatreya Baba Budangiri Swamy dargah, near Chikmagalur. In December 2003, the VHP-Bajrang Dal attempted to "liberate" the dargah with notables like Pravin Togadia and Sadhvi Ritambara providing the required soundbites. The state BJP participated in this campaign with great enthusiasm. If "exclusion" required the services of the stormtroopers, "inclusion" demanded intense community networking. It was along the coastal belt that attempts to construct a homogeneous Hindutva identity proved most successful. Two factors worked in its favour there. The first was the presence of a disciplined RSS cadre. Ram Madhav, RSS spokesperson, is on record for having noted that the Dakshina Kannada district had become one of the strongholds of the RSS because in at least 300 places shakas have been running at least two programmes each. These included civic interventions like promoting village cleanliness, temple maintenance, water purification, the creation of self-help and knowledge dissemination groups. The powerful mutts and temples that dot the Mangalore-Udipi region were sites of community bonding around festivals, bhajan sessions, and locally convened Hindu Samajosavas. In these activities, the lower castes - which in an earlier era had been kept at a distance - were consciously wooed. Such activities and institutions worked as force multipliers for the BJP. At the political level the party kept itself open to anyone willing to do business with it. If Ramakrishna Hegde had helped it consolidate the Brahmin-Lingayat vote, winning over S. Bangarappa (albeit for a short spell), broadened its appeal among the Idigas. This strategy of inclusion-exclusion has paid the party rich dividends in Karnataka, where surveys indicate that the party now enjoys considerable support from SC/STs and OBCs in the state. The BJP's biggest problem so far had been its inability to make that final leap to power and thus keep its restive flock intact. Kumaraswamy may have just solved that dilemma - for the time being, at least. _____ [5] Magazine Section / The Hindu December 3, 2006 The Hindu Rashtra and its exclusions Rejecting secularism: Celebrating Golwalkar's birth centenary in Bhopal. Photo: A.M. Faruqui MADHAV SADASHIV GOLWALKAR, the chief mentor and ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for 33 years, believed that freedom in 1947 had left two significant issues unresolved. The first was the question of the relations between various communities. The resolution of this problem, Golwalkar felt, was closely linked to a second question, namely, that of defining the idea of `pure' nationalism. For him, the idea of nationalism and nationhood had not even been born in this country. Title of `ownership' In sharp contrast to what Golwalkar and the RSS regarded as the prevailing misguided notions of the nation, the Sangh's founder, Dr. K.B. Hedgewar, had come to the conclusion that an ancient country like India with a unified past ought to be a nation. He realised, says Golwalkar, that from the very beginning this land was a Hindu nation, not the `patchwork quilt' that the Congress had envisioned. The nation had to be founded on the basis of reviving Hindu culture and forging unity on the basis of culture. Having rejected the secular foundations of free India and ridiculed the substance of the freedom won in 1947, Golwalkar proceeds to establishing a clear title of `ownership' of the nation for the Hindus. He exhorted the Hindus to emphatically claim that they represented the very roots of this land, that they constituted its primary and only component. The very existence of this nation, he adds, is the responsibility of Hindu society. Establishing the primacy of the Hindus was relatively simple. Golwalkar's story begins a thousand years ago, when, according to him, there was no one in this country other than Hindus. Of course, there were many sects, denominations, languages, castes and kingdoms, but all of these were Hindu. The Shakas, the Huns and the Greeks came, but they had to become Hindus. They failed to contaminate and corrupt Hindu society. Rather, Hindu society managed to absorb them completely. The situation was very different now. Hindus have had to share their land with other religions and communities. Defining a `Hindu' was a far more complex task. A Hindu is one, Golwalkar explains, who believes in `our' historical tradition, who reveres `our' great men, and who has faith in `our' principles of life. Here, the possessive adjective `our' stands for Golwalkar's idea of a historically eternal, though momentarily fractured, Hindu society. Acutely aware that confining the Hindu Rashtra to Hindus alone would invite charges of narrowness and communalism, Golwalkar rejects such charges as a sign of lack of clarity and residual slavishness. For him, there was one truth and this truth had to be announced to the world loudly and clearly: Hindus represent the idea of the national in this country. Whether other communities remained in the country or not was neither his concern nor that of the Sangh. Clear exposition In recent years, the Sangh and its affiliates have argued that the term `Hindu' indicates a civilisational sense rather than a religious one. This contradicts Golwalkar's clear exposition of Hindu Rashtra and its composition. He was emphatic that the word `Hindu' was not a generic term. Savarkar had defined Hindutva in terms of fidelity to Pitrabhu (Fatherland), Matribhu (Motherland) and Punyabhu (Holy Land). Golwalkar incorporates the classification offered by Savarkar, and adds three more elements to it. For him, the Hindu Rashtra was punyabhoomi, matribhoomi, pitrubhoomi, dharmabhoomi or the land of one's pieties, karmabhoomi or the land of one's actions, and mokshabhoomi or the land of one's salvation. The Motherland was Bharatmata, and she was the mother of the Hindus. Anyone who forcibly enters her `house' cannot be a `son' of the Motherland. As such, Golwalkar insisted, it was important for Hindu society to understand that Muslims and Christians were enemies. No friendship Golwalkar's ire was usually directed towards the Muslims, but he often included Christians in his construction of a rogues' gallery. The question of treating them as friends did not arise. Only the Hindus, who were the progeny of this land, could be masters of this nation. Muslims and Christians could never be either children or masters of the nation because they were attackers. Those who have converted to Islam and Christianity, he asserts, have not merely altered their form of worship. They had also forsaken their religion, society and national life. The Muslims had even encroached on the territories of Hindustan and had cut the Motherland into pieces. For this reason alone, they could not even be considered `national'. What if the Muslims and Christians were to reject Golwalkar's vision of the Hindu Rashtra and not call themselves Hindu? Golwalkar was categorical that all those Muslims and Christians, whose ancestors were Hindu, must abandon their newly acquired faiths and return to the Hindu fold. If they failed to comply, Hindus ought to follow the example of Vikramaditya. He avenged his father's murder by organising a formidable strength and drove the aliens out of this land. There were other inspirations to follow in the matter of dealing with desecration of the Motherland. Parashuram avenged his father's humiliation by offering him libations of blood of those who had insulted him. Likewise, the only way to worship the Motherland after she had been defiled, warns Golwalkar, would be to wash it with the blood of those who dared commit such an act. JYOTIRMAYA SHARMA _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/ 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/ DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers. _______________________________________________ SACW mailing list [email protected] http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/sacw_insaf.net
