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Amit Shah Borrowed a Phrase from Jinnah when he Dubbed Gandhi a ‘Chatur Bania’

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Hatred for Gandhi is Fundamental to Hindutva’s Discourse

Amit shah on Gandhi

[Amit Shah on Gandhi:“bahut chatur baniya tha woh”]

Amit Shah is no ordinary Indian politician. He is president of the BJP which rules Centre and a majority of the Indian States. Most importantly, he is the other half of our PM, Modi, they together rule as the most powerful duo ever to rule India after Independence. Additionally, he is also a senior RSS functionary. Blessed with this bio-data Amit Shah is naturally the ideological face of today’s Hindutva ruling elite and his words carry both weight and meaning beyond others. For the vast organisational creature that he represents and it's  followers. 

Recently, he was in Chhattisgarh to speak to “eminent persons” with a view to strengthening the BJP in the state where assembly elections are due in 2018. While philosophising on the irrelevance of Congress, belittling its rule in the freedom struggle, he also went to discuss Gandhi. According to him Gandhi, to quote his original words of his in Hindi, “bahut chatur baniya tha woh”.[1] Its English translation would be, “he was a very clever baniya (merchant or moneylender)”.

One thing was again made clear. For Shah –and all that he represents– Gandhi is not a leader of the composite Indian nation on whose call, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and others came out in millions to oppose foreign rule; thousands of them laying down their lives for the freedom of their country from economic exploitation and servitude. On the contrary, Gandhi was a ‘baniya’, a Caste/group among Hindus.

By this shrewd categorisation, Shah, in fact, borrowed the language of MA Jinnah who always referred to Gandhi as ‘Hindu baniya’ who represented only the Hindus. So in the vocabulary of this Hindutva icon, Shah, Gandhi was reduced to the status of a Hindu leader which Muslim League always propagated and propagates even today.

Shah conveniently disregarded the fact that Gandhi was murdered by  Hindutva zealots because he was not acting as a leader of the Hindus alone only but always stoodfor an all-inclusive India. 

Shah’s denigration of Gandhi was not limited to his political identity. The Hindi idiom which he used for Gandhi; “bahut chatur baniya tha woh”, has a sinister hatred overflowing in the phrase which non-Hindi (or Urdu) speaking people will not be able to understand.

In Hindi, the “tha woh” (था वह) phrase is used for servants, persons of lower status, those who are considered not respectable or very intimate friends.

For elder persons, for respectable persons, we always use “the ve” (थे वे). It is shocking that Amit Shah, himself a baniya, uses such words for another baniya, a fellow Gujarati, that too an elderly person who is no more. It is in contravention of both Gujarati and baniya ethos. The baniyas are known for their cultured and refined use of words as they aim at winning hearts in order to reach to the pockets of customers. It seems Shah’s hatred for Gandhi grown out of Hindutva beliefs has made him oblivious to the more civilised behaviour practised by the baniyas. 

The RSS’ hatred for Gandhi is as old as the formation of the RSS itself. Dr KB Hedgewar, founder of the RSS was a Congress leader but parted company with the latter in 1925. After meeting Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar he realised that Gandhi was the biggest hurdle in the Hindutva project of organising Hindus separately.

According to a RSS publication, since Gandhi worked for Hindu-Muslim unity, “Doctorji sensed danger in that move. In fact, he did not even relish the new-fangled slogan of ‘Hindu-Muslim unity”.[2]

Another RSS publication corroborates the fact that main reason behind Hedgewar’s parting with Congress and formation of the RSS was because “Congress believed in Hindu-Muslim unity”.[3]

RSS launched its English organ, Organizer, the July 1947 and a perusal of its issues till the murder of Gandhi on January 30, 1948 shows flood of articles and sketches inimical to Gandhi.

The RSS seemed to be competing with the Hindu Mahasabha leader, Savarkar and Muslim League organ The Dawn in denigrating Gandhi. The first home minister of India, Sardar Patel, whom RSS often praises, was forthright in holding RSS and Hindu Mahasabha responsible for creating an environment of hatred against Gandhi which resulted in latter’s murder. He underlined it in a letter (July 18, 1948) to the prominent leader of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee: "As regards the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, the case relating to Gandhiji's murder is subjudice and I should not like to say anything about the participation of the two organizations, but our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of these two bodies, particularly the former, an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible. There is no doubt in my mind that the extreme section of the Hindu Mahasabha was involved in the conspiracy."[4]

Eight months after Gandhi’s assassination, Sardar Patel in a letter (September 11, 1948) to RSS chief Golwalkar, was straightforward in telling that it was due to the communal poison spread by the RSS that “the country had to suffer the sacrifice of the invaluable life of Gandhiji. Even an iota of the sympathy of the Government or of the people, no more remained with the RSS…Opposition turned more severe, when the RSS men expressed joy and distributed sweets after Gandhiji’s death”.[5]  

RSS may now display a photo of Gandhi aa tribute in some of its programmes and describe him as Mahatma but its hatred towards Gandhi is a deep constant that keeps recurring; it is shaswat, perennial.

After Modi government came to power in 2014, the RSS/BJP leaders have been demanding national recognition, as freedom fighters, for the killers of Gandhi.

Temples are coming up with the images of Godse who was the main killer of Gandhi. The Hindutva organisations have been celebrating killing of Gandhi as ‘vadh’, of a demon at the altar of Hindu rashtra. Significantly, Nathuram Godse and others who conspired to kill M.K. Gandhi, claimed to be ‘Hindu Nationalists’.

If you believe that all this is happening without the knowledge of RSS/BJP top leadership, you are grossly mistaken. A prominent Hindutva organisation, Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), allied to the RSS has been regularly holding national conventions for the ‘Establishment of Hindu Nation’ in India.

 In 2013 one such convention was held in Goa. It is to be noted that members of one avtar of HJS, Sanatan Sanstha have been found indulging in bomb blasts at Muslim institutions and are under investigation for the murder of renowned secular intellectuals like Govind Pansare and Narendra Dhabolkar. This convention started its proceedings with a felicitation message from the then CM of Gujarat, Narendra Bhai Modi wishing HJS all success in its project of turning India into a Hindu Nation. 

Shockingly, from the same dais in this convention from where Modi’s felicitation message was read, one of the prominent speakers, K.V. Sitaramiah, declared that Gandhi was 'terrible, wicked and most sinful'.
 
Rejoicing at the killing of M.K. Gandhi, he went on to declare, “As Bhagwan Shri Krishna said in the Gita, Paritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam/ Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge (For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age) On…30th January 1948 evening, Shriram came in the form of Nathuram Godse and ended the life of Gandhi.”[6]

K.V. Sitaramiah has also authored a book titled ‘Gandhi was Dharma Drohi and Desa Drohi’ in which the text at the back cover, quoting from the epic Mahabharata, demands ‘Dharma Drohis must be killed’, ‘Not killing the deserved to be killed is great sin’ and ‘where the members of Parliament seeing clearly allow to kill Dharma and truth as untruth, those members will be called dead’. 
 
With this legacy of hatred towards Gandhi, Amit Shah’s recent utterances on Gandhi, dubbing him a “chatur baniya” was or is not an aberration. It is, in fact, the second killing of Gandhi.
The RSS has always reserved an extreme hatred for Gandhi because his idea of India was diametrically opposite to the Hindutva vision of India.
 
Gandhi proved to be the greatest stumbling block to the following vision of the RSS about future of India: “Let us no longer allow ourselves to be influenced by false notions of nationhood. Much of the mental confusion and the present and future troubles can be removed by the ready recognition of the simple fact that in Hindusthan only the Hindus form the nation and the national structure must be built on that safe and sound foundation…the nation itself must be built up of Hindus, on Hindu traditions, culture, ideas and aspirations”.[7]

Interestingly, Gandhi’s opposition to the two-nation theory brought both RSS and the Muslim League, flag-bearers of Hindu and Muslim separatism respectively, together in denigrating him.
 
Pakistan entangled in its existential crisis may have stopped bothering about Gandhi but with the resurgence of Hindutva politics in India, Gandhi remains a potent danger. He was assassinated long ago but his idea of a democratic-secular India needs to be buried permanently for the RsS project to succeed. RSS, presently, is working overtime on this project.  
 

 

[2] HV Seshadri (ed.), Dr Hedgewar, the Epoch-Maker: A Biography, p. 61.
[3] HV Pingle (ed.), Smritikan: Parm Pujiye Dr Hedgewar ke Jeevan kee Vibhinn Ghatnaon kaa Sankalan, p. 93.
[4] Letter 64 in Sardar Patel: Select Correspondence 19451950, Volume 2, Navjiwan Publishing House, Ahmedabad, 1977, pp. 276-277.
[5] Cited in Justice on Trial, RSS, Bangalore, pp. 26-28.
[6]   http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/16527_mohandas-gandhi-was-terrible-wicked-and-most-sinful.html
[7] Editorial ‘Whither’ in Organizer, 14 August, 1947.
 

Conviction of Activsts Fighting Corruption with RTI is Miscarriage of Justice: Aruna Roy, MKSS

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The conviction of five activists of the MKSS–Nikhil Dey, Maruti, Ram Karan, Babulal and Chotu Lal Malakar– has been received with shock and dismay. The judgment of the Munsif Magistrate Court, Kishengarh, Ajmer convicting senior activists has been stayed allowing them to appeal. The conviction is  of trespass and simple hurt under sections 323 and 451 of the IPC. The judgment comes on June 13, 2017 in an incident which took place on 6th of May 1998.


 
The decision of the court pertains to an incident which occurred when the RTI activists made a demand for information from the local Sarpanch in response to large number of complaints of corruption in development works in Harmara Panchayat. The corruption allegations were against Sarpanch – Pyarelal – a liquour contractor of the village. These included payments for toilets, Indira Awaas houses, and labour payments for development works, that had not been made to the beneficiaries.

This case is yet another reminder of the backlash and attack that RTI activists consistently face when challenging entrenched centers of power.

On May 6. 1998, the activists went to ask for information from the Sarpanch of Harmara, carrying with them a letter from the BDO. Since his office was usually closed during working hours, the activists went to his house to deliver the letter from the BDO. It is then that the Sarpanch came out of his house and physically assaulted the activists present.

Despite this violence, the MKSS activists decided not to file an FIR, thinking that Right to Information cannot depend on police cases, and that it had to depend on dialogue with the Sarpanch and the exercise of a legal right under the Panchayati Raj Act.  However, on the same day, Aruna Roy of the MKSS wrote to the Collector noting the incident and asking that the Collector to ensure that information would be given by the Sarpanch. (The letter is attached).

On the  May 8, the Sarpanch filed an FIR accusing the activists of assaulting him. On the same day Naurti, disturbed by his slurs and violence towards her, had also filed a case against him under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. 

The case filed by the Sarpanch was closed on the June 30, 1998 and for several years, nothing happened. On July 5  2001, the very same case was revived once again. Since then the case has carried on with the Sarpanch producing false witness, after false witness.
 
On the May 6, 1998 when the activists were assaulted for asking the Sarpanch for information, there was no one there apart from them and the Sarpanch and his immediate family members. The FIR lodged by his brother Om Prakash, claims he was not present.
 
On June 13, 19 years after the FIR was filed, Nikhil, Naurti, Ram Karan. Babulal and Chotu Lal have been convicted in an utterly false case filed by the a corrupt powerful Sarpanch who misused his influence and power and who had himself physically assaulted them for demanding information in a case where the activists were fighting  for the rights of the poor, through means that were completely within the ambit of the law. The process of this case that has continued for almost two decades, and the final decision, is a body blow to the effort of citizens to fight corruption and stand up for the rights of the citizen. It is a clear case of miscarriage of justice.

The MKSS though doyen Aruna Roy has said that they are deeply disappointed by the verdict.

The sentence has been suspended pending an appeal to be filed by the four activists in the ADJ Court of Kishengarh. The MKSS will leave no stone unturned to bring out the whole truth of this case, and along with the transparency and accountability movement in the country, will not allow vested interests to misuse the law to suppress the voice of people demanding transparency, and demands for justice by the poor.
 

How Ahmadiyya faith found space in Bangladesh

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In 1912, a lawyer in Brahmanbaria sent for medicine from a pharmacy in Lahore, which arrived in a package containing a brochure of the Ahmadiyya ideology

 


An Ahmadiyya woman discusses her fears and concern over the communal repression            Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune
 
The Ahmadiyya ideology, a variation of the Muslim faith developed by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadian, came to Bangladesh with a parcel of medicines in 1912, according to the Pakkhik Ahmadi – a fortnightly magazine of the Ahmadiyya community in Bangladesh.
 
Doulat Ahmed Khan, a lawyer who lived in Brahmanbaria, ordered medicines from a reputed pharmacy in Lahore. The package of medicine contained a brochure of the Ahmadiyya ideology. When Doulan discovered the brochure, he took it to a local imam by the name of Maulana Syed Muhammad Abdul Wahed.
 
Abdul Wahed was swayed by the message in the brochure. He pledged allegiance to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and began to formally preach the Ahmadiyya faith across the nation.
 
But Abdul Wahed was not the first person to accept the Ahmadiyya faith. It was Ahmad Kabir Noor Muhammad, a resident of Anwara, Chittagong, who was the very first Ahmadi in the region.
 
Kabir was attached to a post office in Burma in 1905, where he contracted several tropical diseases. He travelled to north-east India for medical treatment, and there he found adherents of the Ahmadiyya faith. Moved by the ideology, Kabir pledged allegiance to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.
 
The second man to embrace Ahmadiyya faith was Rais Uddin Khan from Kishorganj. Rais joined the community in 1906. He was followed by his wife Syeda Azizatunnisa, the first woman from Bengal to become an Ahmadi, in 1907.
 
In 1909, Mubarak Ali, an Islamic scholar from Bogra, went to Qadian in Punjab and pledged his allegiance to Mirza Ghulam.
 
Ahmadi scholar Mohammad Habibullah wrote in the Pakkhik Ahmadi in 2013: “The first four Bangalis to become Ahmadis did not preach the faith. It was Maulana Abdul Wahed who began preaching.”
 
But Ahmad Tabshir Choudhury, nayeb-e-ameer of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat Bangladesh, claims Ahmadi faith first came to Bengal region in 1902.
 
The Ahmadiyya movement gained momentum by 1912 by the efforts of Abdul Wahed. The Ahmadiyya Muslim community became officially established in Bengal in 1913 under the moniker of “Anjuman-e-Ahmadiyya”.
 
Currently, the Ahmadiyya community congregates at Bakshibazar in Dhaka. There are 109 chapters of the Ahmadiyya faith comprising 425 jamaats operating throughout the country.
 
There are approximately 10,000 Ahmadis living in Brahmanbaria. Another 3,500 in Kishoreganj and 3,000 more in Mymensingh.
 
The Ahmadi preachers are called Moballegs. Currently, there are 65 of them in Bangladesh.
 
Majlis Ansarullah is an auxiliary organisation of the Ahmadiyya community for men above 40 years of age while Majlis Khuddam-ul-Ahmadiyya is the association of male who are between the ages of 15 and 40. Majlish Atfalul is the sorority of Ahmadi boys who are between the ages of 7-15.
 
Similarly, Lajna Emaillah is the women’s auxiliary organisation of Ahmadiyya women above the age of 15 and Majlis Naseratul is the branch of Ahmadi girls between 7-15 years of age.
 
The Pakkhik Ahmadi has been published since 1920. A studio of the Muslim Television Ahmadiyya channel is also located in Bakshibazar.
 
A total of 13 Ahmadi people have been killed in different attacks in the country since 1963.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune

When Ramnavmi is Used to Fuel the Fires of Hate: Bhadrak, Orissa (Odisha)

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The festival of Ram Navmi was used this year, 2017, the third year of the Modi government being in office at the Centre to aggravate intra-community tensions and even cause the outbreak of communal tensions in states and towns across the country. Jharkand, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa were all the sites and scenes of this kind of aggression and violence. But what of states ruled not by the RSS-controlled Bharatiya Janata Party (eleven states the BP rules on its own and 15 if you count them as alliance partners) and where the police is under the opposition regional parties or the ‘national opposition?’

Bhadrak Violence
Image: Indian Express
 

Orissa is one such ruled by Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal. In 2008 when the anti-Christian brute violence raged in Kandhamals, Patnaik was cozy with the BJP. He fought the state election after that on his own and won resoundingly. This April however saw the police in Orissa show the same degrees of callous complicity in controlling the rise of communal tempers.

Weeping Salandi –a Report on the Outbreak of Communal Violence in Bhadrak Orissa  is a report released by the PUCL this month. It tracks and analyses the violence that broke out in Bhadrak on June 6, 2017 and after. Balanced and comprehensive here is what the report says in its conclusion,

“Despite a rich syncretic tradition, people of Bhadrak, both Hindus and Muslims, have been drawn into communal clashes. This has happened in the backdrop of communal tension in the larger political scenario in the country. This year, the Muslim community had some anxieties after the recent victory of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, and the appointment of Adityanath as its Chief Minister. This provided the backdrop of the celebration of Ramnavmi as political spectacle in Bhadrak this year, although it has never been simply a religious festival. From the beginning, the celebration has been mixed with politics, as it is being organised and monitored by the BJP and its affiliate organisations. The celebration is also associated with the memory of communal riot of 1991…..

“The scale and grandeur of the celebrations, and the deliberately provocative sloganeering did have an effect on the Muslim community. Though no untoward incident happened on the day of Ramnavmi, the atmosphere was clearly tense. Therefore, one cannot say that Ramnavmi celebrations had passed off peacefully, and that it had nothing to do with the communal riot that followed two days later. Although the trigger points have always been local, the political motivations and communal politics that allow these trigger points to snowball into major communal clashes are of larger national origin.

“It was in this tense atmosphere that the objectionable posting in the social media provided the fodder to those forces that were ready to further vitiate the atmosphere. What is worrying is the use of students and unemployed youth as cannon fodder to further gains in electoral politics by cynically creating and manipulating communal sentiments. This will have dangerous consequences for the social fabric of Bhadrak, and if not arrested in time, will lead to violence.

Assessment of Loss and Compensation
Five days after the violence, on 12th April, the Chief Minister visited the town and declared that damages due to riots would be assessed and adequate compensation would be provided. Estimates losses are being put at a staggering 9 crores. Despite promises of swift payment of compensation, the disbursing the money began only in the first week of May, and by mid-May many of the riot-affected people were yet to receive any compensation. There is discontentment among all sections of victims about the amount of compensation. The PUCL team met the Tehsildar of Bhadrak on 8th May, a month after the riots. The team asked the tehsildar for a copy of the list of victims. He said that some names in the list are still being verified. Although about 460 names have been listed, it was not final.

The plight of the poor who lost their livelihood in the riot (and the apathy of the administration towards them) was expressed by one community leader in the following words: “Around 40 families have been affected in Charampa. Of these, 15 families are so poor that they do not have anything to eat now. Their work has stopped for nearly a month. They were eking out their living by tailoring, welding, cycle repairing, vending shoes, fruits, eggs, lock and key repairs, or by quilt making. They don’t have any savings to restart their work. No one has come forward to help them. When natural calamity occurs, the Government provides polythene sheets, food etc. to the affected people. But this has not happened in our case. No one (the MLA, Chairman or the Councillor) has cared to do anything for these poor people. I have been saying all these things when TV guys came to interview me. But they cut these things out and did not air them.”

Callous Attitude of the Police
The callous and tardy role of the government’s law enforcement has been widely commented upon. People, cutting across religious groups and party lines, blame the police for letting the situation go out of control. On being asked as to why did it the police allow people to gather outside the Collectorate, when Section 144 was in force and did nothing to prevent the rally, the SP said, ‘you should ask these questions to the people in charge at that time. I wasn’t in charge then. So how can I answer these questions?’

Has there been any inquiry as to the role of the police during the incidents of 6th and 7th April? The SP’s response to this was, ‘It is the job of the government to institute a commission of inquiry to find out whether the police failed in its duty. And no inquiry has been instituted by the government’. This is another departure from the past: citizens are unhappy about the role of the police not just for its failure in preventing the riot, but also for allegedly acting in a politically motivated manner.

The local police and the district administration did not respond to the communal clashes till the evening of 7th April with enough seriousness, the state government swung into action once it became clear that the situation was going out of control. The same evening, the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police rushed to Bhadrak and mobilised additional forces for the town. Curfew was imposed the same night. Order was issued for the immediate posting of a new district collector to take charge of the situation. It needs to be noted that the district administration was headless during the riot, since the Collector had retired from service since 31 March, and no replacement had been posted. The SP and IIC of the Town Police Station, the Aditional District Magistrate (ADM) who were on duty when the riot happened, have been transferred since then with a new set of officers posted in their place.

The day and night curfew was in force for a few days, but night curfew remained for over a month. It was finally lifted only on 12th May. By the time the curfew was lifted, about 275 people have been arrested and the situation seemed to be improving. Among others, the arrested include the State secretary of Bajrang Dal, the district unit secretary of BJP Yuva Morcha and a BJD Councilor. However, a common concern expressed by the leaders and ordinary citizens is about the arrest of many innocents.

Some sane voices
Hindus are responsible for this problem. It is the moral degradation of the Hindu community which is at the root of all of this. There There is so much space in Bhadrak. Why do they take out the Ramnavmi processions through the Muslim areas? This is deliberately done to provoke Muslim sentiments.’

  • A senior advocate and an eminent citizen, belonging to the Hindu community.

I feel guilty and ashamed of the behaviour of the Muslim youths. I felt so helpless when my Hindu friends from Chandan Bazaar were repeatedly calling me over the telephone for help. They were giving me minute to minute description of the incidents of loot and arson. What could I do? I am old and ill. Not a single person was with me to take me to the place and help me stand with them during their distress. I cannot show my face to them. I have been isolated from the communities.’

– A respected social worker and senior citizen, belonging to the Muslim community.

‘Observations of religious days through processions, whether of Hindus or Muslims, have become marketable affairs. Where is the feeling of spirituality in all these processions? We should stop all  religious processions.’
-An ordinary shop keeper

It is tragic indeed that seventy years down, and many communal clashes behind us, we have failed as a society and state to implement what  Justice Madon wrote in his epic 18 volume report that inquired into the Biwandi-Bombay-Jalgaon communal clashes (1970). That processionists and organisers of ‘religio-political’ processions must observe strictly laid down rules and laws: deposit amounts of security in advance and be help legally responsible for destruction and the breakdown of the rule of law.

Modi Govt Brings Christians & Muslims Together to Fight Ban on Cattle Sale: Goa

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Goa For Beef, Beef for Goa is the slogan of the collective

beef

In a unique effort at inter-faith collaboration and dialogue, Goa's influential Muslims and the Roman Catholic Church have come together in the state backing a civil society collective called Goa for Beef — Beef for Goa.

Also, the Qureshi Meat Traders Association filed a writ petition Monday before the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court, seeking a stay on the May 26 central notification banning the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter. The Qureshi Meat Traders Association, part of the collective, made the Union and state governments respondents in the petition — the Manohar Parrikar government has been silent on the central notification that has hit Goa’s meat industry and tourism. The collective expects to hear the “justification behind the ban on trading at cattle markets”.
 
Anwar Bepari, representing the Qureshi Meat Traders Association, said one of the important points raised in the petition is the ban on purchase of animals for religious sacrifice. “This is important for us because in two months we have Bakr Eid which will open other issues if this notification goes through.”
 
The collective, which has held meetings at the Clergy Home in Margao, was formed after the June 1 incident when trucks travelling to transport bullocks were stopped at the Goa-Karnataka border following the central notification.
 
Abdul Matin, representing the Muslim community, said the collective was formed because they found no representation from the new government on the beef issue. “We were tired of their silence when other state governments and chief ministers were sending letters against the notification,” Matin said.
 
Calling the collective a product of “inter-faith dialogue”, Father Savio Fernandes, its co-convener, said “it was the need of our times”. He is also executive secretary of Council for Social Justice and Peace, “a body of the Church” formed in 2005 to look into cases of rights violations.
 
“We were quiet but now the issue affects livelihood and is an act of infringement,” Father Fernandes said of the central notification.
 
“In this collective, there are three formal members — the Church’s body, that is this office; the Muslim community; and, representatives of the meat traders in Goa. We have come together specifically for this issue as this is is a direct attack on the secular nature of our country. We now feel that the time has come where we will have to meet more often than before. Inter-faith dialogues will have to increase,” he said.
 
In meetings in Margao and at the office of the Council for Social Justice and Peace, convenors and meat traders highlighted loss of livelihood because of the notification — the state relies on cattle markets in Karnataka and the slaughter house in Ponda for beef.
 
“Beef was always the cheapest food in Goa and forms an important weekend dish in most households. Even our traditional cuisine is styled around beef,” Father Fernandes said. “Priests have been sending us feedback from the people. In fact, we are seeing it ourselves.
 
Many restaurants in Goa have started putting ‘beef not served here’ signs… they do not want trouble,” he said.
 
Bepari said: “Without the market, there is no space to look. With incidents of lynching, one cannot travel anywhere and pick up cattle from any farmer. We are telling our problems to the court through this writ petition since no one seems to be representing us. We are looking to see if there are legal remedies available. Livelihood is not just restricted to us, there are many sectors that will be affectednds

Diversity Triumphs: Beef Festival Welcomes Rajnath Singh in Mizoram, Is Sangh Watching?

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh gratuitously said people could eat what they like when thousands braced heavy rainfall to gather at Vanapa Hall in a unique protest against the Centre's move to ban cattle sale for slaughter. The protest was timed for Singh's Visit and was organised by the Zolife group.

Rajnath Singh

The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Aizwal on June 12, was compelled to assert a Constitutional truism: he said that people are free to choose what they want to eat, reported PTI. When asked about protests against the government’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter, Singh clarified that the Centre will not impose any restrictions on one’s choice of food.

However, even as Singh spoke, scores of people in the Mizoram capital participated in a “beef ban bashing banquet” organised by a local organisation, according to PTI. Thousands braced heavy rainfall to gather at Vanapa Hall where the festival was held by the Zolife Group and other activists.

A writer and a member of the group, Lalrinfela Hauhnar, said a feast in Mizoram was incomplete without beef on the menu. “Beef has strong cultural importance for the Mizos,” He told The Sangai Express. Another member, Lalremruata Varte, clarified that the festival was a symbolic protest and not meant to hurt the sentiment of Hindus.

Other Northeastern states have also protested against the Centre’s new rule. In Meghalaya, two senior BJP leaders and 5,000 workers had quit the Bharatiya Janata Party as a mark of their protest against the ban. On Monday, the Meghalaya Assembly had
passed a resolution against a central government notification.

In March, the BJP had indicated that its call for a ban on beef is not applicable to states in the country’s North East. Party leaders in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland had said that the crackdown on meat shops and slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh would not be replicated in the three north-eastern states that will have their Assembly polls next year.
 

Protest yoga: Farmers will lie down down in corpse pose across India on June 21 to highlight demands

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Events planned across the nation include an innovative strategy for Yoga Day, says farm leader Shiv Kumar Sharma.

Farmers protest
Image: PTI
 

Shiv Kumar Sharma, the face of the ongoing farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh and a former leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, may have come from the same political stream as the Bharatiya Janata Party, but he firmly believes that farmers are worst affected in states where the party is in power.

“Farm distress is not unique to any particular state, but the situation is worst in BJP-ruled states,” Sharma, nicknamed Kakkaji, told Scroll.in on Monday. “In total, there are 16 states where the BJP has its government, and in almost all of them farmers are miserable.”

Sharma, who formed the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh after working for the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh for years, is believed to be the man behind the violent agitation by farmers that has rocked Madhya Pradesh this month. The state’s agrarian community is demanding farm loan waivers and better prices for their produce. The situation remains tense after five farmers were killed in police firing on June 6 in Mandsaur district.

On Saturday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan started a fast in a bid to restore peace in the state, but broke it the very next day.

“He is a very weak person,” said Sharma. “He does not have the guts to go and ask directly from [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi any financial help for the state. He sat on fast to hide his weakness. Everyone knows that he is helpless because the Centre is not helping him out.”
 

Phase 2: Gujarat, Rajasthan

Sharma said the events of the past two weeks in Madhya Pradesh and in neighbouring Maharashtra, where also farmers were agitating for relief from debt and for fair prices, are just the first phase of a larger movement. In the second phase, the agitation will be much more widespread, engulfing states like Gujarat and Rajasthan, he added. Along with Maharashtra, these two states are also ruled by the BJP.

A nationwide block of national highways is planned on Friday as part of this next phase. “The decision for the second phase was taken in a meeting of 140 farm leaders belonging to 62 organisations from different parts of the country,” Sharma said. “The mega meeting, held on June 10, decided to organise a nationwide protest on June 16, when farmers will block all national highways from 12 noon to 3 pm.”

The date (June 16) is significant as it comes the day after the Modi government’s 21-day-long celebration of three years in office is scheduled to end.

“The next major protest is scheduled to be held on June 21, which is Yoga Day,” Sharma added. “For one hour, farmers across the country will do yoga with Modi. But unlike Modi, farmers will do only shavaasan [corpse pose], not in their homes or parks but on railway lines, stations, roads, junctions and bus stands and will thus bring the nation to a halt for the time Modi will do his yoga.”

According to Sharma, Gujarat is of special interest, not just for Modi and the BJP, but also for farmers of the country. “Gujarat cannot be insulated. The farmers have suffered for so many years in the state,” he said. “The agitation, once it builds up, is bound to be a fierce one. I could feel this in our June 10 meeting, which was attended by several farmer leaders from Gujarat.” He added, “No matter what the government does, Gujarat and Rajasthan are likely to take the agitational route sooner than later.”
 

Loan waiver or eyewash?

The farmer leader, however, appeared worried that a loan waiver announced by the Maharshtra government on Sunday might take the steam out of the agrarian unrest, without giving the state’s farmers anything substantial. Following the government’s announcement, Maharashtra’s farmers have reportedly called off their stir.

“This is similar to what happened in Uttar Pradesh, where the government after announcing a loan waiver has kept diluting its promises,” Sharma said. “First, the Uttar Pradesh government said loans of all farmers would be waived off, then it announced the relief only for medium and small farmers, and thereafter it climbed down further, saying benefits would be given only to very small farmers and only loans up to Rs 1 lakh would be waived off. Even this promise has not been implemented so far,” he pointed out.

Courtesy: Scroll.in

Christians Petition BJP Govt over ‘Demon’ Description of Christ: Gujarat

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Christians from all the denominations have expressed shock over the textbook referring Jesus Christ as a demon.

Christians from across Ahmedabad and other districts have submitted a memorandum to the district collector over the class IX Hindi textbook published by Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) that had printed adjective 'haivaan' or demon for Jesus Christ.

Christians from Syrian Church, Pentecost, Brethren Mission, Protestant, Roman Catholic and other denominations have expressed shock over the textbook referring Jesus Christ as a demon. Christians took out a rally and submitted a memorandum to district collector Mahendra Patel here today.

Chapter 16 in the textbook titled 'Bharatiya sanskriti mein guru-shishya sambandh' (teacher-student relationship in Indian culture) says, "Is sambandh me hevaan Isa ka ek kathan sada smaraniya hai (In this context, one statement of demon Jesus is always memorable). Jesus Christ is quoted as saying, "My followers are much greater than me and I am not worthy enough to even untie their shoes."

Spokesperson and presbyter-in-charge, Reverend Dennis E Amin said, "Christians are a peace-loving community. It seems there is a deliberate attempt to instigate the community by using the word 'demon' for Jesus Christ. We are followers of Jesus Christ and it hurts when such a mistake is committed."

Amin added, "The religious leaders had pointed out to the chairman of GSSTB and chairman of National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) and sought removal of the word 'hevaan' from the textbooks around a month back. Still the children in class IX are reading this. We want chief minister Vijay Rupani to take prompt action in this matter."

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