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Secular Action Network, May 2017

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1. Forum News

All India Secular Forum congratulates Dr. Suresh Khairnar for being awarded Mukundan C. Menon Award (2016). The award is in recognition of Dr. Khairnar’s work for rights of religious minorities in particular. His work in investigating the cases of Hindutva terror network had a major impact on our understanding about this phenomenon. He is constantly engaged with the issues which undermine the secular ethos and upholds the secular values through his interventions. We wish him all the very best in his endeavors.

N E W S L E T T E R D A T E

SECULAR ACTION NETWORK

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1

C O N T E N T S Editorial 1. CSSS News -Observation of Utkal Divas - Street Play - Observationof Dr.Ambedkar Jayanti

2. Article

- ‘Not my Hinduism’ should be our slogan

By Jyoti Punwani - Mystic Mantra: Sufism cannotes syncretism By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi 3. Poem

- भँवर मेघवंशी की कववता 4. Personal Investigation - Behror (Alwar) Killing – A Grave Challenge By V.K. Tripathi - Gau Wapsi – A Muslim cattle trader and the Cows he loved - by Farah Naqvi 5. Intimidating Churches - In UP, cops halt church prayer after Hindu group

alleges conversion

6. Unity in History 7.Harmony Event 8. Investigation Desecration of the Cross in Santacruz; A fact finding report by CSSS team 9. Interviews -Interview with Akeel Bilgrami - Maxime Rodinson’s interview on Islam, fundamentalism and the West 10. Resources -Book on Partition, Indo-Pak relations and Kashmir

-------------------------------- Ph. 022-26149668, 022-26135098 E-mail: [email protected] Editor: Ram Puniyani, [email protected], www.pluralindia.com Advisory Board: L.S. Hardenia, Irfan Engineer, Dhirendra Panda, Mohammad Arif.

Newsletter of All India Secular Forum

Volume. 12 No.5 May 2017


Postal Address: CSSS, 602 & 603, New Silver Star, Santacruz (E), Mumbai: - 400 055

From the Editor’s Desk

The intensity of emotive violence orchestrated in the

name of Cow protections has been spreading dangerously.

After the lynching of Akhlaq in Dadri, now it was the turn

of Pehloo khan, a dairy farmer. On the back of that two

Muslims were lynched in Assam on similar grounds. The

rise is such incidents after Modi government coming to

power and then Adityanath Yogi becoming the Chief

Minister in UP is significant. The so called Go Rakshaks,

have been there earlier also but now they feel emboldened

with a feeling that now it is a Government which belongs

to their ideology. The attitude of the state has been to treat

these vigilantes with kid gloves and to blame the victims

for doing cow smuggling etc. This is in total violation of

the laws of the land. The hysteria has been whipped up by

communal forces leading to the tragic situation where

cow vigilantes are ruling the streets with full blessings of

the BJP or BJP led Governments in power. As such Cow

protection is the pretext for intensifying communal

politics, to polarize the society along religious lines for

electoral gains by the ruling party. Cow is not the issue as

the major threat to cows is from the plastic consumed by

them and their abandonment after their utility for

agricultural-dairy purpose is over. Hindu right wing has

mastered the art of picking up issues related to identity of

religion and to make these as the foundation of their

electoral power. Along with Ram Temple, this is yet

another issue which is yielding rich electoral dividends

for communalists. The major victims of this strategy on

one hand are Muslims and on the other Dalits (as seen in

Una). One needs to recall Gandhi at this juncture who

refused to support the demand for ban on cow slaughter

keeping in mind the diversity of the country.

Ram Puniyani

(Editor)

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.pluralindia.com/


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1. CSSS News

Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Peace Centre Activities

Observation of Utkal Divas (Foundation Day of Odisha)

Type of Activity: Meeting at Madaguda U.G High School, Kandhamal

(The Famous Quote by Renowned Odia

Poet Gangadhar Meher as "ମାତୃଭୂମି

ମାତୃଭାଷା ରେ ମମତା ଯା ହୃରେ ଜନମି ନାହିଁ - ତାାତ

ଯେି ୀାନଜ୍ଞ େରରେ େରିଣା ୀୀାନଜ୍ଞ େହରିଣ ାାହିଁ ?

(Matrubhumi Matrubhasa re Mamata

Ja Hrude Janami Nahin- Taku Jadi

Gyani Ganare Ganiba , Agyan Rahibe

Kanhi (If we will count them as

knowledgeable-those who have not love

and affection towards own mother land

and mother tongue- then where will be

ignorant ?) is not only meant for Odia

or Odisha. It is also applicable for

Sambalpuri, Koshali, all tribal

languages and languages used by Dalit

communities.

Every Person may be proud for his/her

own identity through Language and

Nativity - Like Odia for Odia Language

and Foundation Day of Odisha But if it

will not create a scope for others and

Odia will be imposed on them as the

mother language of Odisha, those are

more than 50% by population as per

their language, it will be an arbitrary

occupier.)

Brief Description: On 1st April, the

foundation day of Odisha, called as

'Utkal Divas', in that day of 1936, the

State Odisha(Orissa) has recognised as

Special State hood and Odia(Oriya) was

accepted as its mother language by a

long struggle with the Britishers.

Remembering the day and with an

objective to aware the students on its

importance a meeting was organised at


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Madaguda G.P of Kotagada Block of

Kandhamal district. A meeting was

organized taking teachers and students

as well as panchayat representatives at

the campus of Madaguda Up-Graded

High School. Competitions such as

debate and song has been organised

among the students. The different

speakers like Headmaster, teacher, local

Sarapanch and others also spoke on that

occasion.

Theme: Utkal Divas: Importance to

Observe

Rationale: Observation of Utkal Divas

was important for us that by observing

such day we were tried to aware students

and community by organizing various

competitions and meetings about their

own language, culture and community

responsibilities who belongs to tribal and

dalit community.

***

Observation of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanty: Type of Activity: Meeting and discussion

Brief Description:

Campaign for Peace, Kandhamal has

been observed Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s

126th

Jayanty at G.Udaygiri, Kandhamal

on 14th April, 2017.

Though the day was declared as holiday

for Maha Visubha Sankraty (Mahavir

Jayanty, Good

Friday as well as

Ambedkar

Jayanty, the

meeting was

been organized

by the hostel

borders of

Haback High

School and

some like

minded persons.

The meeting

was presided by

Md Abdul

Sukur, the

eminent

Rationalist and

President of the

Campaign and the speakers like Adv.

Syamal Rao Achary, Mr. Rajesh Bagh-

lecturer of Political Science, Kalinga

Mahavidyalaya, G.Udaygiri (Main

Speaker), Sisir Pattnaik (Journalist), Mr.

Umakant Batik, H.M of Haback High

School, Md. Ziauddin Ahmed- Social

Activist, Mr. Jagannath Rath- Social


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Activist, Narendra Mohanty - Secretary

of Campaign for Peace and Convener of

Banabasi Suraskhya Parisad,Kandhamal

spoke on the occasion.

Theme: Life and struggle of Dr. B. R.

Ambedkar- A way forward towards

Peace & Justice

Rationale: In a time when we are

struggling in the name of caste and

religion and poor, deprived as well as

minority and marginalised are far from

their basic rights, the time is most

urgent to follow the life and struggle of

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. Without

demolition of such In-human and un-

equitable social system and without

formation of an equitable, caste less

and class less society the dream and

thought of Dr.B. R. Ambedkar will be

not materialised. We must follow his

historic call for educate, agitate and

fight for justice with dignity.

***

Welcoming the Rally “Symbol of Knowledge” on Ambedkar Jayanti

14th April 2017, ChotaLal ki Chawl, Gomtipur, Ahmedabad

On 19th

March 2017, a planning meeting

was organized at Gomtipur by Lok Sewa

Samajik Samiti. It was jointly decided to

organized ‘Symbol of Knowledge

Yatra’. NPG had taken responsibility to

welcome the yatra at Chotalal Mariyam

Bibi Chawl by Muslim leaders.

‘Symbol of Knowledge Yatra’ was

organized by jointly by 29 community

based groups and organization of

Gomtipur and Rajpur area. The Yatra

was carried out from Gomtipur to

Sarangpur Ambedkar Circle. The rally

was welcomed by the Muslim

community at ‘Mariyambibichotalal ki

chawl’. Around 50 youths and

community leaders from Muslim

community welcomed the Rally with

flowers, water and cold drinks. More

than 500 dalits passed through

Mariyambibichotalal ki chawl .This is to

give larger message for the solidarity

and alliance building of marginalized.

The area having mixed population of

Muslim, Dalits and Christian, such kind

of initiative helps in reducing communal

rifts amongst the people.

Output:-

- Alliance Building among Dalits

and Muslim community

- Interaction among Dalits and

Muslim youth has increased

- Discussion among the youth

about Dr. Ambedkar broader

thoughts of social justice and

equality has increased.

****


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Street Play on Ambedkar Jayanti

14th & 15th April 2017, Parikshitlal Nagar&VinayVihar Society Behrampura,

Ahmedabad

NPG has performed play ‘Vaadu Aapjo

Baa’ on Ambedkar Jayanti in

Collaboration with SC Ekta Manch and

Ambedkar Manch at Behrampura,

Ahmedabad. ‘Vaadu Aapjo Baa’ street

play focused on caste hierarchy and due

it the how conditions of Valimiki

Community in Gujarat becoming

pathetic. The areas were the play has

performed belongs to Dalits and Valmiki

community. Community based group of

Dalits has organized the program on

‘Ambedkar Jayanti’. The objective was

to generate awareness and sensitized the

community towards behavioral changes

with Valmiki community and generates

awareness about education and

alternative means of livelihood among

Valmiki community. On 14th

April more

than 1000 people participated in the

program and on 15th

April around 160

people participated in the program.

Output:-

Reached out to more than 1160

people

Alliance building & solidarity

with Dalit and marginalized

community

Increased Recognition among

community

Recognition of SC ektamanch

youth has increased in the

community and they are

initiating community issues.

***

2. Articles

http://inwww.rediff.com/news/column/jyoti-punwani-not-my-hinduism-should-be-our-

slogan/20170410.htm

‘Not my Hinduism’ should be our slogan

Jyoti Punwani

April 10, 2017 08:51 IST

‘The cow is sacred to many of us, but these killings are definitely not part of the

Hinduism we know and practise,’ says Jyoti Punwani.

How do we deal with the continued

lynching of Muslims by gau rakshaks?

In the 17 months since Mohammed

Akhlaq was beaten to death in UP on

http://inwww.rediff.com/news/column/jyoti-punwani-not-my-hinduism-should-be-our-slogan/20170410.htm

http://inwww.rediff.com/news/column/jyoti-punwani-not-my-hinduism-should-be-our-slogan/20170410.htm


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suspicion of having cooked beef, eight

Muslim men have been killed, two

Muslim women raped, and almost 40

persons, including two women and seven

non-Muslims, assaulted by gau rakshaks.

One of the eight victims, 22-year-old

Minhaj Ansari, died in police custody in

Jharkhand, after his arrest over a

WhatsApp message on beef.

That's a rate of over two lynchings a

month.

On Wikipedia, the topic 'Lynching in the

US' informs us that an average of five

lynchings a month took place there over

a 73-year period.

It is time now to create a similar topic

for India, with advisories for tourists on

areas with the most lynchings, and a

warning that if they must visit these

beautiful locales, eating meat should be

strictly avoided.

One reality we have to face is that the

State will not stop such lynchings. The

silence of The Leader has once again

been deafening. Ironically, he was busy

welcoming Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's

prime minister, when a 55-year-old dairy

farmer Pehlu Khan's lynching was

playing out on our television screens and

being debated in Parliament.

The smuggling of our cattle to

Bangladesh has long been an irritant for

the ruling party. One of the first things

Home Minister Rajnath Singh did was

urge the Border Security Force to crack

down so hard on cattle smugglers that

Bangladeshis would have to give up

beef! The Bangladeshi PM must surely

have heard that remark.

What would she have thought about

Pehlu Khan’s lynching? If nothing else,

it must have reassured her that her

country was not alone in letting violent

fanatics run amok against minorities.

In Pakistan, there's open rejoicing that

finally, their founder's Two-Nation

theory is being proved right in India.

That's just not true. Yet, can we who

reject that poisonous theory convince the

Pakistanis otherwise?

Do the powers that be consider these

lynchings wrong?

When pushed by a media outcry, the

police arrest a few gau rakshaks, but it is

obvious that for them, the survivors of

such attacks are the real offenders.

The filing of charges against Pehlu

Khan's companions, who were also

attacked, follow a pattern that began in

October 2015, in Congress-ruled

Himachal Pradesh. For the police,

whoever is in power, Hindutva rules, and

no Congress state government has done


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anything to make the police feel

otherwise.

Five Muslims were attacked in Himachal

Pradesh's Lavasa village, Sirmaur

district, in October 2015, for ferrying

cows; of them, 20-year-old Noman died.

The police arrested the Muslims and a

few assailants, but the latter quickly got

bail.

Similarly, an FIR was lodged against

Mohammed Akhlaq's family members

when the Samajwadi Party ruled UP,

though this happened under court orders.

Today, the lower courts, the government

and the police, treat Muslims dealing

with cows, be they dairy farmers or

cattle traders, as offenders. Meat-eating

Muslims are similarly treated because

today, the BJP has defined all meat eaten

by Muslims as beef.

This was demonstrated not only in

Akhlaq's case, but also in the recent raid

on a Jaipur restaurant where workers

were thrashed for discarding chicken

bones near a garbage bin where a cow

was standing.

Given these ground realities, what

should the rest of us do? By 'us' is meant

those repelled by this kind of murderous

religious zeal. This zeal repels us as

human beings; but surely it also repels

us as Hindus.

These public killings of unarmed

Muslims and the whipping of unarmed

Dalits are being done in the name of

Hindu belief in the sanctity of the cow.

The cow is sacred to many of us, but

these killings are definitely not part of

the Hinduism we know and practise.

Yes, physical ill-treatment of Dalits is

part of some Hindu texts, but today, few

Hindus would justify it.

Since March 12, 1993, when the first

major act of terror was executed in the

country by a group of angry Muslims in

Mumbai, we have been asking Muslims

to speak out against the terrorist acts of a

few of their co-religionists.

A similar demand was made a decade

earlier from Sikhs, because sant Jarnail

Singh Bhindranwale and his followers

were creating mayhem in Punjab.

Indeed, the late Shiv Sena chief Bal

Thackeray humiliated Mumbai's Sikh

leaders at a press conference on this very

demand.

But Hindu intellectuals have always

condemned the likes of Thackeray,

Pravin Togadia, and RSS/BJP leaders,

including ex-deputy PM L K Advani and

current PM Narendra Modi. That's as it

should be -- wherever one community is

in an overwhelming majority, its

intellectuals act as conscience keepers

when minorities are attacked.


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But the climate of violent intolerance

brought in by the new government at the

Centre must force even ordinary Hindus

to speak up against the way their religion

is being projected by the ruling party.

'Not my Hinduism' should become our

slogan, and we should be marching on

the streets to proclaim it.

Not only to reassure non-Hindus that the

Hindu majority regards them as equal

citizens -- an assurance which is urgently

necessary -- but also to reassure

ourselves that the religion we practise is

not a murderous one.

Like Muslims are being told to reclaim

Islam from ISIS, Hindus must now

reclaim Hinduism from the version

being projected today.

Those who led us through Independence

realised the damage done by the Hindu

caste system and the need to

compensate, hence they included

reservations in the Constitution.

But those who govern us today show no

signs of acknowledging the crimes being

committed in the name of Hinduism by

their followers. Instead, there's

unabashed approval of this savagery.

This makes it all the more important for

ordinary Hindus to proclaim their

disapproval of this terror, even to

express regret to those attacked in the

name of Hinduism.

There is a very recent precedent for this:

After Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati

Express was burnt at Godhra on

February 27, 2002, the religious head of

Godhra's Muslims, Maulana Umerji,

publicly apologised for this act by

members of his community.

Why should only minorities have to bear

this burden of guilt for the misdeeds of

their co-religionists? The majority bears

much more responsibility.

What can those bearing the brunt of the

attacks do?

After Una, Dalits in Gujarat abandoned

dead cows on the streets, refusing to skin

them. Can Muslims give up anything to

do with cows, even rearing them? That

would be difficult, given that often their

livelihood depends on them. But it might

just be worth the suffering.

Because the ultimate sufferer of the gau

rakshak violence and the rapidly

spreading bans on meat eating is the

farmer, for whom cattle, be it

cows/bulls, become a burden after a

certain age. A majority of our farmers

are Hindus. Let them protest.

As business goes down in cattle fairs, let

those who can no longer find buyers for

their cows protest. There have been


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reports from across the country of Hindu

cattle traders and farmers being angry

with the drop in their business and the

risks involved.

In Karnataka, a BJP worker ferrying

cows was killed by gau rakshaks last

year, and many Hindu traders have

reported attacks on them. Let them

pressurise their governments; after all,

the BJP has made it clear in its electoral

campaigns and strategies that it is a party

only of and for Hindus.

That, however, may be an impractical

solution. An immediate solution to end

the impunity with which gau rakshaks

attack their prey, in daylight and in full

view of passersby, is to petition the

courts.

A public interest ligitation filed by

Congressman Tehseen Poonawala

asking for a ban on gau rakshaks is

currently being heard by the Supreme

Court. But bans work only when the

State wants them to.

Instead, why can't rights activists -- most

of them happen to be Hindu -- ask that

the court set up a mechanism to monitor

the action taken after attacks by gau

rakshaks?

A list of such assaults, the inadequate

response of the police, justifications of

these assaults by those in power, and the

effect of these assaults on the lives of the

survivors can be presented to the court in

support of such a demand.

If there can be an National Investigation

Agency to deal exclusively with terrorist

acts, why can't courts set up Special

Investigative Teams to monitor gAU

rakshak terror?

Syncretic Traditions

Opinion, Oped

Mystic Mantra: Sufism connotes syncretism

Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi

The writer is an alim (classical Islamic scholar) and doctoral scholar with Centre for

Media, Culture & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia. Contact him at

[email protected]

Published : Mar 31, 2017, 2:24 am IST

http://www.asianage.com/opinion

http://www.asianage.com/opinion/oped

http://www.asianage.com/columnist/ghulam-rasool-dehlvi-1


http://www.asianage.com/columnist/ghulam-rasool-dehlvi-1


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Updated : Mar 31, 2017, 6:39 am IST

The Urs tradition in Ajmer Sharif began in 1236 when Gharib Nawaz, after praying in

seclusion for six continuous days, met his Lord.

The Dargah – Ajmer Sharif (Dedicated to Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Moinuddin Chishti)

Ajmer Sharif is the prime Sufi shrine in

India with its anniversary (Urs) being

one of the largest spiritual congregations

in the world. The 805th

Urs of Ajmer

Sharif is around the corner. On this

occasion, followers of all faith, traditions

flock to the shrine of the 11th

century

Muslim mystic who founded the Chishti

Sufi order in India — Hazrat Khwaja

Moinuddin Chishti, popularly known as

Gharib Nawaz (benefactor of the poor).

Along with the Chishti tradition,

numerous Sufi silsilas (orders) like

Naqshbandiyya, Suhrawardiyya and

Quadriyah were founded by the saintly

figures in India. The annual occasions of

Urs are observed to mark the death

anniversary of every departed Sufi

mystic. Though the Urs are seen as

purely Islamic congregations, however,

followers of all religions participate in

the shrine visitation with an equal

veneration.

The Urs tradition in Ajmer Sharif began

in 1236 when Gharib Nawaz, after

praying in seclusion for six continuous

days, met his Lord. Since then the

annual Urs has been observed for six

days as an occasion of spreading

Khwaja’s core messages: love for all,

hatred for none, social amity, communal

harmony and spiritual synergy.

In fact, the Urs celebrations like the one

in Ajmer Sharif greatly contribute to the

strengthening of the mystical


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foundations on which the country’s

composite culture rests. They reveal how

different religions and cultures in India

coexisted, exchanged and accepted each

other’s universal values in order to

formulate a composite society.

One of the beautiful works rendered by

the Sufi saints in India was the

conception of a pluralistic, multi-cultural

tradition popularly known as “Ganga-

Jamuni Tehzeeb”. This was the drive

behind their mystical influence in this

land of Vedic culture, which whole-

heartedly embraced the Rishi-Sufi

tradition — the syncretic culture, which

fosters the fusion of faiths and

communal harmony and, hence, is

highly revered by people of all religions

in India. Prominent Indian Sufis like

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti of

Ajmer Sharif were the forerunners of

this spiritual symbiosis in this country.

Following in his footsteps, Baba

Fariduddin of Pakpattan and Hazrat

Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi, Khwaja

Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki and Chiragh-

e-Dehli left an everlasting impact on the

composite culture in India.

Clearly, the Urs or Sufi festivals

inherently connote syncretism. But at the

same time, they are also meant to exhort

taqwa (piety and self-purification) and

Tazkeer al-Akhirah (remembrance of the

judgment day). These two are the core

objectives in visiting any grave or shrine

in Islam and, therefore, they should be

fully maintained.

But the significance and meaning of

taqwa (piety), according to the Sufi

practitioners, is not confined to ritualistic

prayers and invocations. Taqwa is a

much deeper notion than what is

commonly assumed. Sufi saints viewed

piety or taqwa through the prism of a

mystical prophetic tradition. Once,

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) pointed to

his breast three times and said: “Taqwa

(piety) is right here.” Prophet further

explained: “Taqwa is not your apparent

deeds. But rather, it is something deep

down in your heart. It is a close

relationship between an A’bd (servant)

and his Rab (Lord). Taqwa is the

constant 11ognizance of the divine,

contentment with the little you possess

and preparation for the eternal life after

death. They are all actions of the heart.”

Tags: sufi shrine, ajmer sharif, hazrat

khwaja moinuddin chishti

***

3. Poem

*भँवर मेघवंशी की कववता*

(लेखक स्वतंत्र पत्रकार हैं) 6 अप्रैल 2017

http://www.asianage.com/content/tags/sufi-shrine

http://www.asianage.com/content/tags/ajmer-sharif

http://www.asianage.com/content/tags/hazrat-khwaja-moinuddin-chishti

http://www.asianage.com/content/tags/hazrat-khwaja-moinuddin-chishti


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*कब सहहष्णु थे आप ?*

कौन से युग, ककस सदी, ककस कालखडं में, सहहष्णु थे आप?

देवासुर संग्राम के समय?

जब अमतृ खदु चखा और ववष छोड़ हदया

उनके ललए,

जो ना थे तुमस ेसहमत

दैत्य, दानव, असुर, ककन्नर

यक्ष, राक्षस

क्या क्या ना कहा उनको वध, मददन, संहार

क्या क्या ना ककया उनका तब थे आप सहहष्णु?

जब मयाददा पुरुषोत्तम न ेकाट ललया था शम्बूक का लसर

ली थी पत्नी की चररत्र परीक्षा और किर भी छोड़ दी गई

गभदवती सीता अकेली वन प्रांतर में

या तब, जब

द्रोण न ेदक्षक्षणा में कटवा हदया था आहदवासी एकलव्य का अंगूठा जुएं में दांव पर लगा दी गयी थी पांच पांच पततयों की पत्त्न द्रोपदी और टुकर टुकर देखते रहे वपतामह

या तब थे आप सहहष्णु


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जब ब्रह्मा ने बनाये थे वणद रच डाली थी ऊँच नीच भरी सतृ्ष्ट?

या तब, जब ववषमता के जनक ने ललखी थी ववषैली मनुस्मतृत

त्जसने औरत को लसिद भोगने की वस्तु बना हदया था शूद्रों से छीन ललए गए थे

तमाम अधधकार

रह गए थे उनके पास

महज़ कतदव्य

सेवा करना ही उनका जीवनोदे्दश्य

बन गया था और अछूत

धकेल हदये गए थे

गाँव के दख्खन टोलों में लटका दी गई थी

गले में हंडडया और पीठ पर झाडू़

तनकल सकते थे व ेलसिद भरी दपुहरी ताकक उनकी छाया भी ना पड़ ेतुम पर

इन्सान को अछूत बनाकर

उसकी छाया तक से परहेज़!

नहीं थी असहहष्णुता ?

आखखर आप कब थे सहहष्णु?

परशुराम के क्षत्रत्रय संहार के समय

बौद्धों के कत्लेआम के वक़्त

या महाभारत युद्ध के दौरान

लंका में आग लगात ेहुए

या खांडव वन जलाते हुये


14

कुछ याद पड़ता है

आखखरी बार कब थे आप सहहष्णु?

अछूतों के पथृक तनवादचन का हक छीनते हुए,

मुल्क के बंटवारे के समय

दंगों के दौरान,

पंजाब, गुजरात, कश्मीर, पूवोत्तर,

बाबरी, दादरी, कुम्हेर, जहानाबाद

डांगावास और झज्जर

कहा ँपर थे आप सहहष्णु?

सोनी सोरी के गुपतांगों में पत्थर ठंूसत ेहुए .

सलवा जुडूम, ग्रीन हंट के नाम पर

आहदवालसयों को मारते हुए

लोगों की नहदयाँ, जंगल,

खेत, खललहान हडपत ेवक़्त

आखखर कब थे आप सहहष्णु ?

दाभोलकर, पानसरे, कलबुगी के

क़त्ल के वक़्त

प्रततरोध के हर स्वर को पाककस्तान भेजते वक़्त

िेसबुक, ट्वीटर, व्हाट्सएप

ककस जगह पर थे आप सहहष्णु?

प्राचीन युग में गुलाम भारत में आजाद मुल्क में

बीते कल और आज तक भी कभी नहीं थे आप कतई सहहष्णु

सहहष्णु हो ही नहीं सकते हैं आप


15

क्योंकक आपकी संस्कृतत, साहहत्य, कला धमद, मंहदर, रसोई, खेत, गाँव, घर

कही ंभी नहीं हदखाई पड़ती है सहहष्णुता सच्चाई तो यह है कक आपके

डीएनए में ही नहीं है

सहहष्णुता युगों युगों से ......

****

4. Personal Investigation

India: Behror (Alwar) Killing - A Grave Challenge by V.K. Tripathi, 11 April

sacw.net - 11 April 2017

April 1, 2017 was a dark day when

Pehlu Khan, a farmer from Jaysinghpur

village in Mewat district, Haryana was

thrashed to near death by a mob at 6 PM

in Behror town of Alwar District,

Rajasthan on Delhi-Jaipur highway. His

two sons Irfan (23) and Arif (20) and

two other youths Ajmat (24) and Rafiq

(22) were brutally beaten and critically

injured. They had purchased cows in

Jaipur bazaar and were carrying them to

their village/ relatives in two vans when

Cow Vigilante Group activists, riding

motor bikes, stopped their vans, pulled

them out, aroused a mob and thrashed

them with lathis and sticks. Police came

half an hour later, took these five people

to Kailash Hospital. On April 3 Pehlu

succumbed to injuries while other 4

returned home.

I visited Behror on April 7 and

Jaysinghpur on April 9. For Behror, I

took an Alwar bound bus at 10:45 AM

from Dhaula Kuan, Delhi. The

conductor was compassionate. I gave

him my book, “Soch swavlamban aur

Sanskritik Punarjagaran”. Following his

advice I got down at Kishangarh at 2 PM

and took a tempo to Khairthal. A young

school teacher walked with me to the

bus stand and got me into the Kotputli

bus. I got down at a town where I got the

bus to Behror. By my side was sitting an

young man Amit Kumar Yadav. He gave

me fairly objective description of the

http://www.sacw.net/auteur902.html

http://www.sacw.net/article13215.html


16

incident and offered to take me to the

site on his motor bike in Behror.

At 4:30 PM I reached Behror. Amit took

me to the flyover on Delhi-Jaipur

highway. Afterwards I sent him home

and began talking to nearby

shopkeepers, vendors, barber, cobbler.

Most people said they were not there on

that day. One shopkeeper reflected

sensitivity and said that mob gathered on

both the ends of the flyover. The nearby

end where I was standing was the one

where a van was stopped and mob

surrounded it. The mob thrashing took

place on the other end. A driver said that

these were the Bajrang Dal and Gau

Rakshak Dal activists who did this. A

few other people also said that. Fertilizer

firm owner Omvir Yadav said

Bajrangdal activists didn’t mean to kill

the cow smugglers, only wanted to teach

them a lesson and hand them over to

police, by chance one person died in

public beating. It was a lapse on the part

of police who did not intervene in time.

From there I went to DSP (Deputy

Superintendent of Police). He offered me

seat and talked for 20 minutes.

DSP said, police stopped the van and

found that they didn’t have the necessary

papers. I said that according to media

reports these people were stopped by the

cow vigilantes and they had the receipts

of purchase of cows. He said cow

rakshaks provided the information and

police stopped them. Transferring cow

from one state to another required

permission from collector that was not

there. I was unable to understand how

could the people in police custody be

beaten up by mob. He said 3 people had

been arrested under section 308. He

mentioned that cow smuggling had been

an issue in the region. Last year 36 cow

heads were found in Firozpur Jhirka. I

said I had not heard of that from any

one. Rather, a gruesome incident took

place on August 22, 2016 when

Zaheeruddin’s family was brutally

attacked, his son Ibrahim and daughter

in law were thrashed to death and

daughter and son in law were critically

injured in Deengerhedi. To this he said it

was a very sad thing. I left in sorrow.

On April 9, I left home at 7:30 AM, took

metro to Gurgaon, tempo to Subhash

Chowk and bus to Nunh. Jan

Mohammad and his son met me there at

10:30 AM and took me to Jaysinghpur.

Pehlu’s home had a sad look and his

family in deep pain. Pehlu’s sons Irshad

and Arif looked very young and

innocent. So was Rafiq, a thin fellow.


17

They had suffered deadly blows and

reached the verge of death, yet they had

no sectarian feelings. Irshad said that

they had only two vans, which were

stopped by the Cow Vigilantes and

thrashed. They lost consciousness, only

remember some people saying burn

them alive. Police arrived half an hour

later and they were taken to hospital.

What happened at the other end of the

flyover, they had no idea as they had

only two vans. When I enquired where

were their cows now, he said he didn’t

know.

We went to Azmat home. He was lying

on a cot, in almost un-movable

condition. His father came from Mathura

where he is maulvi in a mosque. He was

in pain but had no bitterness, rather

recalled an incident of Jawaharlal Nehru.

He explained Azmat’s plight and said

that he was bringing cow for his sister

who lived in a village in Rajasthan near

the state border.

The incident reflects unmatched

terrorizing power of Cow Vigilantes

groups, their networking and close

liaison with the Police. The cow

protection laws have made minorities

vulnerable to humiliation, thrashing and

killing. They are frightened to keep cows

in their homes which is the only source

of milk for many of them. Over 99.9%

percent Muslims have never killed a cow

or a bull. They take as good care of them

as any Hindu would do. The tragedy of

cows (specially bulls) is not slaughtering

but starvation death. Due to the arrival of

tractor, harvester and truck, bulls have

been rendered jobless. Poor farmers have

no strength to feed useless bulls, while

their own children are hungry. Nor there

are forests left to feed the bulls. Hence

most bulls and old cows are dying of

starvation. No middle class or high class

family keep useless bulls in his/ her

home.

Coupled with this tragedy is the brute

display of muscle power by organized

youth on Ashtami and Ram Navmi. On

April 4 at 5 AM I was waiting for an

auto-rikshaw near IIT to go to Delhi

Railway Station to catch a train to

Aligarh. I saw herds of motorbikes. In

quick succession, carrying three people

each at a speed of 100 km per hour. On

my return at midnight also I saw similar

youths in tens of motor bikes. I checked

with the auto drivers, they said that

numerous such groups were moving

around from temple to temple on 8th and

9th

days of Navaratri. I realized these

riders were part of a well organized


18

network like Bajrangdal. They would

create a frightening atmosphere for

everyone. These mobilizations pose a

very serious challenge to our culture and

polity. A grassroots cultural movement

must develop to counter them.

Gau Wapsi: A Muslim Cattle Trader and the Cows He Loved

BY FARAH NAQVI ON 19/04/2017 •

The attack that killed Pehlu Khan and injured other Muslim cattle traders has left a

community angry, helpless and wanting to give up the trade.

Pehlu Khan’s wife Zaibuna (L) and eldest daughter Abida. Credit: Farah Naqvi

Jaisingpur, Haryana: Anguri Begum is

blind. It spared her the pain of watching

the video of Pehlu Khan, her only son,

being lynched to death. But her heart

knows and her unseeing eyes won’t stop

their weeping. I watch helplessly;

suddenly her slumped sparrow-like body

begins to shudder, as if a fresh tremor

has just struck its core. Women who

gather around her say she is like this all

the time now.

It is hard to write about the pain of other

people. You feel like a voyeur, but you

also bear witness to injustice. So I labour

on. Khan’s wife, Zaibuna sits unmoving

on a nearby charpai. She looks up as we

enter the inner verandah where the

women of the house gather. But she

doesn’t see. What hits you is the aura of

private hell that seems to envelop her

entire body. I touch her arm gently, one

human being to another. The spell

breaks. It’s like she sees me for the first

time. “Tadpa tadpa kar maara (They

tortured him to death),” the wail bursts

from her body. She covers her face with

her dupatta. I put my arms around her

and hold her sobs for as long as I can.

https://thewire.in/author/farah-naqvi/

https://thewire.in/125934/gau-wapsi-muslim-cattle-trader-cows/


19

Khan’s eldest daughter, Abida, tells me

her mother saw the video but not the

entire sordid thing. She couldn’t because

she broke down too soon. I mutter empty

solace to Zaibuna. “Himmat rakhiye,

Ammi (Be brave),” I say. “Aise waqt par

taaqat chahiye (At times like this we

need strength).” Abida turns to me, her

face hardened by pain, mouth trembling

with vulnerability – “Insaaf chahiye,

phansi chahiye (We need justice, we

want the noose),” she says.

We have all known death. The loss of a

loved one. The pain. That sense of an

unfillable void. But this feels different.

This death is of an innocent. A death of

hate. You can see it in Jaisingpur, on the

faces of all the villagers who gather in a

protective flock, as if guarding Khan’s

defenceless family. It’s a look I have

seen before. In Gujarat and in

Muzaffarnagar. It is the look of being

victims of a hate crime. A crime that can

never settle in the human soul – to be

brutalised simply for who you are. For

that is something you can neither change

nor ever accept. What did I do? I simply

was.

Khan’s village, Jaisingpur, is in Nuh

district, part of Haryana. The lynching

that killed him and injured others took

place in Behror, in Rajasthan, where the

legal process will unfold. We have here

the luxury of not just one but two state

governments, with a chance to fulfil

their duties to a wronged citizen – but so

far there is no sign of life from either.

No one from the ruling party has visited.

Who should these families turn to for

justice? I look questioningly at Irshad,

the older of the two brothers, who was

driving one of the transport vehicles

when they were attacked. He looks

blank, bewildered at having nowhere to

turn, few reservoirs of fight left, little

anger. Perhaps it is too early. Anger

takes a boil. For now, the pressing

demand is of daily grief and survival.

Anguri Begum (L). Credit: Farah Naqvi

The family is poor by any standards.

Khan was the primary wage earner. At

best he brought home Rs 8,000-12,000 a

month to feed an aged mother, a wife,

four sons, two of whom are married, and

two unmarried daughters. He managed

by selling vegetables on occasion, doing

share cropping at other times. And on

this blighted occasion, he was one of

only five-ten people in the village who

regularly travelled to the Jaipur fair, to

buy cattle at modest prices and sell them

locally, earning a few thousand each

time as premium. At 55, Pehlu wanted


20

his sons to learn the cattle trade, so

Irshad (24) and Arif (19) had

accompanied him, along with two others

from the village – Rafiq and Azmat.

This time there was an additional lure

for all of them – the coming month of

Ramzan, for which they wanted good

animals capable of giving milk and

providing curd, so essential for the pre-

dawn Sehri ritual. Buffaloes were steep,

so all of them settled for cows. Pehlu

and his sons bought two milch cows,

with newly-birthed calves. “Barah,

barah din ki biyahi thi (They calved just

12 days ago),” Arif tells us. “Biyahi”

(married) is the term they use for a cow

that has just given birth. These cows

would give good milk during Ramzan

and they were affordable. The cost for

the pair was a princely Rs 45,000. This

was money taken on loan, as always,

from an adjoining Thakur village at a

neighbourly 5-6% interest.

Azmat, the other young cattle trader

from Jaisingpur, bought three cows with

calves for Rs 75,000. Now, Azmat lies

unmoving with an injured spine on a

charpai in the verandah of his house, just

a short distance away from Khan’s

home. The pain is visible on his thin

face. “Bas char-paanch din ki biyahi thi

hamari gai. 10-15 litre doodh dene

wali (Our cows had calved just 4-5 days

ago. They would have given 10-15 litres

of milk),” says Nafisa, his wife, holding

their infant daughter Khushnuma in her

arms. The baby, true to her name, smiles

sleepily, unaware of the grimness of our

conversation. Azmat’s mother Zahira

shakes her head in disbelief at what has

befallen them. This was the first time

Azmat, a small sharecropper, had

ventured to the Jaipur cattle fair. But

things went so horribly wrong. “Ab koi

nahin jayega, kabhi nahin (Now no one

will go, never),” she says.

Between Khan and Azmat, cattle worth

Rs 1.2 lakh is gone, as is the Rs 45,000

in spare cash they were carrying. A total

of five cows and five calves were

‘seized’ by the police, like contraband,

without a receipt or any formal

acknowledgement. Placed in a gaushala,

no one has any hope of their recovery.

Besides, given the state of the gaushalas,

these healthy cows are likely to be dry

and half dead soon, according to the

villagers. That pains them. The women

of Khan’s family tell me, “We love our

animals, like our own children. We bathe

our cows like babies. We feed them.

They give us milk and curd.” Outside, in

the gathering of men, we hear similar

voices, but angrier and louder – “Yeh jo

gau raksha ki baat karte hain, gai ki

poonch bhi saaf nahin karni aati

unhein. Hamein sikhate hain? Hum

par gau hathya ka case kartein hain?

(These people who talk of cow

protection, don’t even know how to

clean the tail of a cow. They teach us?

File cases against us of cow slaughter?)”

The gau rakshaks are ‘self-styled

vigilantes’ and there are legal provisions

to deal with them. The question is what

we do with a vigilante state, that is

outsourcing its street politics to these

groups? The political message they

together send is what makes the families

of Jaisingpur despair. Not only are

Muslim cattle traders to be beaten and

killed, they must also bear the moral

blame for their own death. The farce

enacted by the Rajasthan police


21

leaves one speechless. The first legal

salvo in this vile episode is not a FIR for

the violence unleashed upon Khan and

his fellow travellers, instead it is an

FIR against Khan, Arif and Irshad under

the Rajasthan Bovine Animal

(Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation

of Temporary Migration or Export) Act,

1995. This was lodged on April 2 at 2:42

pm, despite zero evidence that they were

cow smugglers or intended to kill the

cows. Evidence simply shows that they

traded in cattle. Only the second FIR in

the matter is against the cow vigilantes.

This one is also dated April 2, but time-

stamped 4:24 pm, nearly two hours after

the first FIR, despite the immediate

irrefutable physical evidence of

bludgeoned human bodies.

As we leave Jaisingpur, we hear talk of

cattle traders giving up the trade. A

Muslim is scared to even own a cow, let

alone transport it, we are told. What if

someone storms into our house and says

we have kept the cow for slaughter? If

cows belong only to them, let them have

their cows back, one man tells us. Others

nod in grim agreement. Yes, we’ll return

lakhs of cows. Call it gau wapsi.

Farah Naqvi is a Delhi-based writer

and activist.

****

5. Intimidating Churches

In Uttar Pradesh, cops halt church prayer after Hindu group alleges

conversion

The group set up by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath alleged Hindus were

being converted by the missionaries at the church,

INDIA Updated: Apr 08, 2017 07:49 IST

Abdul Jadid ,Gorakhpur, New Delhi

Police stopped a prayer attended by

more than 150 people, including 11

American tourists, at an Uttar Pradesh

church on Friday after the right-wing

Hindu Yuva Vahini complained that the

event was a cover for religious

conversion.

The youth group, set up by chief

minister Yogi Adityanath in 2002, filed

a complaint against Yohannan Adam,

the pastor of the church at Dathauli of

Maharajganj district.

The organisation accused him of

converting Hindus to Christianity, a

charge the pastor denied.

“No prior permission was taken before

the meeting. We stopped the meet after a

complaint was registered. A probe is

underway and appropriate action will be

https://thewire.in/124603/ground-report-mewat-behror/

https://thewire.in/124603/ground-report-mewat-behror/

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/


22

taken if the charges are correct,” said

police officer Anand Kumar Gupta.

The US tourists were let off after police

checked their visas and relevant

documents.

“The presence of US nationals indicates

that innocent and illiterate Hindus were

being converted by the missionaries,

who lured them with money to change

their religion,” said Krishna Nandan, a

Hindu Yuva Vahini leader who

surrounded the church with his

supporters in the afternoon.

They dispersed after police promised a

probe and adequate action, though

Nandan was not happy that the

Americans were cleared.

The church authorities dismissed the

conversion allegations.

“The charges are absolutely baseless.

The people were attending a prayer

meeting voluntarily. We prayed. Nothing

else was done,” pastor Adam said.

The Hindu right wing has been at

loggerheads with Christian missionaries,

accusing them of converting people

through coercion and allurement to their

faith.

Several Hindu organisations have

conducted ghar wapsi or homecoming of

such people, which minority groups say

is a couched term for re-conversion.

Earlier this year, Hindu Yuva Vahini

activists attacked the Full Gospel Church

People inside the church on Friday. Eleven US nationals were also present in the church. (HT Photo)


23

in Gorakhpur, accusing it of religious conversion.

6. Unity in History

चंपारण सत्याग्रह का कलमकार: पीर मुहम्मद मूतनस

Written by अरववदं दास | Published on: April 12, 2017

आधतुनक भारत के इततहास की तारीख़ में अप्रैल 1917 का भारी महत्व है. सौ साल

पहले इसी महीन ेमोहनदास करमचदं गाँधी न े त्रबहार के चपंारण में जाकर सत्याग्रह की शुरुआत की थी. भारत की धरती पर अपने पहले अहहसंक सत्याग्रह के बारे में उन्होंने ललखा है- ‘मैंने वहाँ ईश्वर का, अहहसंा का और सत्य का साक्षात्कार ककया.’ भले ही गाँधी के ललए चपंारण अनजाना था, त्रबहार

की जनता, चपंारण के लोक के ललए व े

अपररधचत नही ंथे.

चपंारण के एक युवा पत्रकार, पीर मुहम्मद

मूतनस (1882-1949) ने उन्हें चपंारण आने का तनमंत्रण देते हुए एक पत्र में ललखा था- “हमारी दखु भरी गाथा उस अफ्रीका के

अत्याचार से, जो आप और आपके अनुयायी वीर सत्याग्रही भाइयों और बहनों के साथ

हुआ- कहीं अधधक है.” इस पत्रकार का नाम

न तो गाँधी की आत्मकथा में लमलता है, न ही आधतुनक भारत के ककसी इततहास में. हाल

के वषों में तछटपुट कुछ लेखों में गाँधी को चपंारण की धरती पर लाने में सूत्रधार की भूलमका में खड़ े राजकुमार शुक्ल के साथ

चलते-चलते इस पत्रकार की भी चचाद कर दी जाती है. यहाँ तक कक ‘त्रबहार की पत्रकाररता का इततहास’ ललखने वालों की नज़र में भी वे नहीं समा पात!े

मेरे ललए आश्चयद की बात है कक गाँधी, जो खदु एक पत्रकार भी थे, चपंारण सत्याग्रह के

कलमकार, पत्रकार, सत्याग्रही पीर मुहम्मद

मूतनस (1892-1949) का उल्लेख करने स े

कैसे चकू गए!

https://hindi.sabrangindia.in/articles/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A6%20%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B8


24

मूतनस कानपुर से तनकलने वाले पत्र ‘प्रताप’

(संपादक गणेश शंकर ववद्याथी, 1913-31)

के संवाददाता थे. वषद 1914 से वे तनयलमत

रूप से प्रताप में पत्रों, लेखों, हटपपखणयों के

माध्यम से नीलहों के आतंक, अत्याचार,

ककसानों की परेशानी, शोषण और उनके

संघषद को दतुनया के सामने ला रहे थे. इनमें कई लेख उन्होंने छद्म नाम ‘दखुी आत्मा’ स े

भी ललखा. गाँधी के चपंारण आने से पहले ही वे प्रताप में ‘चपंारण में अधेंर’ (13 माचद 1916), ‘चपंारण की ददुदशा’ (10 अप्रैल

1917) आहद लेख ललख चकेु थे. उन्होंने गाँधी की चपंारण यात्रा की ररपोटद भी प्रताप को भेजी थी. प्रसंगवश इसी दौर में ‘त्रबहारी’ अखबार (1912) में संपादक बाबू महेश्वर

प्रसाद न े चपंारण के रैयतों पर नीलहों के

दमन की ररपोटों, हटपपखणयों को प्रकालशत

ककया त्जसकी वजह से उन्हें अपने संपादक

पद स ेहाथ धोना पड़ा था. मूतनस के ललए इस

तरह की ररपोटद ललखना आसान नहीं था त्जसका खालमयाजा भी उन्हें भुगतना पड़ा.

मूतनस के लेखों का संकलन-संपादन करने वाले पत्रकार श्रीकांत ललखते हैं: ”मूतनस

अरबी का शब्द है त्जसका अथद है मददगार,

साथी, कामरेड. ‘मूतनस’ पीर मुहम्मद

असंारी का तखल्लुस (उपनाम) था. अपने नाम की साथदकता उन्होंने जीवनपयतं लसद्ध

की. जैसा नाम

वैसा काम.’’

जब देश

में हहदंी, हहदं ू और

हहदंसु्तान की

बात की जा रही थी तब मूतनस हहदंसु्तानी भाषा की वकालत कर रहे थे. त्रबहार हहदंी साहहत्य सम्मेलन का 15वा ं अध्यक्ष उन्हें बनाया गया था और व े इस संस्थान के

संस्थापकों में शालमल थे. भाषा के प्रतत

उनका नजररया एकदम स्पष्ट था. भाषा ऐसी हो त्जसमें लोगों की आत्मा बोले.

उन्होंने हहदंी भाषा के बारे में जो बात वषद 1937 में कही वह आज भी मौजंू है- “कुछ

लोग हहदंी-भाषा को जनता की भाषा न

बनाकर पंडडतों की भाषा बनाने का वविल

प्रयत्न कर रहे हैं… जनता के ललए ऐसी भाषा का प्रयोग-ललखने और बोलने में करना चाहहए जो सरल, सुबोध और भावमय हो, जनता त्जसे तुरंत समझ जाए और उसी

http://twocircles.net/2013may01/peer_mohammad_munis_organic_intellectual_activist_champaran_satyagraha.html


25

भाषा में अपना अलभप्राय आसानी से प्रकट

कर सके.” भाषा के प्रतत ऐसा रवैया वही अपना सकता है त्जसका जुड़ाव जनता से हो. उनके लेखों में शायरों की पंत्क्तया ँ और

रामचररत मानस के दोहे एक साथ उद्धृत

लमलते हैं.

वे कलम के लसपाही होने के साथ-साथ देश के

ललए लड़न ेवालों के साथ खड़ ेथे. जब चपंारण

में कांगे्रस की स्थापना वषद 1921 में हुई तब व े

उसस ेजुड़.े बाद में आंदोलनों के दौरान व ेजेल

भी गए. जब ततनकहठया प्रथा समापत हो गई

तो ऐसा नहीं कक वे चपु बैठ गए. उन्होंने वषद 1920 में ‘चपंारण में किर नाहदरशाही’ जैस े

ररपोतादज ललखे थे. उन्होंने ललखा- ”कोठी के

साहब बहादरु न ेमोटरकार खरीदने के ललए

गाँव के रैयतों पर ‘हूबली’ टैक्स लगाया.’’ व े

जीवनपयतं गरीब ककसानों, मजलूमों के

साथ खड़ ेरहे.

मूतनस हहदं-ूमुत्स्लम एकता के प्रबल पक्षधर

थे. वषद 1915 में प्रताप में ललखे ‘हहदं-ू

मुत्स्लम एकता’ शीषदक से लेख में उनके

लोकतांत्रत्रक ववचारों की झलक लमलती है. व े

ललखते हैं- ‘‘जहा ँएकता है वहाँ ववरोध भी है

और जहा ँ ववरोध है वहा ँएकता भी साथ ही साथ है. सारे जन-समुदाय का एक ववचार,

एक भाव और एक ख्यालात का होना सवदथा असंभव है.” इस लेख के प्रकाशन का शीषदक

यहद 1915 के बदले 2015 कर हदया जाए तो ऐसा लगेगा कक वे समकालीन भारत को संबोधधत कर रहे हैं!

आचायद लशवपूजन सहाय न े मूतनस के

व्यत्क्तत्व और कृततत्व पर हटपपणी करत े

हुए ललखा है कक मूतनस एक तनभीक,

स्वालभमानी, बललदानी पत्रकार थे, पर ‘जब

ववद्याथी जी हहदं-ूमुत्स्लम एकता की बललवेदी पर शहीद हो गए तब मूतनसजी सवदथा असहाय हो गए.’ जाहहर है, मूतनस,

प्रताप के संपादक और स्वतंत्रता सेनानी ववद्याथी से गहरे प्रभाववत थे.

सहाय के मुतात्रबक मूतनस के लेखों का संग्रह

जो प्रकाशक के पास था वह त्रबहार में 1934

में आए भूकंप में नष्ट हो गया था. मूतनस के

लेखों, तनजी पत्रों के अभाव में इततहास के

कई प्रश्न अनुत्तररत रह गए हैं. प्रसंगवश,

23 अप्रैल 1917 की शाम में गाँधी मूतनस की माता स े लमलने बेततया त्स्थत उनके घर

पैदल गए. वहाँ हजारों लोग मौजूद थे, पर

मूतनस की चचाद कहीं नहीं है. क्या उस हदन

मूतनस मौजूद थे? इस बात का उल्लेख न

गाँधी करते हैं, न हीं राजकुमार शुक्ल? किर


26

वे उस हदन कहा ँ थे? सवाल यह भी है कक

चपंारण सत्याग्रह के इततहास में मूतनस कहा ंहैं? या इसे इस तरह भी कहा जा सकता है

क्या सरकार और बौवद्धक वगद को मूतनस की सुधध है?

लेखक पेश े से पत्रकार हैं। मीडिया पर कई

शोधों में संलगन् रहे हैं। नबब्े के दशक में मीडिया पर बाजार के प्रभाव पर इनका शोध

रहा है। जवाहरलाल नेहरू ववशव्ववद्यालय

स े पढाई-ललखाई। इनकी पुसत्क ‘हहदंी में समाचार’ काफी लोकवप्रय रही है। दो ववदेशी लेखकों के साथ धमम और मीडिया पर एक

पुसत्क का संयुक्त संपादन। फफलहाल

करण थापर के साथ जुड ेहैं।

Courtesy: Media Vigil

***

7. Harmony Event

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Unit Khudai Khidmatgar Unit Organised Dr.

Ambedkar’s 126th

Birth Anniversary Programmes. 18-04-2017

Chennai/Puducherry

Tamil Nadu and Puducherry unit Khudai

Khidmtagar jointly organized a series of

programmes on the 126th

Birth

Anniversary of Babasaheb Dr.BR.

Ambedhkar. The programmes were as

1. Social Justice and Harmony

Villages Meet at 18 Villages in

Tamil Nadu by visiting

Cuddalore and Nagapattinam

Districts.

2. Conducted 1 Public meeting at

Ariyankuppam Village,

Puducherry

3. Conducted 1 Hall meeting

followed by Khudai

Khidmatgar puducherry state

unit meeting at Puducherry

town.

4. Coducted a talk on “Current

SOCIO-POLITICAL

Challenges and Relevance of

khudai Khidmatgar” at

NAGER KOVIL-

kanniyakumari District.

5. Conducted a meeting at

Chennai.

Social Justice and Harmony village visit

began at Vada Ari Rajapuram village,

Buvanagiri Block at Cuddalore district

http://www.mediavigil.com/document/peer-mohammad-moonis-the-forgotten-scribe/


27

in the early morning of 14th

April, by

presenting the salutations and Garlands

to the picture of Dr. Ambedhkar, then

organized a public meeting where a large

gathering of men, women, youths and

school students participated. It was

wonder to see that the small kids did

excellent presentation on Baba saheb

feels miraculous. Finally local Khudai

Khidmatgar team distributed stationeries

and lunch to the public as compliment.

Khudai Khidmatgar national secretary

Inamul Hasan, Senior Leader of Tamil

nadu kodikkal Sheikh Abdullah,

National Representative Council

Member Mayaraj, Puducherry Unit Co

Ordinator Nizamuddin, Cuddalore

Distict Prabakaran, Deepan,

Karthikeyan, Rajavelu and many others

were participated.

Following to this villages, series of

villages for the next 10 Kilometers each

has been covered during this village visit

at Nalandittu, Nadarajapuram,

Azhichikudi, Rengan Nagar, Kalli

Medu, Varagoor Pettai, Chinna Nelli

Kollai, Periya Nelli Kollai, Velangipattu,

Thotti thoppu, like-wise the villages

visited in Nagapattinam Districts were

Puliyandurai, Magendirap Pally,

Dharkhas, Thaandavan Kulam, Pazaiya

Pappaiya, Kodaikaarana Moolai. The

Nagapattinam Khudai Khidmatgar

District Co Ordinator Ari Kirushnan,

David, Stephen Raj, and many others

were participated. During this visit

maximum number of Dalit and

Fisherman community villages covered.

Markaz Al Islah-(An Islamic Seminary-

working for social cause), invited Tamil

Nadu Khudai Khidmatgar Senior

Member Kodikkal Sheikh Abdullah for

delivering Friday Sermon in the mosque,

about the “SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITIES OF MUSLIMS in

India”. During this occasion the founder

of the institute Moulana Farooq Nizami,

basically a Philanthropist and Principal

Moulana Aadhil Nizami with a large

gathering Madarsa Students and Muslim

community people also gathered at this

occasion.

On the same day in the evening

Puducherry Khudai Khidmatgar Unit

Organised a public meeting in the

Ariyankuppam Village on “SOCIAL

JUSTICE and SECURITY”. The

meeting Organised by one among the Co

Ordinator of Puducherry unit Khudai

Khidmatgar Jagan Jamil, with local Co

Ordinators Pradeep, Sakthivel, Anand,

Sathish Iyappan and Sayed. The meeting

Chaired by Khudai Khidmatgar National

secretary Inamul Hasan, Tamil Nadu KK

Senior Leader Kodikkal Sheikh

Abdullah, Dr. Jeevanandham and

Ariyankuppam Constituent Assembly

member Shri Jeyamoorthy MLA

participated in the meeting and assured

to work and extended their fullest

support for the cause of the Khudai

Khidmatgar.

Puducherry Unit Khudai Khidmatgar

meeting held at Mangalakshmi hall, at

Puducherry town area on 14th

night8pm.

The meeting was chaired by KK

Secretary Inamul Hasan, the Chief

Guests were Tamil Nadu senior Leader

Kodikkal Sheikh Abdullah, Dr.

Jeevanandham, KK Spoke Person

Advocate Siva Kumar, NRC Member

Arun Ashokan. The meeting organised

by Puducherry Unit team lead by

Sendhil Kumar, Nizamuddin, jagan

Jamil and Abdul Rasheed respectively.


28

Local MLA Shri. R.Siva participated

with other representatives of civil

societies. Khudai Khidmatgar external

supporters and community leaders

Moulana Abdul Qadir Qasmi, Shri

Amarnathan, Sugumaran, Hussain from

Karaikal were also participated.

On 17th

April, Khudai Khidmatgar

Kanniya Kumari District organised a

talk on “Current SOCIO-POLITICAL

Challenges and Relevance of Khudai

Khidmatgar” organised at Aseesi

Campus- St. Valanar Educational

Institutions, Nagerkoil. The meeting

Chaired by Faasil ali from Muscat,

Introductory Speech given by Kodikkal

Sheikh Abdullah, Inamul Hasan as

special invitee and delivered the key

note address on the topic. Various

Youths and Representatives from all the

communities participated in this

gathering.

On the above said programmes it was

happened to meet several new youths

and College students who came forward

to work with Khudai Khidmatgar

towards better society to strengthen the

concept of humanity and peace in future.

Report By

Sendhil Kumar, Nizamuddin, Abdul

Rashid, Mayaraj Khudai Khidmatgar

Puducherry/ Tamil Nadu

***

8. Investigation

Desecration of the Cross in Santacruz: A Fact Finding Report

CSSS team: Bodhika Darokar & Suraj Nair

According to the DNA newspaper, a cross near Gaothan Road, Santacruz West was found desecrated and two vehicles were damaged on Wednesday morning, the 12th of April. A news portal AsiaNews.it stated that unknown criminals had desecrated a cross of Jesus Christ in Santacruz West in the local church by “decorating” it with a garland of slippers. Citing 85 major incidents of alleged persecution of Christians across 20 states last year, a report by a minority and human rights NGO says 2015 saw an unprecedented spike in

"intolerance" against the community. (Gohain, 2016) A similar incident took place in Juhu last year in September, 2016 and this February in Kurla. This increasing violence against the community persuaded The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS) which has been working for communal harmony in the country since 1993 to find out the facts of the incident that took place in Santacruz.

The members of the fact finding team were: 1) Suraj Nair, Program Coordinator, CSSS, and 2) Bodhika


29

Darokar, presently interning with CSSS.

The team met the following people on visiting the site of the incident: Mildred Carlos, Anna Gomes, John D’souza, Joanna – all residents of the Gaothan. Rahul Dikshit who is a worker in a plastic company who visits Gaothan lane daily for his work; Rama Poojari who owns Fatima Pan Bidi Shop situated opposite the Cross; Mary who works in Avenues Pvt. Ltd. opposite the corss; Staff of Shivani Ethnic Girls’ Collection who did not want to be named. Ashok Thube, Sr, Inspector of Santacruz Police Station.

Background: The East Indian Community in Santacruz West, near the Santacruz station who belong to Christian Catholic faith has been residing in the Gauthan Lane for many generations. According to them, they reside in their ancestral homes and they do not have any other native place. The members of the community are generally lower middle class. The younger generation works at call centers while others have small welding shops or give private tuitions to school children. Their houses are situated in narrow lanes. There are around 100 such ancestral houses with a population of about 300. A grotto is built at the entrance of Gaothan lane

which holds a steel cross of Jesus Christ and a statue of Mother Mary. Precisely opposite the grotto stands a private company named Avenues Pvt. Ltd. and the grotto also shares its wall with Raj Computer’s Academy. Also, there is a parking space for vehicles near the grotto next to which is a clothing store named Shivani Ethnic Girls’ Collection.

The incident being investigated took place during the Holy season of Lent, which is a period of 40 days before Easter when Christians fast and is considered a sacred period. The incidents as narrated in the FIR which the team managed to get a copy of is as follows:

According to the FIR lodged by Mildred Carlos, she had been residing in the Gauthan Lane for the last 21 years. She lived there with her husband and an 18 year old son. Her husband earned a living working as a welder. As was her daily routine, on 12th April too, she was passing by the grotto of Jesus Christ early in the morning at 7 am to go to Sacred Heart church. While passing by, she saw that someone had kept a footwear on the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ. She was scared and sat on the bench of the grotto for a while and then called Anna Gomes. She too saw the footwear on the cross and was scared. The two of them then, called the other community members.


30

One of the community members, Sherron Elaine D’souza, 36, told Mildred that the windshield of her Wagon R, with the number plate MH 02 BR 7403, had been smashed because she had a rosary hung on her rearview mirror. The windshield of Anna Gomes’ Maruti Swift too, with a number plate MH 04 CM 5061 had been smashed for the same reason. When Mildred Carlos, Anna Gomes and Sherron D’souza went on to check if any other car had been damaged, they realized that their cars were the only ones damaged because there was rosary of Jesus Christ hanging inside. The desecration of the cross of Jesus Christ with a footwear had hurt the sentiments of the community members and hence, they lodged the FIR.

On visiting the site, we saw blood stains on the bench of the grotto. We spoke to some community members and other people in the vicinity. When we met Mildred Carlos and Anna Gomes, we could get the following information. Anna Gomes had informed the Santacruz Police Station about the incident immediately. On their arrival, a constable straightaway threw the footwear away contrary to the standard operating procedure. Anna Gomes picked it up with a stick and kept it back in the grotto considering it to be an important piece of evidence. The constable almost as an afterthought put the footwear in a plastic bag with his bare hands possibly damaging the evidentiary

value. The police inquired about other details and collected the CCTV footage from Avenues’ Pvt. Ltd. and Shivani Ethnic Girls’ Collection by afternoon. Mildred Carlos, Anna Gomes and a few others went to the police station to file an FIR.

Mary, a staff from Avenues Pvt. Ltd., and the staff of Shivani Ethnic Girls’ Collection both, confirmed that they had submitted the CCTV footage to the police and that they do not have a copy of it. Other shopkeepers around and community members said that such an incident had never occurred in the vicinity in the past and that this was the first time. The East Indian community members we talked to had no ill feelings or enmity towards any community or organization to whom the desecrator may be belonging to. They said that they wanted to simply be the peacemakers and live in harmony with everyone irrespective of their community or religion. Also, the community had no feeling of revenge in any form and did not wish to escalate the issue. They certainly sought justice but without a hullabaloo.

We then visited Santacruz Police Station for further details and facts about the incident. The Senior Inspector of the Police Station, Ashok Thube, had visited the site of the incident on that day. He told us that the man behind the act had confessed to have committed the offence. He was drunk during the incident. He


31

threw stones in order to shoo away the barking dogs which accidently hit the windshields of the two cars. Also, the footwear that was kept on the cross belonged to the man accused. He seemed to imply that the act was not done out of religious motivations but because the accused was drunk. Inspector Thube did not quite answer the question as to why the accused kept a footwear on the cross at a height of little more than 6 feet, even if it belonged to him. On questioning about the blood stains on the benches of the grotto, Thube amusingly replied with a laugh that the blood stains were nothing unusual and that it was not a big deal. When we asked him about the description of the accused, he replied unsurely that his name was Shetty, he worked as a waiter and was drunk all day long. Thube did not seem to know the current status of the accused. When asked he replied that he “might be in jail or out on bail”. He claimed that this is an isolated case and that there was no communal angle to it.

The team after talking to all stake holders arrived at the following conclusions:

1. According to us, the police are not seriously pursuing the case. That might be because they are trying to shield the real culprits. They are hiding important information about the case from the community members and are trying to close

it without thorough investigation. Or on the other hand, the police might be overburdened with work which has made them disinterested in the case.

2. According to the police, it was an act of a habitual drunkard who was not in his senses. The police theory that the footwear was placed on the cross by the accused not out of communal motive but because he was not in his senses does not seem plausible to us. Even if the accused was drunk, there is no explanation as to why he kept the footwear on the cross. The police said that the accused threw stones at the barking dogs to shoo them away but the damage done to the windshield of only those cars with rosaries hung inside them seems intentional and not just coincidence.

3. The members of the East Indian community we talked to told us that when they visited the police station for a follow up, the police ill-treated them by telling them that they have done their work by arresting the accused and that the community should not interfere anymore. They sounded desolated and told us that they had given up hopes of a fair investigation. They feel helpless and powerless after the


32

police’s response. They have forgiven and are trying to forget about the matter as nothing else, they think, can be done.

4. The community members do not feel reassured by the casual attitude of the police and the manner in which the investigation has been handled. The police seem to be taking the entire incident very lightly. They are not showing any signs of interest or seriousness in the matter.

5. The confession by the accused, on which the police are basing their investigation, has no evidentiary value in the court. The police will still have to gather concrete evidence like the other footwear of the pair, blood stains left on the bench of the grotto and panchnama of the place to validate the arrest of the accused and the closing of the case.

6. The incident seems to be motivated by hate crime on one hand. On the other hand, it has been done to make the Christian community feel insecure and powerless given the fact that it has happened during the Holy season of Lent.

7. There have been many such incidents where the Holy cross has been desecrated in recent times and this may not be the last incident in hate crime

targeting minorities and negligence of the polite will only encourage the occurrences of such cases.

The following are the demands put forth by the CSSS team:

1. The police needs to be serious about the issue in order to carry out thorough and scientific investigation. Any carelessness by them will only motivate more such hate mongers.

2. If the case is not being handled by the Santacruz Police Station, it must be assigned to higher officials. The investigation procedure must be carried out under proper supervision.

3. The crime must be investigated to find other co-conspirators, abettors or other persons involved in the crime having common intention. Organizations that struggle for civil liberties and human rights need to take this as a warning signal and intervene to defend the rights of minorities and all hate crimes.

4. Area peace committee should be activated and regular peace activities to promote communal harmony should be undertaken.

References


33

Gohain, M. P. (2016, January 18). 85 major anti-Christian incidents in 2015, claims NGO. Retrieved April 22, 2017, from The Times of

India:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/85-major-anti-Christian-incidents-in-2015-claims-NGO/articleshow/50618719.cms

****

Subhas Chandra Bose on Hindu Mahasabha

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's appeal to the people of India and Bengal

"The Hindu Mahasabha has deployed sannyasis and sannyasins with tridents in their

hands to beg for votes. At the very sight of tridents and saffron robes, Hindus bow their

head in reverence.By taking advantage of religion and desecrating it, the Hindu

Mahasabha has entered the arena of politics. It is the duty of all Hindus to condemn it...

Banish these traitors from national life. Don't listen to them"

— Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, at a public meeting on 12th May 1940 at Jhargram in

West Bengal.

(The above quotation is a translation by Arnab Banerjee from the original Bengali

version of the speech by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as it appeared in the Anandabazar

Patrika newspaper dated 14th May 1940)

9. Interviews

Interview with Akeel Bilgrami, professor of philosophy at Columbia University. By

KUNAL SHANKAR

THE Narendra Modi-led government is

pathologically authoritarian in a way that

approximates fascism, says Akeel

Bilgrami, the renowned academic who

teaches philosophy at Columbia

University in New York. Describing the

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/85-major-anti-Christian-incidents-in-2015-claims-NGO/articleshow/50618719.cms





34

debate on whether the Central

government is fascist or a government

with fascistic tendencies as arcane

quibbling over semantics, Bilgrami says

the time has come for forging a broad

centre-Left alliance of secular parties of

the type that emerged during the

Emergency, to fill what he calls a

“movement vacuum”.

In a wide-ranging interview

with Frontline in Hyderabad, Bilgrami

reflects on the rise of the extreme Right

worldwide, from Donald Trump in the

United States to Nigel Farage in Britain.

He was in the city to deliver a lecture on

“Threat of Fascism”, organised by

Hyderabad Collective, a network of

professionals attempting to create a

space for debate and analysis on pressing

issues facing India today. Excerpts from

the interview:

Narendra Modi’s ascendancy to the

Prime Minister’s chair in New Delhi

came amidst a string of right-wing

parties rising to power globally,

almost mirroring the Europe of the

1930s and 1940s. Must we be worried?

Is this the sign of a great churning

that could lead to disastrous

consequences?

This is, of course, worrying. You are

right that it is a global trend. In fact, it is

more of a global trend now than it ever

was in the 1930s and [19]40s when it

was restricted to Europe. Speaking at a

highly general level, the trend is

prompted by two things—a chronic

crisis of capitalism, and the failure of the

Left to find an adequate response to it. It

is a reaction to capitalism in its

neoliberal mode of the last few decades:

its inability to create sufficient

employment, its generating acute and

seemingly irreversible inequalities, its

systematic destruction of the bargaining

power of labour, its undermining of

national sovereignties over their own

economies, its making immigration,

which could be a source of strength for

national economies, into a source of

deep anxiety and complaint among

working people…. And the failure of the

Left to mobilise an adequate response to

these crisis conditions creates what we

might call a “movement vacuum”. You

know, people talk of a power vacuum;

well, this is a movement vacuum, and so

extreme right-wing nationalist

movements have stepped into this

vacuum.

In India there has been some debate

on whether the right-wing nationalism

of the Modi-led Central government

could be characterised as fascist or as

a government led by a party with

fascistic tendencies. What is your view

on this?

This government has

a compulsively authoritarian thrust. A

safe generalisation we can make from

the history of nations in the last century

is that capitalist democratic states, unlike

authoritarian states, achieve their effects

through what Gramsci called

“hegemony”, by which is meant that a

ruling class gets to have its way by

convincing all other classes that its

interests are the interests of all other

classes.

Authoritarian states need to be

authoritarian precisely because this form

of consent by all to pursue the interests

of the ruling class is missing. If

something like this generalisation is true,

then we must infer that the present

government either lacks the popular


35

consent that is characterised by the

notion of hegemony that it so boastfully

congratulates itself of having, or

it has that consent from a broad

spectrum of classes and so its

authoritarianism is pathological in some

way that approximates what we may

rightly call “fascism”.

Let us ask why fascism is so puzzling to

us. I think that is so because we cannot

explain it in the usual way as being a

product of capitalist tendencies. The

crisis generated by and within capitalism

may be one of the prompting conditions

for fascistic developments, as I said, but

I don’t think the tendencies of capital

are sufficient to explain them.

I’ve just read an important book on

imperialism by Utsa and Prabhat Patnaik

which demonstrates how imperialism is

at the heart of the tendencies of

capitalism. But I think part of why

fascism is more mysterious to us than

imperialism is that the tendencies of

capitalism do not suffice to explain it.

You have to bring in a significant other

or further factors to explain it.

That is a large background theoretical

point. And in the foreground there are

several specific observations we can

make of the similarities between fascism

and what we are witnessing in India

today: above all there is the powerful

paramilitary organisation of the RSS

[Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh]

shaping the ideological outlook of the

government (no other right-wing

nationalism in the world, so far as I

know, has this, so we are the closest

among them to fascism); then there is

the menace of a vigilante youth group

(the ABVP, or the Akhil Bharatiya

Vidyarthi Parishad) mimicking the

Balillas in Mussolini’s Italy, bullying

students on campuses who raise deep

questions about caste or about economic

inequality or about Kashmir or…; then

there is calling critics of the government

“treasonous” and “anti-national”,

another hallmark of fascism; then there

is a worldwide trend but, especially in

India, of finding of an external enemy

within the country and subjugating it and

despising it (Jews then, Muslims now);

and finally there is the “fusion” of the

interests of the corporations and the state

which was Mussolini’s explicit

definition of fascism and which is

exemplified in the strident neoliberal

aspirations of the Indian government.

And so on.

‘Competing power elites’

You pointed out the vacuum of social

or political movements. Is not the

groundswell of support for Bernie

Sanders in the U.S. a positive sign? He

was seen as a person around whom a

progressive movement was coalescing,

as opposed to Hillary Clinton, who

was seen as an establishment figure.

[Hillary] Clinton is about as

establishment a figure as you can find in

the United States. That was part of what

gave Trump his election victory. Unlike

India, America has a two-party system,

and there is, by and large, consensus

between them on the fundamentals. They

are, as C. Wright Mills put it,

“competing power elites”. While they

compete with each other, overall there’s

agreement on the fundamentals. So it is

very hard for anybody to break in.

Sanders went as far as anybody has gone

from within one of the two parties, but

predictably the Democratic Party pulled


36

the plug on him. Throughout the

primaries the party worked against him

in subtle ways, and then more openly,

when he began to get a lot of support.

They wanted Hillary Clinton to get the

nomination. So did Wall Street. So did

all of the liberal media. It is, among

others, working people who saw some

promise in Sanders, who did not trust

Hillary Clinton and the party orthodoxy.

Why? Well, they produced the financial

crisis of 2008 and in response to the

crisis they saved the bankers who were

responsible for it, not the working

people, who were hurt by it.

Days after Obama was elected in 2008,

he appointed people like Larry Summers

and Timothy Geithner to his economic

team, figures associated with the

creation of the crisis. During his

campaign, he had a wide circle of

economists advising him, which

included Joseph Stiglitz and Robert

Reich. But immediately after he got

elected, he zipped himself up in a

Clinton suit and froze them out. Right

from the beginning it became clear that

Obama was going to be part of the

political establishment. And Hillary

Clinton was his anointed successor in the

party. So, when working people feel that

they have no options from either party,

they turn to mavericks on each side

(Sanders was a maverick from the point

of view of the orthodoxy of his party, as

Trump is for Republicans).

Spontaneous protests broke out across

the country, for example, the protest

right after the visa ban on seven

Muslim countries, or the Women’s

March in Washington. Is that not a

healthy sign?

Some things are obvious. Trump is a

combination of a xenophobe, a racist, a

misogynist, and, I suppose, as we have

been witnessing in his pronouncements,

something of an idiot. So, of course,

people are understandably shocked and

dismayed and the protests are most

heartening. The deeper issues, however,

are not about how terrible Trump is, but

about why he got elected in the first

place. What does his election signify

about the electorate’s instincts and

dissatisfactions? Everyone knows that

his constituency is the working

population. And I suppose that from the

point of the view of the Left, it looks like

a classic case of false consciousness—I

mean to expect a Trump-led government

to address these dissatisfactions. But,

you should also remember that there was

an even more classic form of false

consciousness when the African-

American population voted in far larger

numbers for Hillary Clinton rather than

Sanders. That was sheer identity politics

dominating over material interests.

Sanders would have done much more for

working and workless blacks than

Hillary Clinton. Don’t forget that Bill

Clinton signed an infamous Bill that

took away welfare provisions from the

blacks. And Hillary Clinton subscribes

to exactly the same economic ideology.

It is true that the Clintons are not racist

in the social sense, but from the material

point of view, Sanders’ economic

policies were much more in their

interests. Sanders honourably refused to

play identity politics and he paid the

price for it. If African-Americans had

voted in large numbers for Sanders, he

would have won the primaries.

Here is my worry about the reaction to

the Trump victory today. The hand-

wringing and the hysteria about his


37

election and post-election

pronouncements, though perfectly

understandable and justified—since he is

monstrous on a whole range of issues—

nevertheless may have the effect of

giving the impression that there was

some real intrinsic merit to the political

establishment that Hillary Clinton

represents. That would be complacent.

My own view is that it should go without

saying that Hillary Clinton would have

been better than Trump, but if it goes

without saying, then don’t say it.

Because to keep saying it may give rise

to the complacence that the political

establishment in the U.S. has intrinsic

merit. The far better form of resistance

to the abomination of Trump’s victory is

to work to rejuvenate the Democratic

Party and steer it away from the

orthodoxies that Clinton represents. But,

alas, that may well not happen, not only

because that party’s learning curve is

flat, but also because there is this

constant sneering about Sanders’

populism by the orthodoxy.

Populist movements

Populism seems to be a phenomenon

that is widespread around the globe in

the last few years, and the kinds of

populist movements we see are

alarming, are they not?

Yes, some of the same questions arise

about Brexit, for instance, though of

course there the questions are about the

working class’ relation to the European

Union. That is a good example to focus

on to get clear about the issues that we

face and also for why “populism” has

come to mean something pejorative.

What prompted the larger part of a

voting population to opt for Brexit?

Well, let’s step back and ask a more

fundamental question about Europe.

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of a

working (or workless) person in the

Thames Estuary (or for that matter in

Madrid or Seville or Athens or Crete).

Suppose such a person were to ponder

the humane policies that some nations in

Europe came to embrace since the

Second World War, policies which

provided safety nets (whether of health

or education or housing) for people like

him. He might ask: what was the site

where these safety nets were

administered and implemented? And he

would answer: well, the site of the

nation. He might scratch his head and

wonder: Has there ever been a

supranational site at which welfare was

ever administered? What would a

mechanism that dispensed it at a

supranational site even so much as look

like? Now, as Joseph Stiglitz says in his

book on the European Union, there are

two ways to respond to the present crisis

that prompts the populist response in

Europe—to withdraw from the union or

to strengthen the ties with the union. But

given these excellent questions that this

working person in the Thames Estuary is

asking, why would he acquiesce in the

strengthening of the links with the

European Union? Those questions

reflect the good side of populism, the

side of populism which is the opposition

by ordinary people to the elites, in the

case of Europe the banking elites.

Now, of course, such a person might go

on beyond these shrewd questions to

associate supranational affiliation with

immigrant hordes that not only deprive

him of economic opportunities but dilute

the centuries-long national culture of

which he is so proud. But there is no

logical link between those excellent

former questions and these latter


38

trumped-up anxieties. One may rightly

ask the questions without having these

anxieties. The linking of the two is quite

confused and uncompulsory and it is the

bad side of populism.

But the link is constantly being made.

Why?

You are right, there has been a pervasive

compulsion to make that uncompulsory

link among the electorate that voted for

Brexit (or for that matter Trump). But

here we must resist the temptation to

blame the people themselves. The

assumption they make of such a link is

not due to their feebleness of mind but to

a wide variety of distortions not only by

the media they read and watch but by the

political class, and not just the extreme

elements of that class but the political

establishment. We cannot forget that the

British Prime Minister’s “Remain”

campaign ratcheted up the immigration

theme to prevent it from being owned by

his more extreme Right opposition, just

as Obama in his first campaign was far

worse on immigration than John

McCain, again with a view to gaining

ownership of a Republican platform for

electoral gains.

So the lesson is this. Even if we identify

what we recoil from in populism as the

uncompulsory linking of sound

questions with unsound anxieties, this

cannot simply be attributed to

an intrinsic incapacity in the judgment

of ordinary people but must be attributed

to the failure of public education

provided by the media and the political

class. One cannot believe in democracy

and dismiss the electorate as vile or

stupid. For the electorate is shaped by

what knowledge it possesses.

For twenty hundred years, philosophers

have said that the central ethical question

is: What ought we to do? But in our own

complex time, the more crucial prior

question has become: What ought we to

know?

Left initiative

So how does the Left or any

movement for that matter bring about

this clarity and regain the good side of

populism? Do you see that happening?

The difficulties for the Left to mobilise

movements in the neoliberal period are

well known. First of all, the old-style

movements based on trade union

activism is hardly possible because

labour has been generally beaten down

by neoliberal economic policies. Chronic

unemployment, contractualisation and

impermanence of employment have

undermined the bargaining power of

unions. And second, ever since the

tremendous increase in the mobility of

capital after the Bretton Woods

institutions were refashioned, even if a

working class movement throws up the

possibility of progressive policies, those

possibilities mostly can’t really be

implemented because of the fear of

capital flight. Lula [da Silva], as a result

of a working class movement, got

elected on a very progressive platform in

Brazil, if you recall, but was not really

able to implement it out of fear of capital

flight. I mean if they were to be

implemented and there was capital flight

(quite apart from the hardship caused by

that to working people), movements

would have to be waiting at the place to

which capital flies.

So is there a need for a global

initiative?


39

I don’t think that form of international

solidarity in the global labour force is a

realistic possibility. I don’t even know

how to think about what it would take to

forge such solidarities.

Even companies from India (like the

Adani Group) are not looking at only

the mining sites in Jharkhand or

Odisha. They have cast their eyes on

coal reserves in Australia because

energy needs of India seem endless.

Yes, the capitalist political economy is

global, there is financial globalisation,

but the mind boggles at the idea of a

serious possibility of global labour

movements to oppose global capital. I

think that is just fantasy, a fantasy

expressed by some political theorists

such as Hardt and Negri with such terms

as “multitudes”. I think what is more

plausible is what is being suggested by

Prabhat Patnaik recently—that countries

of the South, suffering from the

oppressiveness of neoliberal policies in

our period of financial globalisation,

would be better off delinking (at least

partially) from the global economy and

getting sovereignty over their own

nation’s political economy. Such ideas

need to be explored in serious detail.

They may require partial South-South

relinking so as to protect some of the

smaller economies of the South. These

are all under-explored ideas worth

thinking about.

You were talking about how the two-

party system in the U.S. is a hindrance

to the emergence of an alternative. In

India, regional parties are thriving.

Also, do you think the Aam Aadmi

Party (AAP), which is in power in

Delhi and has made considerable

inroads into Punjab, could be a real

counter to the Bharatiya Janata

Party?

Yes, but no one party can do it. The

Congress can’t do it; the AAP can’t do

it, nor the Left. It cannot be any one

group. It will have to be the coming

together of a secular, centre-Left

opposition, including regional parties.

Certainly, the Left can’t do it on its own.

And so the purist idea that the Left must

not join forces with a whole range of

secular parties is quite unrealistic. The

idea that the Left can remain pure and

hope to make a dent on this domination

by the Hindu Right is just unfeasible.

We are lucky that unlike in the U.S., we

have a multiparty system, where

multiparty alliances can be formed and,

given the urgency of opposing the

present government, such a wide

spectrum of united front opposition is

the only option.

But the counter by the Left has been

that it has ceded ground to regional

forces—say in Tamil Nadu or here in

Andhra Pradesh or Telangana—to the

extent that they have come to

represent the political establishment

and that the logic of pitting varying

capitalist classes—mainly the regional

elite against their national

counterparts—does not apply any

longer.

I agree that it can’t be a permanent

position. When parties got together

during the Emergency, they weren’t

looking at it as a permanent alliance.

They got together to simply overthrow

an authoritarian regime. And that’s how

we have to look at it now, because that’s

what we have now—as I said earlier,

a pathologically authoritarian extreme

right-wing nationalist government that


40

bears down like a thug on its own people

and promises no prospects whatsoever to

working people and minorities and

oppressed castes and tribal people, and

only illusory hopes to the middle class.

Maxime Rodinson's interview on Islam, fundamentalism and the West -

September 28, 2001

Posted: 02 May 2017 12:08 AM PDT

Maxime Rodinson (1915-2004) was one

of the greatest Western scholars of

Islam. A French Marxist historian,

sociologist and orientalist; he was the

son of a Russian-Polish clothing trader

and his wife, who both died in the

Auschwitz concentration camp. His

study of the Arab world was strongly

influenced by Marxism, and he

described himself as having been a

communist for 20 years. This post

carries the text of the interview given by

him two weeks after the WTC attacks of

9/11

Rodinson was interviewed by Gilbert

Achcar in 1986, who said of him:

His relationship to Marx is furthermore

the source of the great variety of themes

and focuses that characterizes his

writings. For this reason his work

cannot be pigeonholed in the category of

Islamic studies alone. His theoretical

contributions, in permanent dialogue

with a Marxian inspiration that he never

renounced, in fact cover broader

reaches of historical and sociological

research than the Islamic world alone.

The Arab-Israeli conflict was an equally

important dimension of Rodinson’s

work. His article “Israël, fait colonial?”

(“Israel: a colonial reality?”), published

in the special issue of Les Temps

Modernes devoted to the debate sparked

by the June 1967 war, was an essential

contribution to defining a critique of

Zionism from the left. [2] This same

Marxist inspiration colors Rodinson’s

reflections on Islamic fundamentalism in

their entirety: not only in his analytical

approach, which is both fundamentally

“materialist” and comparative, but also

in his political attitude. His

understanding (in the deepest sense of

the word) of the sources of the

resurgence of fundamentalism as a

political-religious ideology did not lead

him, thoroughly anti-clerical atheist that

he was, to have the least sympathy for

it. [3] The Achcar interview of 1986

may be read here

This important interview was given to

the newspaper Le Figaro on September

28, 2001, two weeks after the World

Trade Center attacks. It is significant for

its reflections on Islamist

fundamentalism & extremist ideologies.

It appears as an epilogue to the 2002

edition of his biography of Muhammad

that first appeared in 1961.

Le Figaro: Following the terrorist

attacks of September 11, many

commentators wondered whether Islam

and the West were incompatible. What is

your analysis?

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/rDjrdY/~3/N_v4GWgbfIs/maxime-rodinsons-interview-on-islam.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/rDjrdY/~3/N_v4GWgbfIs/maxime-rodinsons-interview-on-islam.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxime_Rodinson

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3681981/Maxime-Rodinson-Interview-2001.pdf

http://www.merip.org/mer/mer233/maxime-rodinson-islamic-fundamentalism#_2_

http://www.merip.org/mer/mer233/maxime-rodinson-islamic-fundamentalism#_3_

https://dilipsimeon.blogspot.in/2015/04/maxime-rodinson-on-islamic.html



41

MR – That’s an old notion, a notion

revived by recent events. But to put it

that way is to pose the question badly.

What is Islam? What is the West? Islam

is a world of very different ways of

thinking, that are sometimes even in

conflict with each other.. download the

PDF here

(https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3681981/Maxime-Rodinson-Interview-2001.pdf)

10. Resources

From Biju Mohan

(Film Maker)

I have just seen an amazing short

documentary directed by Fawzia Mirza,

Pakistani-Canadian film and television

actress, writer and comedian. She was

invited by one of the renowned Pakistani

activists Sabeen Mahmud to perform her

one-woman show "Me, My Mom and

Sharmila" in Karachi. She also goes to

different cities of Pakistan to perform the

show. In the show she discloses her

queer identity and examines the

problems of being a queer Muslim

woman.

The film is a dedication to Sabeen

Mahmud, who was assassinated 3

months after the shooting of this

documentary.

Sabeen Mahmud was a progressive

Pakistani human rights activist and

social worker who founded the Karachi-

based cafe The Second Floor. She also

presided over the Karachi branch of

TiE. Born and raised in Karachi, she

was educated at Karachi Grammar and

later at the Kinnaird College. She later

founded an interactive media and

technology consulting firm and worked

to establish the The Citizens Archive of

Pakistan. She set up The Second Floor

(T2F) in 2007 aimed at providing a

community space for open dialogue.

Under Sabeen's leadership, T2F

arranged a series of liberal social

activities. She also co-lead protests

against the Red Mosque in Islamabad,

and also took part in "Pakistan for All",

a campign to end sectarianism and

religious intolerance in Pakistan.

On 24 April 2015, she hosted a debate

on Balochistan conflict which included

activist's like Mama Qadeer. After the

event, she was shot dead by a gunmen on

her way home after hosting a seminar at

T2F. As of 20 May 2015, Pakistani

authorities have arrested the culprit

behind Mahmud's murder. Sabeen is

referred to as part of 'Pakistan’s liberal,

urban, globalised civil society'

(wikipedia)

you can see and download the film using

following link and password

Link : https://vimeo.com/179923975

Password: niche


https://vimeo.com/179923975


42

Book

Partition, Indo – Pak Relations and Kashmir

By Ram Puniyani

About the Book

"Partition, Indo-Pak Relations and Kashmir is a book that says, the only solution to the

Kashmir imbroglio can be and has to be peaceful. Looking at the issue in the context of

the subcontinent’s partition, it notes how Indo-Pak relations are held hostage to Kashmir

and the vice-versa.

The book says, in the 21st century,

the process of secularisation has

remained incomplete in India,

Pakistan (and Bangladesh) and

fundamentalism and communalism

are rampant in all of these nations.

The first major war between these

uncomfortable neighbours took

place on the issue of Kashmir,

resulting in one third of Kashmir

becoming ‘Azad Kashmir’ in the

military-mullah ruled Pakistan,

with lakhs of soldiers breathing

down the neck of Kashmiri

civilians in democratic India.

Dwelling on this unhappy situation,

the book also talks of one

remarkable nonagenarian

communist from Kerala, BM Kutty,

who has made Karachi his home

for the last 70 years; how Indo-Pak

cricket matches are seen more as

India-Pakistan war; how legendary film star Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan), and the modern

ones like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan are humiliated time and time just because of

their religion. The book sets its readers thinking.

Contents

Preface


43

Trip to Pakistan

Introduction

Partition Jinnah, Nehru and the Ghost of Indias Partition

The Backdrop

Indo-Pak Relations A Tale of Two Neighbours

Pakistan: Democracy Besieged

The Kashmir Imbroglio For a Peaceful Solution of the Kashmir Question

Politics over Paradise

Book Reviews

Appendix

Excerpts

Bibliography

Films

ISBN: 978-93-82711-76-6

Price: Rs.495/-

For Copies Contact

Renu Kaul Verma

Vitasta Publishing Pvt. Ltd.

2/15, Ansari Road, Daryaganj,

New Delhi – 110 002.

[email protected]

****

======================================================================== Published by All India Secular Forum C/o. Centre for Study of Society and Secularism 602 & 603 New Silver Star, Prabhat Colony Rd., Behind BEST Bus Depot, Santacruz (E),

Mumbai: - 400 055. E-mail: [email protected]




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