The Story of Polls ’99

October 31, 1999

The results of the 1999 Lok Sabha polls are evident – the BJP’s Atal Behari Vajpayee, who ran his government after the February ’98 polls with a bare majority is now far more comfortably placed with over 300 MPs occupying the Treasury benches in a House of 544. In the first–past–the–post system that Indian democracy is wedded to, result is what matters — there is a clear winner and a clear loser. But there are many interesting messages contained in the story of the same election. And that story blasts many myths surrounding the present polls that the BJP in particular would like people not to remember.

Here are some messages that the result of the 1999 polls conceals:

l The entire campaign of the BJP was hinged on the tried, tested and trustworthy leadership of Vajpayee, the Prime Minister who had delivered — ‘The man you can trust. In Peace and in War’. In short, the BJP would have us believe that a Vajpayee–wave, thanks to his statesman-like handling of the Kargil crisis, won the day for the NDA. The fact is that in his own constituency, Lucknow, Vajpayee’s victory margin was reduced by over a lakh compared to the ’98 polls.

Besides, in U.P., the state from where Vajpayee contested, and the state which was crucial to the BJP’s meteoric rise in the ’90s — 51 out of the BJP’s 120 seats in 1991, 52 out of 161 seats in ’96, 57 out of 182 in ’98 — the BJP received a severe drubbing. Against the 60 seats in UP last year (its allies won three), it was down to a mere 32 seats this time.

UP is just one example of the story of many other states where the Vajpayee and his handling of Kargil factor, failed to work.

l With a mere 112 seats in its kitty, this was the worse performance of the Congress since independence. Yet, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president whose foreign origin was a major campaign plank for her opponents, romped home from Amethi with the highest margin — over three lakhs — of victory.

Nationally, her party which had secured 25.82 per cent of the total votes in ’98, logged in 28.4 per cent this time. The BJP, on the other hand, went down somewhat — from 25.59 per cent in ’98 to 23.7 per cent now.

l Andhra Pradesh is touted as the example where Vajpayee’s national stature combined with Chandra Babu Naidu’s reforms, resulted in the TDP–BJP sweep of the state. The fact, is that the Congress polled four per cent more votes in the state this time, and but for the last minute seats agreement between the TDP and the BJP, the Congress would have dealt a drubbing to Naidu.

l As many analysts have pointed out, victory for a party in the different states this time was determined by a combination of two factors — the arithmetic of alliance and the chemistry of governance. The Congress lost out because it believed it could come to power on its own; the BJP alliance won only in states where people were not too unhappy with the state government’s performance.

l Before and during the electoral campaign the media and political pundits were full of stories about how Indian politics is finally moving towards a bi–polar system — Congress and the BJP. The fact is that this time as in 1998, between them, the Congress and the BJP could pool just around 50 per cent of the popular vote, the remaining being spilt between a plethora of parties. Of the over 300 Lok Sabha MPs rallied behind Vajpayee, only 182 belong to his own party.

Moral behind the story of Polls ’99: One, none can take the Indian electorate for granted; two, the victory of ‘secular forces’ is impossible, if secularism is not even posed in a meaningful way before the people, which must include their other day–to–day concerns.

Archived from Communalism Combat, November 1999, Year 7 No. 53, Polls 99 2

Self-confessed killer on NCERT committee

October 31, 1999

An RSS pracharak, who had shot dead a Muslim woman during the Partition riots of 1947, ostensibly to save her from rape by his compatriots, has now been appointed the President of India’s nominee on the committee to select 60 professors and readers in the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

The Asian Age, October 25:

"The appointment of Dr K G Rastogi , a retired NCERT professor, by human resources ministry headed by Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is for the current academic year. Dr Rastogi has already sat as an observer at interviews conducted for the post of professor in the department of groups for special needs. In his autobiographical Aap Beeti, Krishna Gopal Rastogi 62, discloses how he took out his gun and shot a woman in a Muslim locality somewhere between Rourkee and Hardwar during the Hindu Muslim riots which broke out immediately after Partition of India in 1947. The autobiography has been dedicated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its foreword has been written by the RSS joint Secretary Mr K. S. Sudarshan.

In a chapter entitled Pracharak Ka Jeevan Mr Rastogi provides a detailed account of the background in which the shooting took place. During those days of struggle both Hindus and Muslims were uniting themselves and attacking each other. The Muslims were more united in comparision to the Hindus. They used to prepare for the attack and used to attack first. As a strategy for our security we decided that from where ever we got information about Muslim attacks we should attack first.

One such incident occurred in a locality called Puran Kaliyar, a place in between Hardwar and Rourkee. This was a Muslim locality. They were fully prepared to attack us They had spears swords, guns and small cannons. When we came to know this we took 250 people which included goons from Rourkee and attacked the Muslim locality and people from both sides died…

And then about the actual incident, " A strange incident happened in the locality as the attackers (read Hindus) started fighting with each other over a beautiful woman found in one house where the killing was going on. The attackers forgot their mission and started claiming the woman. I threatened them and then a solution came to my mind. I shot her dead". At no point, it appears, did the thought of turning his gun on the attackers cross Mr. Rastogi’s mind.

Elsewhere in the book he mentions how Mahatma Gandhi,while pained by the fallout of Partition, angered some people by his insistence of generosity towards Pakistan. He writes " 1947 passed off peacefully I passed B.A and in the 30 odd villages in my area the shakha was started. There were riots in the country and people were moving across the two borders . Mahtama Gandhi was pained at all this …… The generosity of the Hindu mind could not tolerate this. The partition of the country was based on the two nation theory and all sorts of inhuman treatments were meted out to the Hindus in Pakistan, but Gandhiji did not consider the ouster of Muslims from India as correct. Jinnah was even offered the Prime Ministership of undivided India by Gandhiji. Even after partition Pakistan was given crores of rupees for the canal thanks to Gandhiji, Nathuram Godse silenced him forever on January 30th, 1948."

Rastogi is Joshi’s latest appointment to the NCERT selection committe. This leaves little to the imagination of what the BJP/RSS plans are in the sphere of education, this time round when they head the NDA government in power at the centre.

Archived from Communalism Combat, November 1999, Year 7 No. 53, Saffronwatch

A Hindu-Buddhist Confluence

October 31, 1999

The religious system of the people of northern Himachal Pradesh is a seemingly

harmonious blending of various different traditions

Northern Himachal Pradesh, comprising the districts of Lahaul, Spiti and Kinnaur, marks the borderline between the Hindu and Buddhist cultural realms. The popular religion as practised here represents a curious mix of Shaivite Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism and Bon, the pre–Buddhist religious tradition of ancient Tibet. What is particularly striking about the religious system of the people of this region is its seemingly harmonious blending of various different traditions.

The syncretic religious practices of the people of this remote mountainous belt straddling Tibet have made for a religious tolerance unknown in most other parts of India. Hindus and Buddhists freely worship in each other’s temples and consult each other’s priests. In Kinnaur, where most people keep Hindu names, it is customary for all villages to have both a Hindu a well as a Buddhist temple. Each Kinnauri house, whether Hindu or Buddhist, has at its entrance a long pole fluttering with flags containing sacred Tibetan Buddhist mantras to ward off evil spirits. In the Sangla valley in eastern Kinnaur, Hindu villages all have little Tibetan–style canopies at their entrance decorated with images of Buddhist protector deities in addition to those of the Buddha in various poses.

In the past, the preferred form of marriage among the Kinnauris was polyandry, with two or more brothers sharing the same wife. This practice was sought to be legitimised by recourse to a myth according to which the Pandava brothers, all of whom shared one wife, had spent many years in Kinnaur and had bequeathed this custom to the locals.

Polyandry in Kinnaur actually has to do with very sound economic reasons. Since the amount of cultivable land is very small in this largely cold desert region, particular caution has to be taken to prevent the fragmentation of land-holdings among heirs. Polyandry effectively prevents this, as the number of children produced is considerably reduced. Typically, two or more elder brothers share one wife, while the unmarried younger brothers are sent off to become lamas in Buddhist monasteries. This frequently happens in Hindu Kinnauri families as well. Women who, because of this system, fail to find husbands, are sent to nunneries to become nuns or chomos.

An interesting case of Buddhist-Hindu synthesis is the shrine complex of Palden Lhamo, the Buddhist form of the Hindu deity Kali, located at the 4551 metre high Kunzam Pass that separates the Lahaul and the Spiti valleys. It consists of five pyramidal structures or chortens in a row set in the backdrop of towering snow–clad peaks laden with the frozen ice of the Shigri glacier. The chortens are decked with Tibetan prayer flags, shafts of dried barely and wheat and ibex horns. The main chorten contains an idol of Palden Lhamo seated on a mule. She appears as a fierce demon–looking figure, wearing a chain of five skulls and holding weapons of war in her hands. The Hindus regard her as Kali in her form of what they call Kunzam Mata, while for the Buddhists she is a protector deity appointed by the Buddha to guard the mountain passes.

Similar syncretic shrines of this sort exist in Lahaul as well. At a distance of some seventy kilometres from Keylong, the administrative headquarters of Lahaul division, is the village of Udeypur. It houses the thirteenth century temple of the goddess Mrikula Devi. It is looked after by a Hindu priest, but Buddhists also visit it, regarding it as the temple of Vajravarahi, a minor Tibetan Buddhist deity. The large, round stones with Tibetan mantras inscribed on them outside the temple, as well as the figures of the Buddha carved in the wooden ceiling inside, suggest that this may have been a Buddhist temple at one time.

Ten kilometres north of Udeypur is Triloknath, sacred to both Buddhists as well as Hindus. The Hindus regard the marble idol that is installed in the sanctum sanctorum as that of Shiva in his form of Triloknath or ‘the lord of the three worlds’. For the Buddhists, it is the idol of Avalokiteshwara, the Buddha of Compassion. A marble Nandi bull and Shiva linga are installed just outside the shrine, while inside are several images of the Buddha, a row of Tibetan prayer wheels and massive butter lamps. A Buddhist lama looks after the temple from Ladakh, but both Buddhist as well as Hindu pilgrims flock here, believing this to be the most holy spot in all of Lahaul.

This remote Himalayan realm, cut off from the rest of the world by range upon of towering mountains, has a message for all of us: That it is indeed possible for people of different faiths to live and worship together in communion and harmony.

Archived from Communalism Combat, November 1999, Year 7 No. 53, Ethos

Justice delayed…

October 31, 1999

Almost a year after the Srikrishna report was tabled in the Maharashtra Assembly and action promised by the government, things remain unchanged

"I cultivate hope and I see it wither daily; Alas, what does it serve to water the leaves when the tree is cut off at its root."

— Rousseau

August this year will mark the completion of one year since the tabling of the Srikrishna Commission’s
report in the Maharashtra assembly. Just as the anniversaries of the Babri Masjid destruction have come and gone, it seems that for the victims of the riots, August 6 will add to the list of dates serving simply to rub in the fact that the government seems neither to remember or care. The major findings of Justice Srikrishna on the dubious role of the Shiv Sena and widespread police bias against Muslims during the riots were summarily rejected by the Sena–BJP run government of Maharashtra as "anti–Hindu" and "biased in favour of the minority community" on this day last year.

The government, however, did promise action on two fronts — re-examining the ‘A’ summary cases (cases labelled ‘true but undetected’ by the police and closed down) and investigations into the partisan conduct of police officials specifically named in the Srikrishna report. Two separate committees were set up to look into the two matters.

The committee set up under the additional chief secretary (Home) in October last year, to look into the cases of delinquent officers finally issued notices to the 31 policemen (consisting of 15 police officers and 16 constables) named by the report, only in March this year. With the transfer of K.C. Srivastava, the earlier additional chief secretary, matters have not got much farther in the past three months.

Deputy secretary (Home), Dr. Sagar told CC that 28 replies had been received to the 31 notices issued. Asked when the other three were due, he said that three had "probably" asked for extensions and "their replies should have been due some time ago." No fresh time limit has been set for receiving these replies. However, he did assure that if the replies did not come in by the last week of June, a second notice would be issued to those concerned.

"The committee is now reviewing the replies of the 28 officers after which they will consider what action is to be taken," said Dr. Sagar. He predicts that the committee will be able to complete its investigations and take decisions on the action to be taken by the end of next month.

The 1,358 riots cases closed under the ‘A’ summary category have seen even less progress. After the government accepted the Srikrishna Commission’s recommendations to review these cases, a committee was set up under the director general of police, Arvind Inamdar. It was only recently that the committee decided to reopen seven cases of murder. "981 cases are to be scrutinised", says DGP, Inamdar. "Out of these, we have received reports on a total of 834 cases. 147 cases are pending with the investigating teams and 390 cases are yet to be distributed."

Four teams have been set up to look into the cases. "It is extremely exhaustive work", Inamdar says in defence of the slow progress. "Besides, there have been several transfers this month. That has really stalled the work even further. I think we will have a meeting next week to discuss the matter." (No meeting was arranged, as the DGP then went on tour). The committee has also been considering setting up one more team consisting of retired police officers to hasten the work for at least a month now. But no step has been taken in this direction as yet.

About 60 per cent of the riot cases were closed down by the police under the ‘A’ summary category. Justice Srikrishna in his report had stated, "It must be impressed upon the investigating officers that every classification of a registered offence in ‘A’ summary (which can only be done by the court) is a certificate of failure and admission of inefficiency. Figures of such classification in ‘A’ summary must count for the demerit rating of investigating officers."

But Inamdar does not agree. "We will investigate each case," he told CC. If we feel there was a deliberate attempt to scuttle the case, then we will definitely look into the matter and decide what action is to be taken against the offending officer. However, there is no trauma attached to the investigating officers simply because the cases are to be reopened."

The odds are still very thin. These cases have simply been numbers in police files for the past six years. Since evidence in criminal cases is easily erased, there is relatively little that can be hoped to be achieved now. Says P. Sebastian of the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR), "Government committees are often just an eyewash. The findings are routinely ignored." He points out that the Sena government had conveniently ignored Supreme Court directions issued by Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy and K.S. Paripoornan, to institute an inquiry into the police atrocities during the riots in 1996, two years before the Srikrishna report was made public. As Sebastian says, "They have reopened seven cases now out of 1,358. That doesn’t even touch the tip of the iceberg! The whole thing is a fraud. Do you think they will actually do anything? They have forgotten all about it."

This is not simply a cynical review of the situation; rather it reflects the absolute lack of credibility the government has in the matter. What is crucial at this point is that whether the government pretends to have forgotten or not, people must remember. Pressure must be brought upon the government and regular reports on the progress of the two committees sought. "Then at least", says Sebastian, "we can move the court again on the basis that they are really doing nothing."

However, the judiciary has proved as slow as the government committees. Of the several petitions filed demanding that the Srikrishna report be implemented, the one filed by a group of organisations that have come together to form the Action Taken Committee for the implementation of the Srikrishna report did come up in the Supreme Court on May 14. "But nothing was resolved", says Advocate Muchchala, who is one of the petitioners. "The state government applied for an adjournment, which justice Hegde accepted and the case is now scheduled to come up for hearing again in the last week of July as the Court is closed for vacations up to July 12. Justice Hegde did say, however, that the matter should be disposed of as soon as possible."

It remains very doubtful that by August 6 next month — a full year after Justice Srikrishna’s report was placed before the state Assembly, any real progress will have been made.

Findings of the Srikrishna Commission

Excerpts:
From or about July 1992, the Bharatiya Janata Party orchestrated its campaign for construction of a temple at Ayodhya by holding Ram Paduka processions, Chowk Sabhas and meetings, using these occasions for delivering inflammatory speeches exhorting the Hindus to become united on the issue.
————————
The immediate causes of the communal riots on December 6, 1992 were: (a) the demolition of Babri Masjid, (b) the aggravation of Muslim sentiments by the Hindus with their celebration rallies and (c) the insensitive and harsh approach of the police while handling the protesting mobs which initially were not violent.
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From January 8,1993 at least, there is no doubt that the Shiv Sena and Shiv Sainiks took the lead in organizing attacks on Muslims and their properties under the guidance of several leaders of the Shiv Sena from the level of Shakha Pramukh to the Shiv Sena Pramukh Bal Thackeray who, like a veteran general, commanded his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate by organised attacks against Muslims.
————————
The response of police to appeals from desperate victims, particularly Muslims, was cynical and utterly indifferent. On occasions, the response was that they were unable to leave the appointed post; on others, the attitude was that one Muslim killed, was one Muslim less.
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Despite knowledge of the fact that the force had been infected by communal virus, no effective curative steps were taken over a large period of time as a result of which communal violence became chronic and its virulent symptoms showed up during the two riot periods.
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As far as the causes for January 1993 phase of the rioting are concerned, the Commission does not accept the theory that it was merely a backlash of the Hindus because of the stabbing, Mathadi murders incidents and the Radhabai Chawl incident.
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There is no material on record suggesting that even during this phase (January 1993) any known Muslim individuals or organisations were responsible for the riots, though a number of individual Muslims and Muslim criminal elements appear to have indulged in violence, looting, arson and rioting.

Archived from Communalism Combat, July 1999, Year 6 No. 51, Update

Day of the ‘mujahid’

October 31, 1999

Pakistan’s prime concern is not the annexation of the Valley but the converting of the liberal-minded Kashmiri Muslims into ‘pucca Mussalmans’

Annexation of Kashmir through sponsored, armed insurgency is not the final goal of Pakistan. The final goal is the transfermation of Kashmiri Muslim society from its somewhat liberal outlook and life style to an absolutely conservative and orthodox Muslim society.

The model of this type of society is of the Taliban in Afghanistan. This model is being thrust on Kashmiri Muslims, and to an extent against their free will.

In the process, foreign Islamists — whom the Kashmiris call ‘guest mujahids’ — sponsored by Pakistan-based religious militia organisations, have two specific roles in the Valley. Firstly, as the soldiers of Allah, they fight a jihad against the Indian infidels, a duty, they say, is enjoined upon every pure Musalman. Secondly, they carry on a well-organised indoctrination programme aiming at converting local Muslim youth from a liberal to a conservative ideology, or from Kashmiriyat to pure faith.

Therefore, what is happening in Kashmir is its Talibanisation. It means reverting to the Islam of the days of Caliphs Omar and Usman. It aims at replacing coexistence by exclusivism, effacing all symbols of pre-Islamic culture, distorting history so as to sever established links between the ancient and the mediaeval and bringing about a sea-change in life style.

Madrassas (Islamic schools) are the cornerstone of propagation of orthodox Islamic ideology, and these have sprung in every town and village in Kashmir. Their curricula have changed from early crude anti-Hindu hatred to subtle distortion of the history of pre-Islamic times. From these institutions sprang a generation of closed-minded fanatics who are in the forefront of separatist struggle today. Though the National Conference governments in 1980s did visualise the consequences of the role of madrassas, yet it had neither will nor skill to restrain them. Finally the NC compromised its position following the execution of Z.A. Bhutto.

After the NC assumed power in 1996, more than 1,300 new madrassas have been opened in the Valley; many with boarding schools. These bastions of Sunni Wahhabi ideology are playing a crucial role in Talibanisation of Kashmir. After all, the Taliban had also sprung from the Pakistani madrassas, which are the model for their Kashmiri counterparts.

In order to legitimise the madrassas and their sectarian character, the state government has been deliberately criticising its own educational institutions as inefficient. Even the chief minister is on record having expressed adverse remarks on government schools. This was a ploy for indirectly conceding legitimacy of the parochial Jamaat-e-Islami institutions.

The support structure for Talibanisation is to be found in the mosques. The theory of separating religion from politics has never worked in Kashmir, or anywhere in the Islamic world. If the grapevine is to be trusted, the builder of a mosque gets 25 per cent of the total cost of building a new mosque.

The money reportedly comes from the Wahhabi-oriented Kashmiri Sunni Muslim Diaspora in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf States, or directly from Saudi intelligence agencies through their Kashmiri conduits. The phenomenon of raising mosques throughout Kashmir valley is strikingly similar to the raising of mosques in Central Asian states after they became independent in 1991.

In early 1980s, Allahwale, the all-India level missionaries of Sunni Wahhabi faith, surfaced in large numbers in the Valley and got scattered throughout its length and breadth. They had withdrawn to their shell when militancy broke out in Kashmir. Today, the Allahwale have re-emerged in the Valley and are carrying out their Islamisation agenda — of course, an exclusivist agenda running contrary to the secular Constitution of India.

Another dimension of Talibanisation of Kashmir is the onslaught on its composite culture often labelled as Kashmiriyat. There is a massive campaign of distortion of place names, legends, traditions and history which has something definitely to do with the pre-Islamic period of Kashmiri history. More than 3,000 place names have been changed and adorned with Islamic epithets.

Pseudo-historians are trying to rewrite the cultural and social history of Kashmir. A strong lobby has been created to sell the theory that the Kashmiri race is not of Aryan but Semitic origin and that its cultural manifestations are not its own and indigenous, but largely or even fully borrowed from Central Asia. The symbols of Kashmir’s spontaneous identity, like Nund Rishi and Makhdum Sahib are being discarded as non-exclusivist and therefore unacceptable. Kashmir Shaivism is being projected as the sequel to the rising Sufi philosophy in Iran and Central Asia with impact on early Hindu spiritualists of Kashmir.

Thus the Kashmiri Muslim is being taught to reject his past. The idea has been borrowed from the practice in Pakistan where history begins with the advent of Muhammad Bin Qasim in A.D. 712. Prior to that there is a big blank.

In life style, a drastic change has been effected. Young and old grow beard and falling tresses, the style said to have been of the elders of Islamic faith. Kashmiris, old and young, all have adopted the Afghan/Taliban dress — a baggy shalwar, longish shirt half coat, round outward turned headgear and a square piece of cloth folded triangularly and thrown round the neck. This again is in imitation of the Taliban who believe it to be style of the early Islamic conquerors and warriors from Arab lands.

Even in their address and public dealings, there are marked changes. The phraseology is that of the puritanical Muslims. For example, instead of the traditional ‘Khuda Hafiz’ (meaning farewell) now ‘Allah Hafiz’ is said because the word Khuda is of non-Arab origin (Khotaay in Avestic means the Lord).

Any dispassionate observer will have no difficulty in confirming these ground realities. We need courage to speak honestly what we see on the ground. Kashmir has been thoroughly Talibanised. In doing so, Pakistan has realised its essential goal. The “liberation” of Kashmir, according to them, is a corollary to Talibanisation. It has to be remembered that General Pervez Musharraf, the chief executive of Pakistan said it clearly that Kashmir’s annexation could wait. What is of importance is making India weak internally.

Archived from Communalism Combat, November 1999, Year 7 No. 53, Cover Story 2

‘Caste is a precious gift’

September 30, 1999

The caste system receives generous treatment in Indian textbooks. Even the section in the text book of the Gujarat state board that seeks to explain the constitutional policy of reservations makes remarks about the continued illiteracy of the ‘scheduled castes and tribes.’

So, for instance, the same textbook pays lip service to political correctness through a fleeting reference to the fact that the varna system later became hierarchical, but in the same chapter, a few paragraphs later, literally extols the virtues of the intent of the varna system itself.

There is also no attempt nor desire, either in this text or the ICSE texts to explain the inhuman concept of ‘untouchability’ (based on the notion, “so impure as to be untouchable”) that Jyotiba Phule and B.R. Ambedkar made it their life’s mission to challenge, socially and politically. In understanding and teaching about caste, both this text and other ICSE texts display a marked reluctance to admit or link the ancient-day varna system to modern-day Indian social reality.

“The ‘Varna’ System: The Varna system was a precious gift of the Aryans to the mankind. It was a social and economic organisation of the society built on the basis of the principle of division of labour. Learning or education, defence, trade and agriculture and service of the community are inseparable organs of the social fabric. The Aryans divided the society into four classes or ‘varnas’. Those who were engaged in the pursuit of learning and imparted education were called ‘Brahmins or Purohits (the priestly classes). Those who defended the country against the enemy were called the Kshastriyas or the warrior class. Those who were engaged in trade agriculture were called the Vaishyas. And those who acted as servants or slave of the other three classes were called the Shudras. In the beginning, there were no distinction of ‘high’ and low. The varna or class of a person was decided not on the basis of birth but on the basis of his work or karma. Thus a person born of a Shudra father could become a Brahmin by acquiring learning or by joining the teaching profession…In course of time however, the varna system became corrupted and ‘birth’ rather than ‘vocation’ came to be accepted as the distinguishing feature of the varna system. Thus society was permanently divided into a hierarchy of classes. The Brahmins were regarded as the highest class while the Shudras were treated as the lowest. These distinctions have persisted in spite of the attempts made by reformers to remove them. Yet, the importance of the ‘Varna’ system as an ideal system of building the social and economic structure of a society cannot be overlooked”. (Emphasis added).

(Social Studies text, Gujarat State Board, Std. IX)
The only reference in this standard IX text to the indignities of the caste system as it exists today is through an attempt to blame the plight of the untouchables on their own illiteracy and blind faith.
“Problems of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes: Of course, their ignorance, illiteracy and blind faith are to be blamed for lack of progress because they still fail to realise importance of education in life. Therefore, there is large-scale illiteracy among them and female illiteracy is a most striking fact. (Emphasis added). ”

(Social Studies text, Gujarat State Board, Std. IX)
The ICSE texts are similarly non-critical and evasive.
The New ICSE History and Civics, edited by Hart and Barrow, Part 1 has this to say.
“The Caste System: The division of society into four varnas (classes) had its origin in the Rig Vedic period. Members of the priestly class were called brahmins; those of the warrior class, kshatriyas; agriculturists and traders, vaisyas; and the menials, sudras. It is said that the caste system in the Rig Vedic times was based on occupations of the people and not on birth. Change of caste was common. A Brahmin child could become a kshatriya or a vaisya according to his choice or ability…

“Varna in Sanskrit means the colour of skin and the caste system was probably used to distinguish the fair coloured Aryans from the dark coloured natives. The people of higher castes (brahmins, kshatriyas, and vaisyas) were Aryans. The dark skinned natives were the sudras, the lowest class in society, whose duty was to serve the high class.

Archived from Communalism Combat, October 1999, Anniversary Issue (6th) Year 7 No. 52, Cover Story 2

Demonising Christianity, Islam

September 30, 1999

Courtesy: christcov.org

In a chapter titled, ‘ Problems of the Country and Their Solutions’, the Social Studies, Std.IX text of the Gujarat Board has a section with a sub-heading, ‘Minority Community’,that labels Muslims, even Christians and Parsees, as ‘foreigners’. It also states that Hindus are in a minority in most states. It reads:

“But apart from the Muslims, even the Christians, Parsees and other foreigners are also recognised as the minority communities. In most of the states the Hindus are in minority and Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are in majority in these respective states”.

The same text also selectively denigrates the Catholic priesthood of the middle ages which may be legitimate but is suspicious when similar exacting criticism is not accorded to the Brahmin religious hierarchy. Monetary exploitation and persistent sexual harassment by the caste hierarchy in India which was not merely historically legitimised by caste but brutally holds Dalit women to ransom even today.

“The priests of the Catholic church had accumulated plenty of wealth through unjust taxes, illegal fees, ownership of large tracts of land, selling miracles and indulgences. They spent this money on worldly pleasures and immoral behaviour. (SS, Std.IX).

“The Christian Church was a part and parcel of this integrated feudal system. Almost half of the land and other property belonged to the bishops or the heads of parishes. The Pope who was the head of the Roman Catholic Church was himself a big landlord. The Church received sumptuous gifts of land from the king as well as the lords. Thus the Church had amassed great wealth. The Pope, archbishop, bishops and other priests lost their heads, forgot their duties and lived a life of luxury and sensual pleasures.” (SS, Std. X)

The following extract is from a recommended third year B.A. textbook for the student of history in Maharashtra. The chapter on Mahmud of Ghaznavi is used blatantly by the author to launch a tirade against Islam itself.
The opening para reads: “The advent of Islam might have been a boon to the Arabs who got united under its banner, and were enthused by it to carry on conquests in Asia, Africa and Europe but it has been a curse for the people outside Arab world because wherever the Islamic hordes went, they not only conquered the countries, but killed millions of people and plundered their homes and places of worship and destroyed their homes, places of worship and above all their artworks”.

The author continues: “The general Islamic belief that political power can be claimed by anyone who can wield power goes not only against the legality of inheritance to throne but encourages intrigues, plots rebellions and assassinations of father by his son, brother by his brother, ruler by his military commander or minister and above all master by his servant, nay, even by his slave. There might have been some killings of such a type among the people of other religious faiths like the Hindus or Christians but those were exceptions while in the Islamic people these have occurred as a rule, not as exceptions”.

The author makes his orientation more and more plain as we read on. The question, however, is how did such a text past muster and how does it continue to be one of the recommended texts at the graduation level in Maharashtra. “The king of the Ghaznavides, Subuktagin, who started raids on India in the last decades of 10th century A.D. was a slave of Alptagin, who himself was a slave of Samanid ruler of Khorasan. So it is the slave of the slave who set in process, the Islamic invasion from 10th century A.D.”This is how the concluding para reads.”Why these atrocities? Because Islam teaches only atrocities. Have not Islamic invaders done so wherever they had gone, be that India or Africa or Europe?” (Emphasis added). Mahmud returned to Ghazni with a large booty.”

Archived from Communalism Combat, October 1999, Anniversary Issue (6th) Year 7 No. 52, Cover Story 3

‘Sati was a virtue’

September 30, 1999

The authors of Indian textbooks retain an extremely ambivalent position when it comes to describing the status of women in ancient India Gujarat state social studies’ texts have no critical comment on the Manusmruti. “The Manusmruti or Manava Dharma Shastra has helped in the forming of the Hindu code while the Puranas besides being religious books are a treasure of Indian history.” How equitous or inequitous was, or is, the Hindu code? What was the status accorded to women under it? There is a suspicious silence in the text on the issue.

There is, however, clear- cut statement on the ‘low’ position of women in the Ancient civilisations of Greece in the same Std. IX social studies text in Gujarat. “Women occupied a very low position in Athens and other city-states of Greece. They were denied the right to participate in public life or to get education. Home was considered to be the best place for them. They hardly ever appeared in public places. They were denied the right even to vote. The references to women in the literature of that period can be regarded as derogatory.”

Students studying the ICSE course are given a novel understanding of how Rajputs translated into practice “their respect for women’’. The text starts by telling us how Rajputs had a deep respect for their women. But a few paras later we are told: “The birth of a female was considered as a bad omen in the family. Very often, such a child was killed immediately after its birth. (Emphasis added).

In a chapter titled, “Rajput Contribution”, the New ICSE History and Civics, edited by Hart and Barrow, Part 1, accords special place to the Rajput period. The authors state that this period has a special importance in India. Why? “It is noteworthy that the Rajputs were the last Hindu kings in Indian history,” state the authors going on to extol the uniqueness of the period under the heading of “Rajput Custom.” Here we are told of the Rajputs’ “Respect for Women”:

“The Rajputs respected their women. The women too had their self-respect. They would burn themselves in the fire of jauhar rather than fall victims in the hands of their enemies”.

“Position of Women. The Rajput women enjoyed freedom in society. They could choose their husbands in swayamvara. They were educated, they could read and write Sanskrit. They took part in public life. Re-marriage of widows was not allowed. Rajput women were deeply religious. They spent most of their time listening to pious stories from religious books like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata”.

“Polygamy and Female Infanticide: The rich and the ruling class practised polygamy, though one of the wives was treated as the chief wife. The birth of a female was considered as a bad omen in the family. Very often, such a child was killed immediately after its birth”.

“Child marriage: The daughters of the family were married of at an early age in order to safeguard their honour. Once married, the Rajput women were very devoted to their husbands. They would sacrifice their lives to safeguard their honour.

The same Rajputs we are also told, with no critical comment, abhorred untouchables.
“Caste System: While the Rajputs held the Brahmins in high regard, they despised the untouchables who were even forbidden to live within the town or the village. The Rajputs considered that it was their exclusive right to fight battles and no other person could raise arms in the battlefield. The rigidity of the caste system led to the narrow-minded attitude among the Indians during this period.

“Sati and Jauhar: It was considered a virtue to perform sati, that is, to immolate oneself at the funeral pyre of one’s husband. The jauhar was performed when the Rajput women burnt themselves to death to escape dishonour at the hands of the Muslim invaders. It is said that Rani Padmini, with 16,000 Rajput women did jauhar in Chittorgarh by walking into fire when their men marched into the battlefield to fight to the finish instead of surrendering themselves to their enemy”.

Archived from Communalism Combat, October 1999, Anniversary Issue (6th) Year 7 No. 52, Cover Story 4

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The Story of Polls ’99

Self-confessed killer on NCERT committee

A Hindu-Buddhist Confluence

Justice delayed…

Findings of the Srikrishna Commission

Day of the ‘mujahid’

Pakistan’s prime concern is not the annexation of the Valley but the converting of the liberal-minded Kashmiri Muslims into ‘pucca Mussalmans’

‘Caste is a precious gift’

Demonising Christianity, Islam

‘Sati was a virtue’

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