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In Lucknow, meanwhile, the party fielded a senior leader, also a Muslim, to defend the tie-up. Ahmed Hasan said that Muslims across the board had welcomed the development as this would weaken the communal forces, which would ultimately prevent L K Advani from becoming the Prime Minister. He said that Muslims know that Mulayam would never have any truck with the BJP to gain power, as was done by Mayawati thrice in the past.
The Muslims also know that if Advani became Prime Minister, the whole country would become Gujarat for them, he added. He defended the induction of Kalyan's son Rajvir Singh into the party, which came in for criticism by senior party leader Mohammed Azam Khan. Apart from Barq, three other Muslim MPs of the party - all denied tickets to fight the next elections - have voiced their protest against the electoral ties with the former BJP leader.
He hinted that he might team up with Sherwani to forge a strategy. Martyrs' Day is here.
Sixty-one years after his death, one of the issues closest to Mahatma Gandhi's heart untouchability remains unresolved even in his home state. In fact, Dalits are forced to be martyrs in various ways. Four issues continue to plague Dalits in Gujarat, who make up 7. A dharna is being organised at Sabarmati Ashram on February 3 by Gujarat State Gram Panchayat Social Justice Committee Manch on two of these regularising cemetery grounds for marginalised communities and demanding withdrawal of the policy to entrust responsibility of discarding dead animals in villagesto Dalits.
An ongoing study by BSC mapping labour patterns in south Gujarat, Ahmedabad city and Sabarkantha and Banaskantha, has revealed the pathetic living conditions of migrant labour, 70 per cent of which consists of Dalits and tribals. Contractors pay them in advance for the season. As a result, labour is bonded with no negotiating power. They are paid less than minimum wages and have to work as long as asked.
The study reveals there are around 50, labourers in salt industry, 40, in Bt cotton farms, one lakh in sugarcane plantations in south Gujarat and at least 40, in construction sector in Ahmedabad who face these conditions. According to the Panchayati Raj Act in the state, it's Dalits who have to handle dead animals. BSC is agitating for the removal of this clause from the Act. Since Dalits were doing this job, which hurts their dignity, it was legitimised," says Dr Ganguly. As per state government policy, Dalits should be given 10 per cent posts as mid-day meal sanchalaks organisers.
Though Dalits are Hindus, they bury their dead. This is because they are not allowed to enter Hindu crematoriums. Out of villages in nine districts of the state, only 58 have separate graveyards for Dalits. As they are not given land, they bury their dead anywhere and are not able to accord respect to them. The people behind the Malegaon terrorist attack fell into three categories - Sangh parivar cadres, army men and old Savarkarites.
Major Ramesh Upadhyay, a former defence services officer was arrested first, but the key figure was Lt Col Prasad Purohit, who had approached Upadhyay when he was posted at Nasik as liaison officer.
Purohit and Upadhyay imparted military training to young activists - including bomb making - and were instrumental in getting arms and explosives. Kulkarni between and , andwho had been associated with the RSS since The five accused mentioned above were all members of Abhinav Bharat, a Pune-based movement initiated by Purohit in June , whose working president was Ramesh Upadhyaya but whose president was none other than Himani Savarkar, V. Savarkar's daughter in law, who also headed the Hindu Mahasabha. The people, the places and the modus operandi are revealing of the continuity that underlines the Hindu tradition of terror, harking back to V.
The young, revolutionary Savarkar had created the first Abhinav Bharat Society in The movement drew its name and its inspiration from Mazzini's 'Young Italy', but was also influenced by Frost Thomas's Secret Societies of the European Revolution, a book dealing mostly with the Russian nihilists. The movement was dissolved in , but ten years back, just before finishing his term as Hindu Mahasabha president, Savarkar had created the Hindu Rashtra Dal, another militia whose mission was to impart military training to the Hindus in order to fight the Muslims, Gandhi's followers and the Mahatma himself.
This movement cashed in on the work of the same institution - the Bhonsle Military School, started in by B. Moonje, another Nagpur-based Savarkarite, after a European tour which had exposed him to Mussolini's Balilla movement. Some of them also had connections to the British Army. Nathuram Godse and N.
Apte, the two main architects of Gandhi's assassination, are cases in point. Godse thought that RSS strategy contented itself with "organisation for the sake of organisation".
The Hindu Rashtra Dal, by contrast, organised training camps where volunteers learnt how to manufacture bombs and use guns from bicycles and cars. The key instructor was N. Apte who had served the army as Assistant Technical Recruiting Officer. In this capacity, he could use the War Service Exhibitions - which were intended to attract young Indians to the army - to initiate Hindu Rashtra Dal members into the art of modern arms.
The Hindu Rashtra Dal's terrorist agenda culminated in the assassination of Gandhi, who had already been a Savarkarite target before - in , they threw a bomb in Poona Municipal Town Hall where Gandhi was making a speech against untouchability. While today's Abhinav Bharat belongs to an old tradition harking back to Savarkar and even Tilak, the new element here lies in the implication of one serving officer of the Indian army.
Certainly, any institution can have a black sheep. But was he that isolated? He has already named other officers who would have been his more or less passive accomplices and his colleague, Upadhyay, who once headed the Mumbai unit of the BJP's ex-servicemen cell. The BJP, indeed, inducted ex-army men in large numbers since the s. After the BJP came to power in , two dozens ex-servicemen more joined the party. This inflow of ex-army men may reflect the increasingly communal atmosphere of the institution.
In December , a survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies for Tehelka, one of the first among army men - and probably the most comprehensive - showed that 19 per cent of the soldiers interviewed felt that the army practised some religious discrimination - and 24 per cent of the Muslims among them shared this view.
Instead of distancing itself from the Hindu terrorists, as it had done in the s, this time the Sangh Parivar has decided to support the Malegaon accused. Bajrang Dal chief Prakash Sharma declared that "policy makers should be worried if the Hindus were taking to arms because of the government's skewed approach to war on terror" and admitted that the Bajrang Dal was running training camps too "to boost their morale [the Bajrang Dal's members].
The country wouldn't get its Abhinav Bindras if there were no armed training for the youth". In a way, the RSS, with the Bajrang Dal, has created a buffer organisation to handle the dirty work that the Sangh was earlier obliged to do itself - work similar to that of the Savarkarite organisations, whether they are called Hindu Rashtra Dal or Abhinav Bharat. The Right-wing Hindu group, Sri Rama Sene, created by Belgaum-based Pramod Muttalik, following his expulsion from the Bajrang Dal in , has been at the forefront of several moral policing incidents and communal violence in the Mangalore region in the last three years.
Among the latest incidents the outfit has been associated with is the attack on a pub in Mangalore carried out on January 24 - something the outfit proudly claims as a "spontaneous reaction" to the alleged flouting of Indian norms of decency. The outfit has been recently linked, though denied by Muttalik himself, to a bomb blast in a Hubli court in May , following the arrest of a gang of alleged dacoits, several of whom are believed to have a history of association with groups like the Sene.
The Sri Rama Sene's stronghold is, however, the coastal Karnataka region which saw a rise in communal politics in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition. Drawing its cadre from the young, communally inclined rowdy elements, the Sene has been primarily involved in moral policing activities like preventing inter religious ties, preventing the slaughter of cows and inciting communal violence in the region. In , the Sene was responsible for an attack on a bus carrying the employees of a local store in Mangalore. The employees, both Hindus and Muslims, were going on a picnic organised by their employers.
Sene activists attacked the bus accusing the storeowners of encouraging relationships between Hindu and Muslims. Numerous other incidents where Sene activists have monitored inter-religious relationships and attacked non-Hindus have been reported over the past three years. In another infamous incident in , an elderly man, Hasanaba, and his son were stripped and dragged in a field after they were found in a local market by Sene cadre allegedly attempting to sell a calf.
The self appointed moral policemen from the Sene are alleged to have been involved in the communal violence in Mangalore in October that resulted in the imposition of three days of curfew in the district. The violence started after Sene men tried to chase down a truck allegedly carrying cows to an abattoir in the heart of Mangalore. The Sene is alleged to have actively participated in the violence that followed, including the stabbing of a youth who was being taken to the then newly opened Mangalore airport to catch a flight to Dubai. However, with the BJP being sympathetic to such groups and being in power in some form in Karnataka since , key leaders of the Sene have courted arrest for several of these acts of violence but without serious charges being pressed against them.
It only keeps getting worse. Intolerance is a stain that is spreading deep and fast in our country. Violent attacks by hoodlums inspired by extreme ideologies - be it regional chauvinism, religious bigotry or a warped sense of Indian tradition and ethos - are becoming an alarmingly frequent feature of our times.
The incident last weekend in Mangalore, in which women were physically assaulted by a bunch of goons bearing allegiance to the Sri Ram Sene - a fringe right-wing outfit - simply because they chose to visit a pub is further evidence of this phenomenon. Like those associated with other extremist right-wing groups, members of the Sri Ram Sene are self-appointed custodians of 'Indian culture'. Just what is this monolithic culture that these people refer to and use as an excuse to further their exclusionary political agenda?
Is beating up women also part of this culture? Our culture and traditions are neither static nor singular. Through the centuries, they have been shaped and reshaped by historic events and interactions with other cultures. Today, there could be more than a billion ways of being Indian. It's worrying that small groups of people can hold the public to ransom and assault our collective liberties with such apparent ease. More troubling is the fact that our state and central governments seem ill-equipped and unwilling to crack down swiftly on such groups.
Be it against Raj Thackeray in Mumbai or similar troublemakers elsewhere, administrations move too slowly and feebly, undermining citizens' faith in their ability to secure law and order. Those responsible for attacks on churches and prayer halls last year in Mangalore have not all been brought to book yet. This time, a couple of dozen men involved in the pub attacks have been taken into custody but all attackers have not yet been arrested.
State home minister V S Acharya has not helped matters by saying that pub owners must "augment security to prevent this kind of incident in future". What is the minister suggesting? That we privatise the enforcement of law and order? Isn't it the government's job to ensure public security?
The state government's condemnation of the incident and stated resolve to suitably punish the guilty are welcome. But that is not enough. Unless it fairly pursues the matter, and is seen to be serious about keeping its word, the government in Karnataka runs the risk of being accused of looking the other way as the state, known for its tolerant spirit, slides down a path of intolerance. November 26 terror attack on Mumbai shook the whole nation like never before. The society and state have been putting in their best to see that measures are taken where by the terror acts don't repeat.
So traumatized has been the nation that every conceivable measure is being given a serious thought for the safety and security of society. To begin with the condolence for the dead was expressed through number of events, candle light march, human chains, all religion prayer meetings and area networking has come up in a very visible fashion. In many of these protests the anger against politicians had a free for all expression, at places sometimes overtly and sometimes covertly the fear of Pakistan and 'Jehadi' terrorists has been the running thread of the protests.
The misplaced call for war against Pakistan is the part of this phenomenon only. The state, the central Government in order to show that something is being done, passed a law, empowering the state as if that will deter the terrorists, who generally come with the full readiness to die. The state is blowing hot and cold, sometimes threatening war and at others talking tough and less often also saying that war is no option.
State is also reviewing the quality of bullet proof jackets, increasing airport security and the security of coast line. Civic society groups have been undertaking workshops for disaster management, a university went on to declare a two year course against terrorism. The best amongst these have been the mohalla committee initiative to cement peace between different communities.
One recalls that after most of the severe phenomenon of violence the civic society has responded with great concern earlier also. Be it the post Babri demolition Mumbai riots or the Gujarat carnage , for a good bit of time socially oriented and concerned individuals and groups sprang into the relief, rehabilitation and intercommunity amity work. This time there is a lot of ferment and a part of it does hold Pakistan as the culprit of the attacks of terror. The measures taken by state though some of them welcome, the measures of civic society groups, related to intercommunity amity are very valuable.
But how far will they go? It seems that the knee jerk reaction after the phenomenon is more focused on the symptoms of the phenomenon. Tighten security, have better bullet jackets and have stringent laws. There is not much attempt to go beyond the obvious to unravel the truth of sectarian and terrorist violence. Surely sectarian violence is due to some political groups baking their bread in the divisive politics, the ground for which is prepared by the hate ideology, spread of misconceptions and distorted view of the minorities, their history, their present.
So, as lot of groups and individuals correctly talk about peace, about need for amity, their attempts do not reach to the core issue of fighting against divisive politics, the attempt to unravel the truth about minorities, their present, their past. The communal violence and emotive issues give more strength to the communal parties, who in turn give bigger space to their affiliates who work at cultural and religious level to increase the communal divides and weaken national integration, further paving way to still worse violence in times to come.
Not only that, their intensity has been worsening every next time they are staged. Gujarat was worse than Mumbai and Orissa has been more horrific than Dangs. The trajectory of communal violence has clearly shown that all the efforts by state to curb it have been misdirected; the social initiatives have been serious but probably not hitting the target in the effective way.
Sinha and others of the same group can be found in the issues of The Indian P. World has no choice but to ban Islam. We had not heard about them before. Indians remember him for his help in need, For he was a true friend of India indeed. Frankly speaking, she can go to any level as for getting name and fame. The ostrich of my husband consented to comply, endorsed having my own wings to fly, to kick the brown autumnal leaf and pick the promise of spring.
One means the communal congruence of right wing ideology during last three decades. As far as terrorist attacks are concerned, the formulation that All Terrorists are Muslims has been the understanding on which policies are made and implemented. With the result that the real causes of terror are not taken up for treatment of the disease of terrorism. From onwards terror attacks have been occurring, stringent laws or other wise. The deeper injustice has been giving raison de tre' to the repetition of these attacks. Here also the attacks have been worsening, the Mumbai one being worst so far.
If we see a bit more seriously, the real causes of terrorism have not taken up for fighting against. The popular perceptions stops at Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba being the real cause obviates the need to see beyond Al Qaeda etc. It prevents us from seeing the role of US imperialism in bring them up and using these groups for US' political-economic gains. So all anger, protest against Pakistan and accompanying factors gets major importance.
One misses the point that terrorism of AL Qaeda variety has roots in US policies of control over oil resources. It is due to those policies that these groups were propped up to fight Russian armies occupying Afghanistan. One has to see beyond the obvious to realize that this type terrorism has its genesis from the deeper political designs.
The indoctrination of the radical groups which began due to this policy of US can not be fought against merely by strengthening some more laws and by new set of weapons. Pakistani society is as much a victim of this dastardly phenomenon as India is. Terrorists always are looking for the holes in security through which they operate and their biggest advantage is that they are indoctrinated to the extent that they are willing to stake their all, including their lives to do what they have been doing. On similar wave length operates the terror attacks by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and other of her group.
These Hindutva warriors have also been indoctrinated into hating others for the sake of their avowed goal of Hindu Rashtra. So where do we go, what direction we give to our concerns to ensure that terror attacks do not occur.
www.farmersmarketmusic.com: Of Allah Brahmapur And A Fair Bit Beyond eBook: Sudhakar Rao: Kindle Store. Of Allah Brahmapur: And A Fair Bit Beyond [Sudhakar Rao, Ketaki Rao] on www.farmersmarketmusic.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. From the author of the five- star.
First and foremost, all places where injustice prevails, where democracy is stifled in a shortsighted way, those places become a rich fertile ground for breeding of terrorism. The one planted by US, Al Qaeda type, needs to be fought at global level. US is to be made accountable for much of this cancer which has spread in the area. While firmly dealing with the present terror set ups, democracy also needs to be made strong in Pakistan itself. The global peace movement has to ensure that the United Nations comes to the fore and stops the hegemony, the imperial behavior of US in particular.
Kindle Edition File Size: Underscore Publications 29 March Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a product review. Most helpful customer reviews on Amazon. Get to Know Us. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Sudhakar Rao reveals his many rich experiences - as a child growing up in pre-partition India, as an adult eager to contribute to India's growth, as a humanitarian hoping for communal harmony, as a detached observer of trends - creating delightful reading fare.
The title story is one of the most powerful creations of the author, creating a vivid impression with its strong i Sudhakar Rao reveals his many rich experiences - as a child growing up in pre-partition India, as an adult eager to contribute to India's growth, as a humanitarian hoping for communal harmony, as a detached observer of trends - creating delightful reading fare.
The title story is one of the most powerful creations of the author, creating a vivid impression with its strong images narrated in a neutral tone. Tongue-in-cheek humor, a strong sense of fairness, and love for the human populace shines through these stories.
Educational, emotional, and immensely entertaining! Kindle Edition , pages. Published first published April 20th To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.