Cry, the Beloved Country

(Crossposted on a few active boards.)

I am posting this on Chowk as there were a number of enquiries about how people can help the riot victims of Gujarat. The following is an appeal by Nishrin Hussain, daughter of Ahsan Jafri, ex-MP of India.



An Appeal for Help

A major communal riot broke out in Gujarat (India) following the burning of a train at Godhra by the terrorist on February 28th, 2002. Thousands of innocent people including women and children are feared dead in the carnage. My father, Ahsan Jafri, who was an Ex Member of Parliament and who had worked all his life towards national unity, integrity and communal harmony, was also burnt alive in his house along with hundred and fifty others from the society who had come to him seeking protection from the violent mob. Several thousand others have met a similar fate of a total destruction of their lives and properties. Nearly one hundred thousand of those who escaped death but lost their homes and supports to the riots are now living in camps set up by local charity groups as the Gujarat Government has pleaded poverty in providing relief. The living conditions in the camps are primitive at best, lacking proper food, sanitation, clothing and medicines. These victims need urgent help and financial support for their survival and rehabilitation.

In the memory of my father who worked all his life helping the poor and the destitute people, and his vision of bringing unity and communal harmony amongst the people of India, we are accepting donations through Indo-American Association of Delaware (IAAD) to provide relief and rehabilitation to the riot affected victims of Gujarat. The funds will also provide medical assistance to those in need of medical help. On request, later in the year, we will be pleased to provide you names and other details including photographs of the recipients of the aid through your efforts.

We appeal you to generously contribute for this cause. Your contributions are tax exempt under the current IRS regulations. We urge you to send your contribution at the following address:

Nishrin Hussain

38 Orchid Drive

Bear, DE - 19701

Please make checks payable to IAAD, if you have any questions or concerns you can reach me at 302-834-5426.

Your contribution will go a long way in rebuilding those shattered lives. While writing your checks, remember there are 97,000 innocent people including women and children who have lost everything in their lives. All of them have internal wounds. They need our help and generosity. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Nishrin Hussain

Shammi,

Thanks for the transcript of Vajapayee`s ``who started the fire`` speech. I think it is very obvious that when Vajapayee used that phrase, he wasn`t speaking rhetorically but asking a question to which no satifactory answer has been found yet. To wit: who started the fire at Godhra station that burned 58 people, 40 of whom were women and children. There have been valiant attempts made by the pinko press to shift the blame onto the passengers by attributing to them such unlikely acts as picking fights with chaiwalas and molesting Muslim women. But the fact is that a mob of 2000 cannot spontaneously ignite without planning and organisation. I think Vajapayee`s is a fair question.

The same press also reported that Vajapayee had made the following statement: ``Wherever there are Muslims, they do not wish to live together, do not want to mix and mingle with others and instead of spreading their message peacefully, they want to spread their beliefs by terror, by fear, by threatening. The world has woken to this danger.`` It seems hard to believe that an elected Prime Minister of a self-declared secular state would make that kind of statement and expect to get away with it. Sure enough, a single word was conveniently left out. The actual quote reproduced here in its entirety is:

``You would be amazed to hear, and I too was amazed, that in Singapore some Al-qaida conspirators were caught. Singapore rulers could not even think that Al-qaida would be active in their country, that al-qaida would be conspiring in their country. 15-16 people were caught and the intelligence investigations are on so that the truth can be ascertained. This is happening in Indonesia. This is happening in Malaysia. Wherever there are SUCH Muslims, they do not wish to live together, do not want to mix and mingle with others and instead of spreading their message peacefully, they want to spread their beliefs by terror, by fear, by threatening. The world has woken to this danger.``

This is by no means a suggestion that the BJP and its allies are blameless in the current imbroglio Gujarat is engulfed in. But this kind of blatant misreporting only serves to cast doubt on the so-called free press` intentions in this country. Nor does it help the situation in any way. Perhaps it was an innocent mistake, but doubtful. And this is certainly not the first time. Everyone remembers the furore raised when the RSS - a bunch of professional misquotees who could do well to hire a professional spokesperson- ``warned all Muslims`` that their safety lies in the goodwill of the majority. Even here on chowk, we had the usual suspects going up in howls of protest. The actual quote, which I laid hands on a few days later, though controversial, is nowhere as inflammatory as it is made out to be:

“Although a few Muslim leaders hold the current interpretation of Jehad as absolutely wrong and in no way support the jehadi terrorism, it should be admitted that these people have not been able to influence the present day extremist jehadi leaders and stubborn mullahs and maulavis. The ABPS wants to make it clear that it does no credit to the Muslim community to allow themselves to be made pawns in the hands of such extremist Muslim leaders and Hindu baiting political elements. Let the Muslims understand that their real safety lies in the goodwill of the majority.”

I think there have to be some serious questions raised by members of the ``intelligentsia`` as to whether what they perceive as unbiased reportage actually is. Ironically, a newspaper like the Times whose recent editorials can best be described as trenchant diatribes against the neo-Nazi Modi yesterday published an uncredited advertisement titled ``Enough is enough--- stop pouring salt on the wounds``, an insert that quoted statistics proving that everything was all hunky-dory in Gujarat and Narendra Modi`s governement had done all that was humanly possible to restore the state to its current situation of normalcy. I cannot understand these double standards. How any principled publication carry something that is so anti their avowed stance is beyond understanding.

Again misquoting whether intentional or not is not something new, but recently it has become almost a daily affair. The first time I experienced it personally was after watching an interview of Steve Waugh, one of my favourite sportsmen, by Harsha Bhogle. In reply to a question about his brother, Waugh said something to the effect that everybody believed that he (Steve) had more determination and Mark had more talent, but it was not really so. The next day it was promptly printed on the sports page of the ToI as ``Mark has more talent and I have more determination.`` It was truly irritating. Understand that this was merely a sports interview with little or no implications on human lives. But what`s alarming is how more serious issues also get treated in the same cavalier fashion.

Whether this is a reflection on the sad state that journalism is in this country, or more likely, a mirror to how we have become used to twisting facts around to suit our purposes, and the thruth be damned, is something that can be debated. Whatever it is, it`s detestable.

Transcript of Vajpayee`s controversial speech in Goa:

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=1&fname=atal&fodname=20020420

Vajpayee should have acted faster than he did. Now he has only himself to blame for tolerating Modi:

EU draws a parallel with apartheid and Nazis: Modi must go

http://www.indian-express.com/full_story.php?content_id=1322

India is indeed blessed more than it deserves, in Indians like these who manage to hold on to their clearsightedness through personal adversity after personal adversity.

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/apr/17inter.htm


In each of the last three riots in Gujarat, Shiraz Tirmizi lost a part of his property to elements hostile to him and his community. He has confronted communal hatred and braved its mad fury.

Tirmizi was convinced that the 1985 riots -- which deepened the divide between Hindu and Muslim in the state -- was fuelled by a Gujarati daily, which had tremendous influence on urban minds. As a result, along with a few like-minded people from his community, he started Gujarat Today, now known as the voice of the `Gujarati Muslim`.

Looking back at the events after the Godhra massacre, the 65-year-old once again feels that much of the havoc in the 2002 riots was caused by biased reportage by another newspaper.

The social worker, businessman and low-profile publisher spoke to Sheela Bhatt. Excerpts:

Why did a carnage like Godhra happen?

The real reasons behind Godhra will come out later. It`s a condemnable act. But a similar incident had happened in 1992 at Palej, which lies between Bharuch and Baroda. Shiv Sainiks from Mumbai were going to Ayodhya. When they got down at Palej, they harassed and humiliated hawkers, most of whom were Muslims. They instigated the hawkers. The [hawkers] got into the compartment and beat up the person who was harassing them. He was killed.

It was a criminal act and there was no reaction to it. A proper police case was filed and investigated. A few arrests were made. There was no call for a bandh. Gujarat didn`t react.


But in Godhra 58 were killed.

I agree. But now they [the karsevaks] have a network. That`s the important point. One can spread the message quickly. The Shiv Sena has such a network in Mumbai. A few years back Salahuddin Owaisi had it [a network] in Hyderabad through which he spread Muslim militancy. Now he has turned it into a political party. Members of such a network are not religious persons. Non-religious youth work for them in return for money. When you pay a person you have to just order them.

Look, all of us expected a reaction to the Godhra incident. But no one expected such wild reactions. This was made possible because of the network. The Bajrang Dal and VHP [Vishwa Hindu Parishad] have spoiled our younger generation. Once the network is established you can do as much damage by overnight planning. The Ayodhya factor added to their fury.

Still this level of violence is difficult to understand.

We the Gujaratis are people with a commercial sense. Our life is centred on money. We are merely interested in making and amassing wealth. We have contracted our religious duties to outsiders. We don`t take the trouble to find out our own religious truths. Our own dharma. We just don`t take any trouble for our own spiritual quest.

Gujarati society has become dependent on others in religious matters. People who control us, people who teach us religion, are non-Gujaratis. Whether you visit madrassas or temples or the cults, most of the leaders are from UP and Bihar. Our religious teachers are non-Gujaratis who have their own style. We have thus surrendered our own Gujarati identity. We are ignorant about our own true religion and are influenced by people with money power. Money can get things done. The VHP could succeed in Gujarat because they have the combination of money and a network.

Are the riots the result of a Hindu upsurge?

No, no, no. The majority of both communities believe that Godhra was a horrible incident. And what happened after Godhra was an act by a few people. The Hindu wave is propaganda.

As the whole Muslim community was not responsible for Godhra, I would say one can`t blame the whole Hindu community for the carnage that followed. My own partner in business is a Hindu and we are still together. I would not say that a majority of Gujaratis are against Muslims and support the killings. There are committed people who are behind these killings. In the name of religion a few backward-class people were given weapons. And this time, the rumours and media coverage of Godhra affected people`s psyche deeply.

But a large number of people are supporting the anti-Muslim tirade.

I don`t think so, because I know a large number of Gujaratis have the sense to see through events. People know that these riots will re-charge their batteries. The religious card was waning, but now the riots will help. Before Godhra also, all sections of society were talking about such disturbances before elections. Why?

Is there any difference between the 2002 riots and the riots of 1969, 1985 and 1992?

Yes, very much. This time it`s well-organised. It`s more effective. The UP-Bihar-style ethnic weapons have been used. The pattern of fire and blast is quite advanced. As we know, in widespread riots the front rows are occupied by professional criminals. The people who are in the front are always trained and have a devil`s mind. They are trained to create havoc. The heinous crimes took place because of them. This time they had the list in their hands -- shops, factories and restaurants belonging to Chiliya Muslims have been burnt down systematically.
The sensible Gujarati will never do this.

Where will it lead Gujarat?

God has given us the power to forget.

How is the community leadership?

Gujarati Muslims don`t have any leaders. Not even a political leadership. They have been supporting secular Hindu leaders since many decades. The Congress never supported the growth of a Muslim leadership.

This is great news! It is high time:

`Britain-based Gujaratis are working alongside the British government to bring three cases in three separate courts across Europe against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.`

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Articleshow.asp?art_id=7486040

This article (reproduced below from the Economist) published in August 2001, gave early warning of what was going on in Gujarat. The references to Gujarat and Narendra Modi in particular are explicit. We ignored the warnings only at our peril:

`Hindutva, the quest for Hindu-ness, is alive and well - Ahmedabad and Delhi, August 2001`

MANJIT, candidate for a degree in computer science, believes that Christians and Muslims are plotting to take over India by marrying Hindu girls. This far-fetched notion is probably shared by hundreds of the other young men carrying ritual daggers tucked into their saffron sashes who turned out on August 13th for a rally staged by a Hindu youth group in Ahmedabad, Gujarat`s commercial capital. ``Islam is not of this culture,`` observed one speaker. Their cheers were almost within earshot of a Muslim neighbourhood.

Some Gujaratis call their state ``the laboratory``. It is ruled by the same Hindu-nationalist party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, that governs India at the head of a 19-party coalition. In Gujarat, though, it rules alone with a decisive majority. Nervous witnesses suspect that the ranting of the Bajrang Dal, the group that staged the rally, is the sort of rhetoric that the BJP would spread across India if it dared.

The party has tried to lay such fears to rest during its three years in power at the centre. But it cannot disavow the Bajrang Dal entirely. Both belong to the ``sangh pariwar``, or ``family of associations``, a term outsiders apply to a loose-knit family of 30-odd nationwide organisations that draw inspiration from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, the ``national association of volunteers``). That links India`s reassuringly moderate prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to the hotheads of Bajrang Dal.

The connection is the fulcrum of Indian politics. The opposition pointedly calls itself ``secular``, citing the constitution, which bars the state from promoting any religion. The BJP`s ideologues maintain that secularism as practised in India has denied equal treatment to Hindus, who make up four-fifths of the population, and exposed Hindu culture to such threats as conversion and Islamic fundamentalism. The redress they seek worries minorities and, many fear, threatens India`s secular traditions. This struggle between secularism and Hindutva (Hindu-ness) is India`s main ideological conflict.

But the battle lines are fuzzy. Most of the BJP`s coalition partners, partly dependent on the votes of minorities, side with the secularists. They have obliged the BJP to suspend its most contentious proposals, such as building a temple in Ayodhya where a mosque stood until it was torn down by Hindu zealots in 1992, and replacing family law based on religion, which accommodates Muslim traditions, with a uniform civil code for everyone. Its leaders are practised at making Hindutva sound unobjectionable. The BJP`s ``core belief is nationalism``, says Narendra Modi, a general secretary of the party. Madan Das Devi, a leader of the BJP`s mother organisation, the RSS, defines Hindutva as ``a way of life which accepts that all ways reach to one place, which is God``. Who but a fanatic could object to that?

But the RSS`s Hindutva is not cuddly and has not been tamed. In Delhi, the BJP is subtly promoting it in the arena where it may matter most, education. Last November the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) issued a curriculum framework, which states can (but need not) use for their own schools. The BJP`s cultural agenda is packaged in appeals to patriotism. The curriculum should be ``rooted in [India`s] indigenous tradition``. Because India is ``the most ennobling experiment in spiritual co-existence``, it should stress values. Most of the BJP`s allies see nothing to object to. ``If we feel confident about our history, we should revive knowledge and pride in that heritage,`` says Jaya Jaitly, a leader of the Samata Party, a coalition member.

To secularists, though, the curriculum framework marks a new front in a Kulturkampf against pluralism and modernity. Arjun Dev, former head of the NCERT`s department of education in social sciences and humanities, says the document is ``designed to promote exclusivist, chauvinist ideas``. It demotes science and social concerns as a source of values in favour of religion and warps the former by glorifying Indian contributions to it. On August 6th education ministers from nine opposition-ruled states demanded that the NCERT framework be scrapped.

Critics fear that what begins with squabbles about education can fuel the crudities of the Bajrang Dal. The group is often accused of attacking members of minority groups, most recently a Catholic priest in Maharashtra in revenge for the claimed killing of four RSS activists in the north-east by Christians. Some of these allegations may be wrong. But the Bajrang Dal does train some of its adherents in the use of weapons. Its behaviour reveals what the well-oiled rhetoric of the BJP hides: that Hindutva needs defence only if non-Hindus are regarded as threats.

It is hard to say precisely how far India`s elected leaders are responsible for the excesses of the zealots. The sangh pariwar is a disjointed beast. The mother organisation, the RSS, is dedicated to ``character building``, mainly through 40,000 daily group exercise sessions called shakhas, in which members in military-style khaki shorts drill with sticks and salute a saffron flag.

The most zealous volunteers are to be found in the ranks of scores of its daughter organisations, including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council, of which the Bajrang Dal is the youth wing) and a trade union. Each has its own charter, officers and sources of funding. Normally, they rally round the BJP at election time; between polls, relations between the party and its siblings can be bitter. Political power has forced the party to make compromises that enrage ideologues. The head of the RSS-linked trade union recently called the finance minister a ``criminal`` for proposing labour-law liberalisation.

Yet the sangh pariwar`s fragmentation can be a strength. It operates like an idealised version of the caste system: each component works towards the same end but in its own way. One part need not assume blame for what others do.

Secularists fear that BJP-ruled Gujarat represents the party`s true ideal. One of the most economically successful states, it is also one of the most polarised. Human-rights activists say its government has conducted or tolerated countless abuses of minorities, including malicious textbooks (one describes Muslims, Christians and Parsis as ``foreigners``) and an attempted survey of minority groups (ruled unconstitutional). The police allegedly ignore attacks on minorities. ``A type of fascism is slowly emerging,`` says Father Cedric Prakash, a human-rights campaigner. Gujarat`s chief minister, Keshubhai Patel, insists that his state is a laboratory only for tolerance and economic success.

Gujarat`s fraught atmosphere cannot be blamed entirely on the BJP. The state`s history of religious violence goes back decades: in Ahmedabad, Hindus and Muslims have been quitting each other`s neighbourhoods since the mid-1980s. Some objectionable textbooks predate the party`s accession to power. But at least large-scale rioting has declined since the BJP took over. The secularists hope that the rest of India is too democratic and diverse to fall for the blandishments of Hindutva. But no one is taking it for granted.

Jama Masjid`s Shahi Imam warns of civil war

http://in.news.yahoo.com/020420/64/1m44s.html

Maybe there is still some hope left for India after the BJP:

BJP: Groping in the dark

http://www.tehelka.com/channels/currentaffairs/2002/apr/18/ca041802bjp.htm

HOW HAS THE GUJARAT MASSACARE AFFECTED MONORITY WOMEN?

The Survivors Speak - Fact-finding by a Women’s Panel

http://www.tehelka.com/channels/currentaffairs/2002/apr/19/ca041902survivor.htm

`...I am afraid the BJP is misreading the present situation in the country. This also happened when the Bharatiya Jana Sangh walked out of the Janata Party in 1979. As the Jana Sangh, which merged with the Janata Party in the wake of the Emergency in 1977, it never reached the two-digit mark in the Lok Sabha...Even though Gujarat has been polarised by the BJP, Narendra Modi will not be returned in the next election. People are too conscious of the economic problems. In the 546-member Lok Sabha, Gujarat has only a handful of seats. Even if all of them go to the BJP, it does not help the party. The killings and atrocities in Gujarat have spread such a wave of revulsion and disgust in the country that the party will face a straight defeat. See what the electorate did in the Delhi election after the Gujarat happenings. The party was pulverised. `

http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/apr/18nayar.htm

From the Economist:

Shameless - The BJP is trying to capitalise on a wave of killing

HERE is an irony: India`s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has for several years seemed to treat its Hindu-nationalist ideology as a political liability. Now, when that ideology is showing its dangerous and shameful side, the party has suddenly chosen to reaffirm it. Little more than a month ago, Hindu mobs in Gujarat, a BJP-ruled state, slaughtered hundreds of Muslims. The atrocities began as revenge for an attack by Muslims on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims, in which 58 people burnt to death. More than 800 people have died in violence that still has not ended.

Last weekend, at a meeting of its executive body in Goa, the BJP not only rejected opposition calls for the sacking of Gujarat`s chief minister, who seems to care more for the mainly Hindu murderers than the mainly Muslim victims, but invited him to hold early elections in the state, in effect capitalizing on the carnage. India`s prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, whose reputation for tolerance makes the BJP acceptable to most of its 18 coalition partners, shocked India by echoing those who blame Muslims for the violence against them. The massacres are ``condemnable``, he said, ``but who lit the fire and how did it spread?``

This is a turning point. During its four years in government the BJP has been deferential to fellow members of the National Democratic Alliance, smothering its ideology of Hindutva (``Hinduness``) lest they walk out of the government. Most of the coalition members solicit Muslim votes and have more in common with the ``secular`` opposition than they do with the BJP. The BJP is not ready to part company with them yet, but the deference is falling away. Winning the next series of elections, culminating in the general election to be held by autumn 2004, has become as important as shoring up the coalition.

The new assertiveness looks to have passed its first test. The alliance`s biggest backer, the Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Pradesh, a southern state, threatened to pull out unless the BJP sacked Narendra Modi, Gujarat`s chief minister. The BJP said no, perhaps its boldest rebuff yet to a parliamentary ally.

The BJP has votes to spare. This week it agreed to let a party representing mainly Dalits (formerly called Untouchables) rule in Uttar Pradesh, the biggest state, in exchange for its support at the centre. The Telugu Desam Party is apparently having second thoughts about pulling out; like other coalition members, it is loth to chance elections or to join forces with Congress, its main rival in Andhra Pradesh. The campaign to oust Mr Modi may now be confined to the opposition, which is paralysing parliament but cannot topple the government. Analysts expect the coalition to stumble on for a while longer, though perhaps not to its full term.

The electoral test may be tougher, though. The BJP has lost a string of state and municipal elections, most recently in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Until the horrors of Gujarat, it was set to lose there too. The home minister, L. K. Advani, said in Goa that the BJP had been ``needlessly apologetic`` about its ideology. In future, he suggested, the BJP would sound two themes: the ensemble music of the National Democratic Alliance and its own brassy solo, ``enlightened cultural nationalism``.

This may work in Gujarat. According to a poll, 52% of urban Gujaratis now expect the BJP to win. There is less chance it will succeed in less polarised states, such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which are to hold elections next year. And the odds look even longer for the general election, in which the BJP needs allies to win. ``Cultural nationalism`` sounds harmless, maybe even admirable, but not in the mouths of those who find excuses for the pogroms in Gujarat

Reply Tahmed # 228

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PS: Private tutorials available from urstruly, Ali1, harimau, arjun and others.”

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`Is this the BJP that I campaigned for?`

`I campaigned for the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections as I sincerely believed that Atal Behari Vajpayee was the best prime ministerial candidate in the fray...`

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20020418&fname=karthik&sid=1

Nasah:

An informal Internet poll on Outlook`s web site indicates that 61% of the respondents want action taken against Modi (resignation followed by prosecution) or the VHP/RSS and the Central government. Only 35% do not approve of any action being taken against any politician.

This man, Modi, has much to answer for. His actions and inactions have brought shame. If he had any moral clarity, he would have gone to the refugee camps and begged for forgiveness. He would have been volunteering his time in laying bricks for new homes. But let us not make the mistake of singling only him out -- we must fault the narrow ideology on which he and his ilk have ridden to power. Let there be some meaning in the lives lost so meaninglessly. Let the dead teach us about controlling the animal instincts that lurk inside us. There have been many horrific riots in India over the last 50 years, but I have never seen the country as ashamed as it is today.

Saxena,

One, not ``multiple``, you bum..