on
The Threats To The Nation
“Save the Nation Convention”
11th August 2001
New Delhi
In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the benevolent
A Document Based on Revealing, Startling and
Thought-Provoking Facts Background
Four years ago, the All India Milli Council had
organized a “Karvaan-e-Azaadi” to mark the 50th year of India’s
Independence. After passing through 100 cities and towns of the country, the caravan
culminated in Delhi. There at the end of the 50-day journey of the caravan, All India
Milli Council, the umbrella body of the Indian Muslims, released a White Paper throwing
light on what Muslims gained and lost during the last fifty years.
While appreciating the achievements of the country in
maintaining its pluralistic, federal and democratic character in the face of the grave
challenges, reducing the population below the poverty line despite increasing population,
attaining self-sufficiency in food and other commodities, making great strides in
industrial development, defence preparedness and the development of science and
technology, the 40-page White Paper expressed concern over the failures on several fronts.
It pointed out that the subversion of democratic norms
and institutions by public functionaries, erosion of moral values and growing violence
against weak and vulnerable groups, especially minorities and non-attainment of targets of
providing work, shelter, medical care and primary education for all, were stark reminders
of our misconceived idea of State and nationhood
and wrong priorities of our development plans.
As the first ever effort by a non-government
organisation to assess the situation in the post-Independence India, it received acclaim
and appraisal. It was the general impression that the White Paper helped many in the
government and non-government organisations, national and state legislatures, political
parties, judiciary, media, human rights organisations and the intelligentia as well as the
political observers and analysts in understanding the certain key and vexed issues facing
the country in an objective way.
Present Move
Keeping the above impression in view, we are encouraged
here again to present another White Paper focussing attention on the threats facing the
nation. The difference between the “1997 White Paper” and the “2001 White
Paper” prepared by the All India Milli Council is that while the former discusses
both the achievements and failures in the last 50 years since Independence, the latter
warns us of the threats in different areas and asks to wake up and save the nation from
destruction.
National Scene
Today our country is passing through a critical phase.
Whether it is internal or external, political or economic, social or cultural, historical
or educational and religious or moral affair, it seems that in every area the secular
style, high values and self-reliance, for which our country was known worldwide, are
losing its credence.
The closed view and ideology which the government at the
Centre is almost seeking to justify is taking India back instead of forward. The
impression of a nation being ruled, as the international media puts it, by “Hindu
nationalists” is not conducive to the tolerant and democratic which had been its main
characteristic.
Besides, scams have become an “easy, routine and
not so bad affair” that no body feels embarrassed and ashamed. That was why even
after the Tehelka expose, there was felt no change in the attitude of the central
government. So far as the Tehelka victims are concerned, a former high ranking member of
the union cabinet is finding it difficult to wait till the probe is over and he is freed
of the charge, and seeming to be eager to rejoin the cabinet as soon as possible. And the
situation remains the same in the wake of the present UTI scandal too.
Those were the days when a minister or any other
authority concerned used to become restless and offer to resign on moral grounds in case
of any mishap or allegation made against him. One still recalls the days when the then
union railway minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, in the Jawaharlal Nehru cabinet resigned soon
after a train accident. Besides, the most damaging is the impression that Vajpayee
continues to be the captain but is not quite in charge. With all his much publicized
personal popularity, integrity and experience, he is unable to cope with the pressures of
coalition politics.
He came to power third time in October 1999. Now twenty
months later, bullied by allies, stunned by Tehelka expose, hurt by attacks on the dubious
roles being played by people close to him, sandwiched by the hidden agenda of BJP and open
agenda of NDA in form of the common minimum programme and plagued by ill health, he seems
out of sorts. In this context, his recent
decision to offer his resignation, although withdrawn later on, gives the impression that
the NDA government is in a mid-tenure crisis.
Under these circumstances, it is natural for any
patriotic person, irrespective of its religion or region, to get concerned and worried.
India is heading towards a serious economic crisis in
the wake of the 10 year-old economic reforms and the new exim policy. Stock market is
flat, manufacturing is dying and businesses of all shapes and sizes are slashing their
work-forces to survive the slowdown and traditional industries are facing dangers of
closure.
With our present government’s clearance to the US
to have an access to the military bases and allow its intelligence agency FBI to run its
liaison office in this country, there has arisen a threat to the peace and stability in
the region.
But instead of realising this apprehension, efforts are
being made to reform the national security system through a report of the Group of
Ministers, keeping in view the alleged role of Muslims in particular. This is creating a
fear psychosis among them.
Besides, hatred and prejudice, which cost the lives of
the Christian priest Steins and his family in Orissa and led to the rape of a number of
nuns and those belonging to the minorities and other weaker sections as well as
desecration of religious places, particularly churches and mosques and
burning of the scriptures like the Bible and Quran in different parts of the country, are
being fanned, as the BJP now in power at the Centre and in UP and Gujarat particularly, is
using education to distort history and propagate issues that are not substantiated by
actual events. On the other hand, the law and order situation is day by day worsening. The
anti-social and anti-national elements are openly violating the fundamental spirit of the
Constitution and vitiating the atmosphere of the communal harmony.
The assassination of Phoolan Devi, a Parliamentarian, on
July 25 in the daylight and high security zone in the national capital, is the latest
evidence of our deteriorating law and order. What a pity we failed to provide proper
security to a Parliamentarian while going to take lunch at
her residence?
At a time when the cases related to the Babri Masjid are
pending in the courts, Dharam Sansad’s setting the government a deadline of March 12,
2002 to clear all obstacles after which work to construct Ram Mandir would begin, is an
example of taking law unto one’s own hands.
Significantly, the decision was taken in the presence of
important leaders of Sangh Parivar, like the former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman, Ram
Janambhoomi Mandir Nirman Samiti chairman Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das, the VHP supremo
Ashok Singhal, RSS present and outgoing sarsanghchalaks K S Sudershan and Prof Rajinder
Singh alias Rajju Bhaiyya.
In such a situation, news from Rajasthan comes that a
mob, openly backed by Vishwa Hindu Parishad, has razed at Asind in Bhilwara district a
16th century mosque, Masjid Qalandari, built by the Moghul emperor Akbar, to the ground
and constructed a temple within hours, under a Congress government. Almost the same set of
alibis that were used in Ayodhya about ten years ago put into use here. Like the Babri
Masjid demolition in UP in December 1992, this time too both the Congress government in
the state concerned and the BJP-led government at the Centre kept mum and the entire
operation of demolition and construction was done so quickly as if there was a planning
and coordination for it.
The outrage in Rajasthan proves that those who
perpetrated the crime of 1992 have not changed, and are willing to chance their arms
whenever they get an opportunity. Fear stalks Asind since its ordinary people do not know
if the marauders have been firmly beaten back or they will be back at some later stage.
The climate of fear helps the VHP to spread meaningless
canards in the hope that its moribund rank and file gets a chance to mobilise again. After
all, their services will be required in UP, where elections are expected in a few months
and where the BJP is bereft of a poll plank. Any “pro-active” move of the
VHP-Bajrang Dal variety in the Urdu-Hindi belt will be welcome to these people.
Meanwhile, reports of fake encounters of those belonging
to a particular community or minorities with the police enhance anxieties and worries.
Reports suggest that most of the persons said to be caught in the “encounters”
are acquitted later on. In some cases the persons killed in such encounters also get
acquittal.
It was a climax when an embarrassed Delhi police
admitted to wrongly detaining on July 30 for over five hours the Superintendent of Police
of Baramulla (Jammu and Kashmir), Sheikh Abdul Rashid and on August 3 three Kashmiri
youth, including the son of the J & K Jamaat-e-Islami chief, for over five hours.
Rashid was mistaken for a Kashmiri terrorist. The Delhi
police later released him and apologised. Similarly, the Police sources said Shabir Bhat,
son of the J&K Jamaat-e-Islami chief G M Bhat, along with his friend Mohammed Sayeed
and servant Mohammed Ibrahim, were detained at the Turkman GatePolice Station on suspicion
that they were buying arms. They were also
released after verification.
The recent shameful carnage in Siraswan Goud, a small
village with more than 60 per cent Muslim population and 15 kms away from Moradabad (UP),
has once again reminded us of what happened at Moradabad’s Eidgah in early 80s and at
Hashimpura and Maliana in 1987. In the ghastly and horrendous attack on a particular
minority in Siraswan Goud on the night of July 22-23, 2001, killing six and injuring 13
persons, police involvement is being alleged.
Similarly, the recent massacre of 15 innocent civilians at Shrunti Dhar village, near
Kishtwar town in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, shows the extent of the growing
violence, hatred and vengeance. As reported, a group of armed people swooped on the
village on August 3 and dragged 19 sleeping residents out of their houses. They asked them
to stand in a line and fired
indiscriminately, killing 15 and injuring others.
The fact that violence is becoming legitimised if it is
discriminatory in nature should make the people of this country sit up and take notice,
and not just that but to unite and put a stop to the trend that will damage the very
foundations on which Independent India has been built.
Politics
Opportunism, selfishness, vengeance, irrationalism and
corruption have engulfed the entire politics in India. Its extent can be guaged from the
fact that the political parties overladen with a revengeful zeal are stooping to the its
nadirs in certain states. At this juncture one is
reminded of the great poet Allama Iqbal’s following verses:
Jalale padshahi ho ya ke jamhoori tamashaa
Judaa ho deen seyaasat se to rah jaati hai changezi
The year 1998 could be considered a turning point in the
history of India. Because that was the year when some ideologically poles apart political
parties came under one umbrella just to come to power at the Centre.
The face value situation was that the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), which had fought elections with some contentious issues in its manifesto, had
to go into an alliance to form the government with some secular parties under some common
programmes. Therefore, the party leading the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government
had to be sincere to both the hidden agenda of
Sangh Parivar and open agenda of NDA. This delicate situation brought into question even
Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister of the country and some of his colleagues,
belonging to the BJP in the government.
It reminded us of the situation when in the late 70s the late Socialist leader Madhu
Limaye had questioned the dual membership of those belonging to the erstwhile Bharatiya
Jana Sangh (BJS) within the Janata Party. This question actually led the Janata Party to
disintegrate and later gave birth to the BJP, incarnating the BJS.
Vajpayee, considered to be the most liberal face of the Sangh Parivar, was Unmasked when
he in line with his earlier controversial article “Sangh is my Soul”, first
published in the RSS organ Organiser (May 7, 1995) and latter taken on the web but
withdrawn on January 21, 1998 in the wake of the countrywide protest, claimed at Staten
Islands (USA) in 2000 to be a “swayamsevak” and making India of his (Sanghi)
dream if his party is given an absolute majority in the general elections.
Sometime back he again came into a controversy by raising the Ayodhya issue. He termed the
Ram Mandir movement as “the expression of the national aspirations” like the
construction of Somnath Mandir in the early 50s. Justifying his stance, he recalled that
the first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, had also called the construction of
Somnath Mandir as the expression of national sentiment and then nobody had objected to it.
This infuriated some of his “secular” allies like the Trinamul Congress (TC),
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) but they were silenced by
saying that the government was still committed to the NDA agenda.
The BJP had tried to come to power in 1996 with the support of some of its allies but then
it remained in power only for 13 days as it could not show its strength on the floor of
the Parliament. That was why the United Front governments first under H D Deve Gowda and
then under I K Gujral led the country. But in the case of both the governments, its ally,
Indian National
Congress withdrew support leading to its fall in 1998.
So, elections were held and the BJP with the support of some of its allies under the NDA
formed the government. In 1999, this government also fell following the withdrawal of
support by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK) led by Ms Jayalalitha.
This situation again provided an opportunity to the secular parties but they failed to
play their game. So, the BJP-led NDA took over the reins. Since the NDA came to power two
years ago, there arose occasions a number of times when some of its allies known to have
secular backgrounds had to become restless due to the BJP’s seemingly still
commitment to its hidden agenda.
The latest occasion was that deviating from its commitment to the NDA’s common
minimum programme, the BJP early this month cleared a long-pending proposal to set up a
National Commission on Cow Protection.
Although the immediate provocation for taking such a
decision on an urgent basis was said to be to persuade the Sankaracharya of Kanchi
Kamakoti, Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal, to give up his threat to go on a fast unto death
from August 6 last on the issue, there are already murmurs of
“misgivings” among some of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) allies.
This situation has created a sense of political confusion, uncertainty and instability in
the country. Besides, there is also found still no alternative to the existing coalition.
However, efforts are on to provide an alternative. So far as the general situation in the
country is concerned, it is not so unfavourable. The results of the civic and panchayat
elections as well as assembly elections in different states, including those in the
BJP-ruled states, show the declining trend of the party leading the coalition at the
Centre.
That was why the then BJP President, Bangaru Laxman, in his presidential address at the
party’s Nagpur session held in August, 2000 emphasised upon reviewing BJP’s
policy vis-a-vis Muslims. He therein dwelt in detail in six points the BJP’s
relations with the Muslims.
However, it was another matter that there was hardly any change in spirit and attitude
afterwards in the BJP towards Muslims, and after some time Laxman had himself to go.
Interestingly, Laxman held his Dalit background responsible for his own downfall. It is on
record that the controversial statement of Vajpayee at Staten Islands came soon after the
then BJP chief’s
remarks. Then efforts were made to clarify the position.
As is well known, the assembly elections in UP early next year would be a litmus test for
the present BJP-led ruling coalition. Observers say that the murder of Samajwadi Party MP
from Mirzapur, Phoolan Devi, would inflict a blow to it. Besides, the groups led by Kalyan
Singh and Swami Sakshi Maharaj, Bahujan Samaj Party and also Congress could render it a
great
challenge.
The social tension in UP is bound to be a key election issue. Almost all political parties
are known for their particular predilections, but there is still time for stable
Opposition sitting together to hammer out a joint strategy.
However, some questions remain there to be answered: How would the Opposition parties in
UP manage to keep the BJP and its allies away from coming to power again? How would they
take the minorities, particularly, Muslims (about 24%) into confidence? Would they still
adopt the same tactics of using them just as a vote bank, and nothing more than that?
Historical Distortions
Another matter of concern is that persistent efforts are being made to distort the
history. The contribution of Muslim freedom fighters and stalwarts were deliberately not
only underestimated but ignored during the golden jubilee celebrations of the Indian
Republic and Constitution last
year. At the same time leaders of RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and other constituents of the Sangh
Parivar were projected as the national leaders.
It was interesting in this context that the names of the Hindu Mahasabha leader, V D
Savarkar and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, were considered
in the BJP circles for the prestigious national award of Bharat Ratna. Thanks to the
President of India that the proposal did not get a favour and instead, two well known
figures, Bismillah Khan,
the shehnai maestro and Lata Mangeshkar, the nightingale, were finally chosen for the
nation’s highest civilian honour.
As is known, Savarkar had sent two mercy petitions to the colonial government from the
Cellular Jail in the Andamans. The petition, dated November 14, 1913, which refers also to
Savarkar’s earlier petition of 1911, is reprinted in R C Majumdar’s “Penal
Settlement in Andamans”. The petition assures the British regime: “Now no man
having the good of India and humanity at heart will blindly step on the thorny paths which
in excited and hopeless situation of India in 1906-07 beguiled us from the path of peace
and progress. Therefore, if the government in their manifold beneficence and mercy release
me, I for one cannot but be the staunchest advocate of constitutional progress and loyalty
to the English government which is the foremost condition of that progress.”
It is a fact that Savarkar never broke this promise to the imperial government. It is this
that explains much of his subsequent politics. At the time of the Quit India movement of
1942 Savarkar, as the president of the Hindu Mahasabha, “called on the Hindus to give
no support to the movement” (See Amba Prasad, The Indian Revolt of 1942).
It is also a fact that this politics of hate, division and communal polarisation was
acquiesced in and even substantially continued by Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. An insight
into this is available from an incident recorded by Pyare Lal in his account of January
30, 1948, the day Mahatma
Gandhi was assassinated. Pyare Lal had been sent by Gandhiji to Dr Mookerji with a message
and reported back to Gandhiji on January 30. This is how Pyare Lal describes the incident:
“On the previous day he had sent me to Dr Rajendra Prasad to enquire his health and
with a message to Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, who was at the time a minister of the
central cabinet, to bring
to his attention the activities of a Hindu Mahasabha worker, who had been delivering
highly inflammatory speeches containing incitement to assassination of some Congress
leaders. Could not Dr Mookerjee as the Hindu Mahasabha leader, use his authority to put a
curb on such wild utterances? Dr Mookerjee’s reply was halting an
unsatisfactory...Gandhiji’s brow darkened as I repeated to him Dr Mookerjee’s
reply” (Pyare Lal, Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, Part-II).
The above revelations are sufficient to show how those in power want to change the
history.
Similarly, there is another instance. A 13-page educational calendar was published by
Bharat Vaibhav Anusthan, a New Delhi-based government organisation. Therein the
photographs of the makers of modern India have been given. The list includes the names of
the RSS leaders Dr Hedgewar and Guru Golwalkar, Hindu Maha Sabha leader Veer Savarkar and
the Bharatiya Jana Sangh leaders Dr S P Mookerjee and Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.
The Muslim leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad are conspicuous by their absence. The
calendar also misses the holidays of the two Muslim festivals Eidul Fitr and Eidul Azha in
its list of holidays. This government-sponsored calendar was distributed free in the
government and private schools.
The irony is that now even the diehard opponents of Sangh Parivar are not hesitating in
recognising these persons. It is to point out that the West Bengal chief minister Budhadev
Bhattacharya officially sent his education minister to a function held in Kolkata recently
to pay tributes to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder, Dr S P Mookerjee on the occasion of
his birth
centenary.
Education
The campaign of saffronisation is in its full swing in different states. Certain states
and the Centre itself are seriously engaged in saffronising the education and history.
The irony is that the man, who is considered dutifully devoted to the cause of
saffronising the education system, is none other than the former BJP chief, Dr Murli
Manohar Joshi. As the Union Human Resource Development Minister, he is engaged in putting
the education system on the path of Hindutva. The recently prepared National Educational
Curriculum Framework for Schools (NECFS) of NCERT is said to be his greatest achievement.
It has been drafted independently without consulting the state governments. This is in
gross violation of the fact that education is on a concurrent list maintained by both the
central and the state governments, keeping in mind the diversity of the nation. Prof Roop
Kumar Verma of Lucknow University describes the framework not only as regressive in terms
of learning but also as anti-people. According to him, the NECFS is devoid of the
perspectives of women, tribals, dalits and minorities (including Muslims).
The present Union HRD Minister is said to come into a controversy first in 1998 during the
conference of the education ministers of different states. The education ministers of
non-BJP states and even allied parties of the BJP protested to the opening of the
conference with the singing of Sarswati Vandana.
According to Eduardo Faleiro, MP and convenor of the Parliamentary Forum on Education, it
has already been decided by the Parliament to get the education policy reviewed every five
years, but the government is not interested in doing so. He also says that the NCERT,
which is the sole body to prepare school textbooks, is not preparing textbooks. Instead,
the BJP government is hiring consultants from outside the NCERT.
Faleiro reveals: “One, Atul Rawat, has been hired to prepare textbooks, though he is
credential holds nothing but the fact that he writes in the RSS mouthpiece Organiser
against Christianity and Islam, and Christians and Muslims.”
While the attempts to distort history by the present government have been continuing in an
insidious manner over the years, it seems the government has now decided to become more
bold and brazen about the whole exercise. There are several instances of distortions in
history textbooks by the present government. Be it the glorification of Chhatrapati
Shivaji, Veer Savarkar, Hedgewar, Guru Golwalkar, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya or the killing of Guru Teg Bahadur or the history of Jainism, there are several
instances of twisting historical facts.
A glaring example of this is the changes made in Prof R S Sharma’s book “Ancient
India”. Some portions of the book on Jainism were deleted without the author’s
permission in violation of copyright. Now this book stands dropped from the 11th class
syllabus. According to Prof Arjun Dev, who has recently retired from the post of head of
the social sciences and humanities
department of NCERT, even though the government has asserted that history would continue
to stay as an elective subject in classes 11 and 12, the proposed subject matter of
history textbooks is under cloud.
The books that have already been pulled out from the school curriculum are Prof Arjun
Dev’s book for class 9, “Story of Civilisation”, Prof Romilla Thapar’s
book for class 6 and Prof Satish Chandra book for class 11, “Medieval India”.
Under the new curriculum, brought out in November, 2000, the government had announced that
study of history would be abolished altogether in 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th classes.
In the session beginning 2003, four more books for 7th, 10th and 12th classes, by eminent
historians like Romila Thapar, Bipan Chandra and Arjun Dev are going to be dropped.
It is said that the process of bringing out the new textbooks, being kept completely under
the wraps, is almost complete. The “rewritten” textbooks will be included in the
history syllabus from the new academic year, starting March-April 2002.
It is feared that these revised textbooks would cause a lot of damage. In that they might
present history in a distorted and biased fashion. Historians apprehend that versions of
history like “Did the human race originate in India?”, “Did the Indians
teach Egyptians the art of building pyramids?” and “Is the Taj Mahal a
Hindu monument?”, with their dangerous emphasis on Hindu nationalism, would soon worm
their way into Indian schoolbooks. In the words of the eminent historian K N Panikkar, the
communal history being propagated by the government is a concerted effort to create an
alternate social consciousness of the past and historically establish a Hindu
nation. He opines: “If we go deeper, this attempt by the government to saffronise
education is inspired by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's (RSS) ideology of 'Hindi,
Hindu, Hindusthan'."
Former chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research Prof Irfan Habib is of the
view: “The Sangh Parivar is trying to totally misread the entire past of the Indian
civilisation and culture in the name of patriotism, and their mindset is being imposed on
our education system. They even say we taught the Egyptians to build the pyramids and that
the Vedas are the oldest scriptures that date back to 8000 BC.
“The ICHR has in recent times sanctioned Rs 1.5
million to an archaeologist to chart the course of the dried up ancient river Saraswati
establishing the true origin of the Aryan race that went from India and another Rs 160,000
to prove that Dravidian languages had no independent Indian roots. It is similar to how
Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler and his deputies spent exorbitant sums of money on research to
establish that German blood was racially superior.
“By selectively obscuring facts, Hindu ideologues are depriving India of its heritage
of great rulers and scientists, who made genuine contributions. It is irony that the BJP
government is justifying the destruction of mosques through NCERT textbooks that highlight
how Muslims destroyed Hindu temples and is making attempts to establish Hindu origins of
world-renowned monuments like the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri.
“In order to explain the conquest of India by Alexander, the great, the books printed
by the Hindutva forces squarely put the blame on the ahimsa preached by Ashoka's
conversion to Buddhism. A serious misrepresentation of facts, as Ashoka became emperor in
274 BC, about 50 years after Alexander's invasion”.
It is said that besides NGOs, the institutions like the National Council for Educational
Research and Training (NCERT), Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and the Indian
Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) are now being used to serve the purpose. The
sacking of the ICSSR chief, M L Sondhi, last month is the finest example. He had charged
the “saffron
brigades with trying to control the council. Sondhi has now already challenged his
dismissal in the Delhi High Court.
It is to point out that efforts had been made in the BJP-ruled states, particularly Uttar
Pradesh, to make Sarswati Vandana compulsory in the government-run schools. However, it
was withdrawn following the protest by the different cross-sections of the people.
It is especially to be mentioned here that the late Maulana Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi,
popularly known as Ali Mian had alongwith Dr Kalbe Sadiq warned in a statement if the
state government did not withdraw the said notification, Muslims would be asked to call
back their wards from the
schools.
Religious Places Bill & Circulars
Similar steps were taken to curb the fundamental and religious rights in the BJP-ruled
states. In UP the Uttar Pradesh Regulation of Public Religious Buildings and Places Bill
2000 was passed in the name of checking the ISI/ terrorist activities. But in the wake of
the country-wide protest, the Bill was kept for the time being pending in the cold
storage. So, the sword is still hanging over the Muslim and other religious communities.
It is to recall that the then education minister of UP had said that the mosques and
Islamic seminaries spread in the areas lying on the Indo-Nepal border are being used as
the training camps and the hideouts for the ISI activists. Keeping the said allegation in
view the assistant secretary general of the All India Milli Council, Maulana Asrarul Haque
Qasmi, toured the affected areas and found the allegation baseless.
It was then also found that there existed a reign of terror in the said Islamic
seminaries. Because time and again the police and intelligence personnel visited the
institutions and made enquiries regarding the ISI activities with the authorities
concerned. This was the first ever on-the-spot investigation by a Muslim organisation.
Earlier in Gujarat, also a BJP-ruled state, similar steps were taken. There two separate
circulars were issued by the Gujarat Directorate General Police to the staff concerned to
collect information regarding the institutions, organisations, religious places etcs
belonging to the Christian and Muslim communities. But due to the strong protests and
demostrations in Gujarat and
other parts of the country, these circulars were also taken back.
Similarly, the ban imposed upon the government servants for participating in the RSS
shakhas was also withdrawn. But following the country-wide voices against the move, it had
also to be taken back. It is to recall that such restrictions were imposed upon seven
organisations by the Congress government but the BJP government in the state withdrew
restriction against the RSS only.
But these setbacks could not deter the Sangh Parivar from implementing its hidden agenda.
Where it was not possible to implement it openly, secret orders are reported to be issued
at the governmental level.
How much the BJP-led government in UP is serious in its tirade against the minorities and
other selected sections, can be assessed from a recent circular, bearing number ST/ SSP32/
2001/4140, dated nil May 2001, signed by B B Bakhshi, SSP, Lucknow, and issued to the
state police as a guideline in order to keep a vigil on ISI activities. It treats not only
Muslims but even
“Sikhs” and “retired soldiers” too as “suspects” and has
instructed the state police personnel to watch their movements seriously. Following are
the excerpts of the text of the controversial UP circular:
“Pakistan secret agency ISI is leaving no stone unturned to disturb the communal,
social, economic and religious situation of the state (UP). Muslim and Sikh youth are
lured to involve them in subversive activities. ISI is befriending with Muslims and Sikhs
and is sowing the seeds of hatred towards Hindus in their minds. To revive terrorism,
terrorists living abroad are being contacted. Railway stations, bus stands and other
places with heavy rush are being targeted.
“Information received indicates that youth are being selected from different places
and sent to Pakistan for training. Arms and ammunition depots are being established at
different places and minorities are being prepared for jihad and bomb explosions. To
thwart these subversive activities, a team spirit is necessary. The following work plan
has been prepared to counter
the nefarious designs of the ISI:
1. (Point one of the circular): Every SHO will prepare a register of Muslim and Sikh
families living in his respective area, details of outsiders coming in his area should
also be maintained and they be strictly watched. Movement of Muslim families should also
be observed and details of the persons going abroad should also be maintained. Reputed
Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs should
be identified and be invited to attend symposia, seminars etc every month and the
nefarious designs of ISI should be explained before them.
2. (Point four of the circular): Newly constructed madarsas and mosques be listed and
persons attending religious functions should be watched. Transporters and PCO owners in
the area should be listed. Circle officers and SHOs in their respective areas should
identify the PCOs with dubious records and calls made to Pakistan or Gulf States be
monitored. Minorities (Muslims and Sikhs) living in poor or posh localities be strictly
watched, dubious persons be identified and action against them should be initiated.
3. (Point five of the circular): District magistrates should prepare a list of the lands,
plots, houses purchased or taken on lease by persons belonging to minorities.
4. (Point seven of the circular): There have been instances that retired and serving
military men were used as agents. Therefore, retired soldiers from army, navy and airforce
residing in your respective areas should be listed. The central command of the army is
situated in Lucknow. So, this instruction is very important.
5. (Point eleven of the circular): Every SHO should prepare a list of Sikhs, Muslims and
Hindus providing shelter to the terrorists. Visitors to these persons should be checked
and information be provided to Dy. SP (Prosecution).
6. (Point twelve of the circular): Persons visiting abroad, particularly Muslim countries
should be observed and Lucknow-Sharjah flight should especially be checked.
7. (Point thirteen, the last one): Sikhs visiting Nanakmata Gurudwara, Pakistan, be
watched, listed and information be provided to the same authority in Lucknow.
Communal Situation: Siraswan Goud (Moradabad)
The BJP claims that during its rule there has been a halt to the occurrences of the
communal riots at a large scale. But the truth is that there has been no change so far as
the communal situation is concerned. The hallowness of the BJP claim can be understood
from the fact that during this period the BJP-ruled states could not be completely free
from the malaise.
It should be kept in mind that minorities have lived on the tenterhooks over the last
three years, during which the main emphasis has been to keep the 23-party NDA together.
The tension, fear and uncertainties among the Muslim, Christian and other minority
communities have increased following a number of incidents time and again and due to
certain decisions of the power that be.
In the past few months, there have been a chain of anti-Dalit and anti-Muslim incidents in
UP. In the Kanpur police firing, 24 persons were killed; in Fatehpur, five Dalits were
killed; in Aligarh, four Dalits were killed; in Sidhharth Nagar, 27 persons were killed;
and in Siraswan Goud village, 15 kms away from Moradabad, six persons were killed and 13
injured.
Those killed in Siraswan Goud were the 35 year-old Ms Shahjahan and her 2 year-old
daughter Rubeena, 22 year-old Rais; 40 year-old Haneef; 11 year-old Zareef and 6 year-old
Tarannum.
The details of the rape of the 35-year-old pregnant woman Shahjahan, wife of Anwar, who is
himself seriously injured, and the 18 year-old Shabaana, daughter of Nabi Bux are
heart-rending.
According to the All India Milli Council assistant secretary general, Maulana Asrarul
Haque Qasmi, who on July 25 led a 5-member delegation of his organisation to the said
village to make an on the spot study, the shalwaar (trouser) of Ms Shahjahan, who died on
the spot after rape and torture, was still lying near her hut when he visited there.
He also reveals that Ms Shabaana, who was getting treatment at the City Hospital of
Moradabad, told him that while being taken by the attackers from her house to a farm she
saw a Police van standing nearby. Maulana Qasmi also discloses that a cap, star and belt
of a police personnel were in the possession of the villagers. These things were found at
a place wherefrom the dead bodies of Ms Shahjahan and her 2 year-old daughter was taken
away by the Police soon after the incident on the midnight of July 22-23.
All India Milli Council contests the statement of the Union Home Minister, L K Advani, in
Lok Sabha that the modus operandi adopted by the killers clearly indicated that members of
certain tribes notified as “criminal tribes” were possibly involved in the three
incidents that occurred in July at Siraswan Goud village in Moradabad district, Qasba
Mawana in Meerut district and at Lakhimpur Kheri.
Advani had said: “My officers told me that this is the modus operandi of certain
tribes which had been notified earlier during the British period as criminal tribes. These
gangs are highly mobile and moves across the countryside to commit crimes. In all the
three cases, the victims were attacked above the neck, on the head and face. The attack
took place when the victims were sleeping and no distinction was made between men, women
and children. Metal rods and lathis were used in the attacks and causing deaths was as
important to the perpetrators as loot.”
The Union Home Minister also said: “Concerted efforts were on to catch the
perpetrators. A special investigation team has been constituted with two officers of the
rank of additional superintendents of Police and a number of other officers.”
Giving the details, Advani said: “Out of the three incidents, the one at Siraswan was
the worst. In this incident six people were killed on the night of July 22-23.Out of the
six, three died on the spot, one succumbed to injuries while being taken to hospital and
two died during treatment.
Thirteen people were injured in the attack.”
On the basis of its on-the-spot study, the All India Milli Council is of the view that the
incident should not be taken so simply. According to it, the Home Minister’s
statement seems to be based on the local Police claim of it being a case of
“dacoity”.
In the light of the statement of Shabaana, the All India Milli Council questions with
regard to the presence of a Police van at the time of the incident. According to it, a
certain Police personnel has also been identified by one of the victims. It also raises
questions with regard to the cap, star and belt of Police, found on the spot and still in
the possession of the villagers.
So far as the details of the incident is concerned, it finds the Home Minister’s
versions not exactly in line with what the villagers and the victims say. It wonders why
there is no reference in the Home Minister’s statement to the allegation of rape of
the two women---late Shahjahan and
the injured Shabaana---and the selective killing of only those belonging to a particular
community.
The All India Milli Council demands that a thorough judicial enquiry be ordered so that
the truth come out and guilty be punished. It is to point out that the gruesome incident
has rocked the Parliament with the Opposition parties also demanding a thorough judicial
enquiry.
The UP government has given an assistance of Rs 1.25 lakh to the kins of those killed. All
India Milli Council considers the amount too meagre and demands it to be raised to at
least Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each victim.
The recent communal incidents in Muzaffarnagar, Mathura and Rae Bareilly and the tension
in other parts of UP show that there are some concerted efforts to disturb the atmosphere
in the state before the assembly elections.
Anti-Historical Monuments Tirade
As is obvious, the Sangh Parivar is openly engaged, in
its own words, in “putting the history, wronged in the past, on the right
track”. It is now an open secret that its list contains hundreds of religious places
and monuments.
The incidents at Masjid Quwwatul Islam near Qutb Minar, Delhi and Sher Shah’s tomb in
Sasaram (Bihar) and the demolition of a 16th century mosque built by the Moghul emperor
Akbar at Asind in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan, when his army was returning from
Chittorgarh Fort and the installation of an idol of Hanumanji at the site, are some of the
lattest
efforts made in this direction.
Human Rights Violations
There has been a rise in the occurrences of the human rights violations against
minorities, Dalits and other weaker sections. TADA was allowed to lapse a few years ago,
but its designated courts have still not ceased to function.
It is to point out that a designated court in Mumbai on August 3 threatened to cancel the
bail and issue warrants against a TADA accused Mohammed Iqbal for not appearing in the
court. Designated judge P D Kode told Subhash Kanse, who appeared in court on August 3 for
Iqbal, that if the accused “does not show up in court”, he will have no option
but to cancel the bail.
Iqbal, who was granted bail as early as 1993, has not been appearing in court for the last
few times as he is mentally unstable and often suffers from hallucinations. According to
his family members, he is taking spiritual treatment at a dargah in Unjao (Maharashtra).
Iqbal’s counsel Ms Farhana Shah discloses that another TADA accused, Akbar Abu Sama
Khan, who was
killed in May this year, also suffered from the same problem.
Like Iqbal, a number of TADA detainees are still languishing in the prisons in spite of
the continued assurances from the government.
The irony is that at a time when there is no end to the suffering due to TADA, framing of
some more stringent and draconian laws in the name of curbing the anti-national and
terrorist activities is under consideration before the government.
Economic Policy
There is no paucity of resources in the country. Yet, we are not investing in an essential
infrastructure like generation and supply of electricity. We are relying mainly on
investment by depending on the multi-national companies like Enron, which is producing
electricity at three times the cost of our own NTPC units. The most lamentable part is
that the government of India and state governments are forced into agreements with these
multi-national companies where entire civilian assets like the Rashtrapati Bhavan,
Parliament House etcs, are mortgaged.
How our present government thinks in terms of our country’s economy can be gauged
from the recent assertions of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee at Kumarakom.
Touching upon the most important economic aspect of our nation in a very superficial and
generalised way, he said: “We have a vibrant and self-reliant economy. Yes, we can
create prosperity for all. We can fully remove poverty, unemployment and all other traces
of underdevelopment from India. What is needed is an inspiring national vision, a strong
sense of purpose shared by all the citizens and communities of our diverse country, and a
single-minded determination supported by concerted
action to achieve what are identified as common goals.”
Regarding reforms he averred: “Therefore, the time has come to introduce radical
developmental reforms, which should encompass, besides economic reforms, administrative
and judicial reforms. The most important component of these reforms is to fix transparent
accountability at all levels and increase people’s involvement in monitoring the
functioning of all agencies that impact on development.”
These may be noble sentiments for a public election rally because they are not backed by
suitable action. He has not spelled out any measures for strengthening infrastructure the
most important of which are power and steel and other essential metals. He wants both
Indian industry and agriculture not to ignore the new competitive global environment in
which they are called upon to operate. What happens to these sectors under the WTO
agreement is not even mentioned, leave alone discussed, by Mr Vajpayee. minent scientists
like Dr Swaminathan and Dr Kurien have publicly stated that these imports will ruin the
farmers, fishermen and millions of milk producers of India.
The entire country has become a badly deficit nation, depending heavily upon borrowings so
much so that our debt-servicing liabilities is greater than our entire national revenue.
To raise resources, we are selling even our profit making Public Sector Units (PSUs) which
are sold at distress price.
It is pity that we do not realise that selling out and
mortgaging our valuable national assets and depending even for our basic infrastructure
needs on foreign assistance is not an act of courage and daring. It is an act of
helplessness and simply an attitude of slavery. Clearly these are not
signs of a “vibrant and self-reliant economy”.
It would not be out of tune to mention here that the net result of the economic reforms is
that the poor have become poorer and the rich richer.
Apparently our beloved country seems to plung into a web of serious economic crisis. The
stock market is flat and production is on a downward trend. In view of this slowdown, all
sorts of business houses are forced on pruning their workforces. This is the reason why
the workers in the organised sectors are getting reduced in number for the first time in
more than a decade in this country and 1.44 per cent annual growth in the organised sector
employment in 1991 has come down to -0.15 in 2000. Around ten lakh jobs have suddenly
become redundant.
In the wake of the ongoing economic reforms and new exim policy, the existence of
traditional industries like looms, carpets, durries, locks, bangles and leather tanneries
is also facing dangerous pursuits.
Foreign Policy
So far as our foreign policy is concerned, it is passing through a critical phase despite
some big claims. Today our relations with most of our neighbours are not in good terms.
Is it not a sad comment on our foreign policy that not only in Pakistan, but Bangladesh,
Srilanka and even Nepal there exists anti-India sentiments and we have so far failed to
check it?
The spirit of SAARC seems to get lost somewhere else. Instead, we are engaged in making
relations with not so friendly countries like Israel, Germany and Turkey and signing pacts
in the name of curbing terrorism.
Review of the Constitution
A special commission, constituted by the government of India, under the chairmanship of
the retired Justice Venkatachalaiah, is already working on the proposal of reviewing the
Constitution of India. This has sent an alarming signal to the future of democracy and
secularism in the country.
The said commission has recently suggested in a widely circulated consultation paper that
since a majority of representatives are elected by a minority of votes cast, “the
first past the post (FPTP) system of elections stands seriously eroded”. It suggests
“a mismatch between FPTP and the
multi-party system” and says: “Hung houses make stable government formation
difficult.”
Many apprehend a sinister and fascist design in the move. The situation is that even the
President of India, Dr K R Narayanan, could not keep mum on the issue and spoke out in his
address to the nation on the eve of the Republic Day this year. He came out with an
unwavering defence of the Constitution of India, comparing those advocating a system of
indirect elections with Pakistan’s Field Marshal Ayub Khan, who had experimented with
what he called basic democracy, or guided democracy.
He said: “It would be an irony of history if we invoke today in the name of Mahatma
Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, the shades of the political ideas of Field Marshal Ayub
Khan, the father of military rule in Pakistan.”
Dr Narayanan said that “at the heart of our democracy is the right of universal adult
suffrage”, clearly disapproving of suggestions for stability and uniformity in the
political system and electoral reform which could usher in indirect elections.
The founding fathers of the Constitution, he said, had the wisdom and foresight not to
overemphasise the importance of stability and uniformity of the political system and had
“a profound faith in the wisdom of the common man and woman in India, thus
consciously rejecting the system of restricted franchise and indirect elections”,
despite the country then being “in a
state of abject mass poverty and mass illiteracy”.
“This act of faith...meant that the governance of this vast country was not to be
left in the hands of an elite class but the people as a whole. It is under the flexible
and spacious provisions of our Constitution that democracy has flourished...and that India
has achieved an unprecedented
unity and cohesion as a nation”, the President said, making no mention of the 80
amendments the Constitution of India has undergone.
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