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Umh!, Whats this?

Saffron Watch / February  2001                                                                                                                 <<<Go to index page

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. 

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