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Umh!, Whats this? |
Saffron Watch / February
2001
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Catching them young
The Gujarat government’s notions
of ‘clean and interesting’ are clearly tied up with it’s brazenly saffron
agenda. A circular issued by the state education department through the
district education officer, on January 9, 2001 enjoins all schools through
their principles to subscribe to the RSS’ run weekly Sadhna at the cost
of Rs. 200 per year. Schools through their principles, teachers and the
wider intellegentsia have reacted strongly to this government move and
are even planning to move the Gujarat High Court in a public interest litigation
against it.
Money given through grants to educational
institutions is meant to be used for educational material and not for hate–preaching.
The Sadhna magazine, that has on it’s board members of the RSS, periodically
spits venom on the country’s religious minorities. Launched in 1957, the
periodical has followed the practice of having the RSS pracharak for the
State as the ex–officio managing trustee of the organisation. It is considered
to be one of the 15 such magazines published in various regional languages
in different parts of the country to spread the sangh ideology among the
people. Since circulation of late has dipped, the education department
in Gujarat, the harbinger of Hindu rashtra decided to help boost sales.
A close look at recent issues of the magazine leave the reader in no doubt
about the what nature of literary values get promoted: the January 13 issue
of the weekly spits venom on the Christians and Muslims and even links
the madrassas and mosques with the recent incidents in Nepal. In another
recent issue it writes about the “attack of Christian missionaries”
and “conversion in the name of religion”. The chief minister, Keshubhai
Patel, when quizzed about the controversial circular is on record saying
that there was nothing wrong with it.
RSS forced to eat crow
Faced with outrage and strong
criticism by Sikh organizations
on their attempts to dub Sikhs as
part of the Hindu religion and culture , the RSS (see CC January 2001),
was compelled to retract from its earlier stance and admit, before the
national minorities commission, and state that Sikhs do indeed have a separate
identity and a religion! The meeting between Sangh leaders and the NCM
was convened today after vice chairman of the commission, Trilochan Singh
shot off letter to Prime Minister Vajpayee complaining about the sangh’s
remarks about Sikhs.
A few weeks ago, Sudarshan
Chauhan of the Rashtriya Sikh Sangat, an RSS–affiliate, had declared that
the sangat will celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in
Hindu temples. RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan had also issued a statement few
months ago indicating that Sikhs were part of the larger Hindu fold. The
Sikh clergy and political leadership, interpreting it as an attempt to
usurp the separate identity of Sikhs and assimilate them into fold of Hindus
had reacted sharply and strongly.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak
Committee chief Jagdev Singh Talwandi too had warned the RSS against taking
the Guru Granth Sahib into Hindu temples since idol-worship was against
Sikh traditions.
Hindutva in Rajasthan villages
If there were lessons to be learnt
from the RSS approach and method, it would be in the area of tireless persistence
and long term vision. Eight districts of rural Rajasthan, all located
in the tribal belt will benefit from RSS focus; the newly formulated vision
to take Hindutva to tribals there. The scheme will be implemented through
the Rajasthan Banwasi Kalyan Parishad (RBKP), which has opened primary
and pre-primary schools in 52 villages of the State. The areas of operation
are Banswara, Sirohi, Dungarpur, Pali, Udaipur and Baran. The RBKP is also
implementing an education scheme in 11 tribal panchayats under a Shiksha
Karmi Yojna. Volunteers, employed by the RSS move around preaching nationalism
to the tribals, talk to them about religion and culture too. Organising
secretary of the RBKP, Jayanti Lal claimed that more than one lakh tribals
from 1,000 villages, who were converted into Christianity “by deceit”,
had recently participated in their religious functions. Sources said RSS
volunteers had targeted tribals because poverty and backwardness had made
them vulnerable to conversions. They said Christian organisations were
scared of RSS volunteers who do not hesitate to resort to violence.
Non–Hindu in temple
The VHP is now training it’s gun
on chief conservation engineer of the public works department of the Arcaheological
Survey of India, Mohan Abraham. What is the charge? He is a non–Hindu
who as part of his job has to enter a temple. The issue is snowballing
into a self-fuelled controversy after the VHP convened a meeting of ‘believers’
in Alapuzzha screaming of ‘hurt Hindu sentiments.’ The officer in question
has, in the course of his duty entered the naalambalam of many temples
that include the Thodikkulam Siva temple, Thirunayathodu Sanakara Naraya
temple, Nemom Mahavishnu temple, Chengannur Narasimha temple among others.
Until the VHP had hunted out this
agenda and had selectively targeted Abraham there seemed to be no spontaneous
objection from the worshippers, but with the self-styled protectors of
the Hindu faith in arms on the streets, Abraham may have something to loose
his sleep about. What will be really interesting however, is to see how
the ASI, a central government outfit under the democratic and secular Indian
Constitution will respond to the heat being fanned by the VHP!
Soft saffron, hard saffron
If any more evidence were needed
that the Congress as a party and an organization is completely out of sync
and bereft of political imagination, the much publicized dip by Congress
President Sonia Gandhi in the holy Ganges at the time of the Mahakumbh
mela in Alllahabad is one such example. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad is crowing
in delight as, in its own parlance, “it has got Sonia and the Congress
to toe the Hindutva line’.
What benefits (electoral) may accrue
to the Congress in the coming elections in many states — the critical one
being Uttar Pradesh (where a political ding-dong appears to be on ‘to hold
or not to hold the elections)—remains to be seen. What is clear again is
that the Hindutvawaadis continue to dominate and influence the discourse,
at least politically.
To quote Vishnu Hari Dalmia, president
of the VHP, “The Congress has done great service to Hindus on two occasions
after Independence. First was the renovation of the Somnath temple in Gujarat,
which was done during the regime of Jawaharlal Nehru. The second was Rajiv
Gandhi allowing the shilanyas at Ayodhya... Soniaji should complete the
unfinished task of Rajivji. If she cannot, then she should openly back
the assurance given by P.V. Narasimha Rao to rebuild the Babri Masjid.”
Round Kumbh to the sangh parivar
what?
Moral police
Whether it is the Bajrang Dal or
the Shiv Sena, moral policing is top of the agenda. And, with the zealous
union minister for information and broadcasting, Sushma Swaraj determined
to prove her worth to the ideological cause after being in the political
wilderness for well on two years, their timing could not be better. The
VHP Delhi chief, Om Prakash Singhal has announced that the outfit will
use the Bajrang Dal cadres to make people desist from watching programmes
that go against Indian tradition. F-TV, a fashion channel is the immediate
target. Union minister Sushma Swaraj has responded promptly. She has directed
that the programming on the F-TV channel be monitored and sent the material
to a parliamentary committee to assess whether the quality of telecast
was ‘damaging’ or not. Meanwhile in Mumbai, Bal Thackeray, with his obsessive
desire to be seen and heard chose this month to target the February 14
Valentine’s Day Celebrations ! Shiv Sainiks certainly made it to the front
pages of newspapers all over again as the elite and intellegentsia let
the incident pass by as just another absurdity.
Increasingly, public space is being
governed and the norms of public discourse being set by the moral police.
Unchallenged by the law, they prowl in our midst, and it does not take
much for their diktats to carry the day. Remember what happened to the
films Fire in Mumbai and Delhi? Despite censor certificates and the go–ahead,
after threats from the Shiv Sena, no distributor dared to show the film
in the country’s most advanced city!! The violent policing by the VHP–Bajrang
Dal combine also did not allow Water to be shot at all in Varanasi, simply
because it depicted the plight of upper caste widows!
RSS Constitution
The RSS vision of Bharat, evident
from a draft constitution in circulation since 1998 and exposed by the
The Asian Age last makes clear it’s future political intentions.
If and when it gets complete power, the much–praised, modern, equity-based
Indian Constitution will be out and the country will be controlled and
run a tiny and select Guru Sabha that will be elected not by universal
adult franchise but by a select electorate consisting of school, college
and university teachers.
The Guru Sabha will, if ever the
RSS has it’s way enjoy writ over and above the executive, the legislature
and the judiciary. The preamble to the draft RSS Constitution reads thus,
“We the people of Bharat (also called India) having solemnly constituted
ourselves into a Sovereign Democratic Republic and to secure to all its
citizens Security from Internal and External Enemies, Prosperity, Justice,
Economic, Social and Political, Liberty of thought, expression, faith,
belief and worship and to promote among them all fraternity assuring dignity
of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation.”
The Guru Sabha’s authoritarian writ
will be final; the outfit cannot be dissolved ever under any circumstances.
The directive principles of state policy are completely abolished under
the RSS Constitution; a prime minister who is not a member of the Lok Sabha
can be chosen and most importantly for them, no citizen of the country
can accept any title from a foreign nation.
Nuns attacked
Three nuns teaching in a school
in a Christian–dominated village in Rampur district were injured
on Monday night when armed men barged into their hostel and attacked
them. The state principal secretary (home), Mr. Ramesh Dayal, told the
local media that seven or eight people forcibly entered the Anna Convent
and attacked the nuns with weapons. They later fled with some belongings
of the nuns, who were admitted to the nearby hospital.
The mother superior, seriously injured
in the attack by unknown miscreants, is presently recovering at a Bareilly
hospital. Meanwhile authorities said that four persons had been arrested
in connection with the attack. |