 |
March 2000
|
|
March 2000
|
|
NEW DELHI Say ‘No’ to India’s Talibanisation A reign of terror has been let loose by the BJP and its cohort organisations — the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Shiv Sena, the Bajrang Dal, the Sanskriti Raksha Manch, etc. — all of whom owe allegiance to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The proclaimed agenda of the RSS is the destruction of our society, as we know it — where different communities live in harmony while following diverse social and cultural norms. This is to be replaced by a regimented state that has no room for minorities, dissent or differences. As promised, they have set in motion a continuing chain of communal violence where every community is under attack, their beliefs and their very existence under threat. The image of Graham Staines and his two little sons, burning alive in their jeep for the single crime of being Christians, is a living symbol of what this regime stands for. Their attacks have targeted all sections — singers, artists, cultural organizations, film–makers, historians. They have started changing syllabi and textbooks to project their version of the country’s ethos and history. In Goa they blackened the face of a teacher for setting questions, which they decided, were not "patriotic". They will not rest until they can dictate all aspects of our lives — even what we wear, eat, read, or think.Nor have they spared ‘Hindus’, as they try to define what a Hindu is. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the students’ wing of the BJP, led an attack on women students wearing western clothes in UP. The RSS may well be asked why they prefer "western" khaki shorts to dhotis! They have started the process of a so-called review of the Constitution. Who is to conduct this review? The Constitution represents years of discussion and debate within different sections of those who fought for our Independence. Is it to be "reviewed" by a committee of people owing allegiance to the ideology of these forces? The RSS is even attempting to alter history to suit their aims. First, the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) was packed with historians of dubious repute whose only merit was that they owe allegiance to the RSS’s ideology. Then books written by two of the leading historians in the country on the freedom movement, Sumit Sarkar and K.N.Pannikar, which were already in the press, were withdrawn for a "review". Why are the RSS and the BJP afraid of these books, which are essentially a compilation of primary documents pertaining to the period just before Independence? Is it because it will expose the dubious role played by the RSS during the independence movement? Is this why they need to doctor the past? Nobody is safe from these forces. They are our very own Bharatiya Taliban. They are anti–democracy, anti–working people, anti–women. When the people of this country are crying out for relief against a social order that is increasingly pauperising the majority of the people, this Taliban would like us to fight Valentine’s Day and Water. Let us fight together to defeat the designs of this Taliban, wherever we are. Let us raise our voices and say — this country is ours. Citizens in Defence of Democracy (From a pamphlet for a rally held in New Delhi on February 25. The rally began at Mandi House and culminated before the Parliament). |