Its Election Year in Gujarat & Communal Violence Grips Eral, Gujarat

August 17, 2017

Reports of communal tension being fomented between two communities at Eral village in Panchmahal district allegedly led to the charring of agriculture equipment and other material at farms near the village. The village in Panchmahals district had witnessed a massacre in the 2002 riots and sporadic incidents last year too.

Representation Image / Reuters

A resident of the village located in the Kalol taluka has alleged that persons from a different community came to various farms in the early hours on Wednesday .The group allegedly set ablaze a tractor, water pumps, electric meters and wires.They also damaged water supply pipelines in farms. The victims have alleged that the incident had its roots in an altercation and a clash that had taken place last week over sexual harassment of a girl in the village.Separate offences for sexual harassment and rioting between members of different community were registered at that time.

Deputy superintendent of police V R Bajpai said that attempts were being made to bring the two communities together.The district administration is also cooperating with the police in these efforts.

“The village has Hindu and Muslim community members staying in close vicinity. If one looks at the incidents of trouble there, they are due to petty issues,“ Bajpai said. Last year, two incidents of rioting took place in Eral in May and June over petty reasons. In 2002, seven persons were killed and two women were raped in the village.

In 2002, Communalism Combat had reported, first hand on the violence that had racked Eral Gaon, Kalol taluka, Panchmahal district . Eye witness: Mustafa Ismailbhai, interviewed at tjr Kalol Relief Camp on March 22) 2002 had given this heart wrenching account: “Seven persons from my family have been killed. Shabana, my 18-year-old daughter, was raped in front of my wife, Madinabibi Mustafa, before being killed. Two of my sons and my wife survived. I am a driver by profession and was out when the incident happened.

My daughter Shabana, Ismail Master, Uribibi, Adambhai Ibrahimbhai (my brother-in-law), Rukaiya Adambhai (my sister), Tajoobibi and Suhanabibi were all killed. Tajoobibi’s four-year-old son’s finger was cut off. I filed an FIR at Kalol talukapolice station but even after 22 days there has been no arrest. My wife who is an eyewitness has named the accused.The deceased: Seven members of a family killed, including Shabana (18) who was raped in front of her mother, then killed. The accused: Rajubhai Vithalbhai Talati, Purshottambhai Gordhanbhai Parmar, Ganabhai Chandubhai Parmar, Bhailalbhai Maganbhai and Narendra Singh Chandulal.

On October 30, 2007, a district court at Godhra sentenced eight persons to life imprisonment and three others to various prison terms while acquitting 29 persons in the 2002 Eral rape and mass killing case. Seven persons were killed in this post-Godhra riot incident, with three of the woman being raped by the mob before they were murdered.

While the acquitted heaved a sigh of relief when the judgment was passed, Madina Sheikh, eyewitness and complainant, said she was unhappy with the acquittals and quantum of punishment and said the guilty should have been sentenced to death. Simultaneously, the prosecution said they would move the High Court for a death sentence.

This was then, the first 2002 riot conviction in Panchmahals, which witnessed large-scale tarheted communal violence. 61 persons, all Muslims being targeted in two tempos (the infamous Kidiad massacre) resulted in no justice for the survivors. Similarly, the Pandharwada case wherein 42 persons were targeted and killed in a village had seen no convictions of powerful perpetrators.

In Eral, the Muslim community had, in 2007, cheered the convictions even as they said the punishment was not strong enough. Speaking to The Indian Express, at the time Madina had said: “We identified 40 of those who massacred my family and only 11 were convicted, and only life imprisonments at that. All those men were guilty and deserved the death penalty.” She said she had spoken to the prosecution and they would appeal to the High Court about increasing the punishment.

Defence counsel Rajendra Trivedi said they would also move the High Court against the sentences. Trivedi said, “As many as 29 of the 40 suspects were acquitted of various charges, which is a good thing. We will move the High Court about the 11 others.”

Panchmahals Joint District Judge H M Dholakia sentenced main accused Chandrasinh Parmar alias Kahabhai Dada, a former panchayat president of Kalol, to life imprisonment along with former village sarpanch Ganpathsinh Parmar, Ashok Parmar, Mahendrasinh Parmar and Dalsinh Parmar for murder. Dholakia also found three others, Narendra Parmar, Mahesh Chandrasinh and Kanu Bharat guilty of rape and murder, including that of 17-year-old Shabana Sheikh, Madina’s daughter. Vinodbhai Vadad, Raju Parmar and Bhailal Maganbhai were sentenced to three years in prison on charges of rioting and let off on bail.

Action under draconian NSA likely against UP madrasas for not singing national anthem on Independence Day

August 17, 2017

District magistrates and SSPs swing into action as Yogi government hardens its stance towards madrasas in the state

Image: PTI

English translation of the lead story published on the front page of the multi-edition of the Urdu daily, Inquilab on Thursday

The Yogi government has further hardened its stance towards madrasas in the state. Last week an official circular was sent to all madrasas, instructing them on how Independence Day was to be celebrated in their institutions. Now, despite the fact that most madrasas celebrated Independence Day with fervor and enthusiasm, and the spirit of patriotism was rekindled among the children, the state government continues to eye madrasas with suspicion.

According to sources, the authorities have received complaints that though Independence Day was celebrated and the tricolor hoisted, instead of the national anthem, what was sung in some madrasas was poet-philosopher Mohammed Iqbal’s sarey jehan se achcha Hindustan hamara.

It is feared that stringent action is likely against such madrasas, including the prosecution of madrasa authorities under the draconian provisions of the National Security Act (NSA). This has triggered a mixed reaction among Muslims. While some are critical of the madrasa authorities who decided not to sing the national anthem, many Muslims blame the Yogi government for needlessly raking up an issue.

The city Qazi of Lucknow, Maulana Abul Irfan Miyan of Firangi Mahal said it was a strange government in power in UP which instead of concentrating its energies major concerns of the state is trying to keep people trapped in religious and sentimental issues. He wanted to know whether citizens were free to celebrate Independence in their own way or as per the diktat of the government.

The maulana also wanted to know which would be a fit case for invoking the National Security Act: not singing national anthem or lynching people in the name of the holy cow. He ended up asking the government not to target madrasas and asserted that Muslims do not need a certificate from anyone as regards their love for the country.

Meanwhile, the UP state spokesperson of the Congress, Hilal Naqvi said the government should know when and under what circumstances to invoke the NSA. Naqvi added that to begin with he was not prepared to believe that any madrasa was remiss in not celebrating Independence Day. Even if some madrasas were at fault, is it an offence that invites the provisions of NSA? He alleged that both the state and the central governments were resorting to such measures to hide their own failures in governance.

It may be noted that the national anthem was sung in most madrasas on Independence Day and the same was also videographed. But reports are circulating in the media that in some madrasas the national anthem was not sung and the government is now proposing to take legal action against them. The District Magistrate and the district police are reportedly compiling a list of madrasas where the national anthem was not sung. Reportedly Bareilly district is especially under the scanner.

According to reports, the national anthem was sung in most madrasas in central and eastern UP but in many places a video shoot of the same was not done. The authorities from such madrasas are being quizzed over why they did not ensure the video shoot despite clear instructions to that effect.

It may be recalled that the Qazi of Bareily, Maulana Asad Raza Khan had announced in advance that singing Jana, gana, mana… was against the teachings of Islam since there are some words in the national anthem which were un-Islamic.

According to sources, the government is determined to act against madrasas against which there is definite evidence of the national anthem not having been sung there.

The circular issued by the UP Madrasa Board to all madrasas had made it clear that the hoisting of the national flag and singing of national anthem were obligatory on Independence Day. Under the draconian provisions of the NSA, the government may detain any person for any period of time without stating the reasons for the same.

1984 anti-Sikh carnage: SC to appoint its two retired judges to examine all cases closed by SIT

August 17, 2017

The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed a panel of two of its retired judges to re-examine all the 241 cases related to the 1984 anti-Sikh communal carnage in Delhi which had been closed by the central government appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT). This is to ensure that no perpetrator of the heinous crimes goes unpunished.

The name of the two judges will be notified after consultations and the panel will be asked to submit its report to the apex court in three months.

In February 2015, the Centre appointed a three-member SIT, headed by IPS officer Pramod Asthana to reopen all cases which were earlier closed by the Delhi Police ostensibly for lack of sufficient evidence. The SIT, after examining the available materials recommended closure of 241 odd cases and it is still examining nine cases.

But a bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar has decided to get the cases re-examined by its retired judges. The panel would see whether the SIT was justified in closing the 241 cases on the ground of lack of prosecutable evidence.

The court was hearing a petition filed by S Gurlad Singh Kahlon, a member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee seeking an independent probe in all anti-Sikh riot cases in Delhi.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and senior lawyer Pinki Anand who appeared for the Centre did not oppose setting up of the panel and left it for the court to take a call on the issue.

In the mass killing that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 by her two Sikh guards, over 3,300 Sikhs were massacred, of which 2,773 were in Delhi alone.

Muslim leaders angry after MP government ignores Muslim freedom fighters in advertisements

August 17, 2017

Clerics across Madhya Pradesh have criticised the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government for ignoring and insulting Muslim freedom fighters in an advertisement published on Independence day, August 15.

Image: Hindustan Times

The advertisement listed freedom fighters like Rani Lakshmibai, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ramprasad Bismil, Bheema Nayak, Shankar Shah, Raghunath Shah and many others. But the government has not mentioned any Muslim freedom fighter in their advertisement.

Condemning this act, the MP unit of Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims, an umbrella organisation for various Muslim organisations, issued a press statement, asking the Chouhan government why it was not able to find a single Muslim freedom fighter?

What makes this advertisement interesting is that all the freedom fighters listed are either related to MP or born there.

The statement said, “People know that followers of every religion took part in freedom struggle. They did not do it to make their name, but to give us a free country.”

It further said, “PRO of MP government published names and photos of 12 freedom fighters. But there is not any single Muslim name among them.”

“PRO limits freedom fighters to a specific religion. We condemn this act, and ask a public apology from PRO of the government,” said the statement.

Masud Ahmad Khan, the secretary of the committee, told TwoCircles.net, “Any Chief Minister does not want to taint his image. The PRO and government should clear the confusing situation.”

Khan noted that freedom fighters were related to Madhya Pradesh. He said, “Rani Lakshmibai was from Uttar Pradesh, but Bundelkhand was a part of MP during her times. But it is strange that government forgets Muslim freedom fighters of the state.”

Khan counted a couple of freedom fighters from Madhya Pradesh. He counted Mohammad Risaldar, who belonged to Sehore district. British army captured Risaldar and shot him for burning the British flag. Khan also counted Barkatullah Bhopali, a freedom fighter who belonged to Bhopal itself.

He concluded, “If this is an attempt to rewrite the history with a different colour, this is disappointing. And people should not let this happen.”

Courtesy: Two Circles

Why Patriot Tests are Designed to Fail Muslims

August 17, 2017

As a community, Muslims in India have always been burdened to prove their loyalty to the country. They are repeatedly asked to take tests of nationalism and patriotism in order to prove their love for the country. Whether it is cricket match against Pakistan or the matter of singing the national song, accusatory fingers have always been cast on Muslims, reminding them that as a community, they will always have to go through this test of loyalty.

Image: quora.com

Forget about the ordinary Muslims, even the outgoing Vice President, Hamid Ansari, was roundly criticised by the government for his assessment that India Muslims were feeling very edgy with the new government in power. He was asked to go where he felt comfortable: which meant that he was being told to migrate to a Muslim majority country. Coming from an illustrious family which was part of the national movement and himself having served the country for long, such a parting shot would continue to singe the outgoing VP for years to come. And yet one is painfully aware that such a treatment of Muslims in India is not the first nor even it is going to be the last.

They are community caught in a perpetual loyalty test. Seventy years after Muslims decided to choose this country as theirs, they still have to give these periodic loyalty tests. No other community in India has to go through this demand to display their patriotism publically. No other community can understand what it means to be a Muslim today in India. To reduce this just to the current government would be an exercise in simplification. Muslims have always had to tread a fine line due to their identity and have been punished at times for even speaking their mind. There is a way of ‘looking’ at the Muslims in the country and that way has been decades in the making. Singling a political party for the affairs on Muslims today is crass simplification and an attempt not to go into deeper introspection. Not just parties, but Muslim leaders also are to be blamed for such a state of affairs.

Madrasas have been treated as belonging to a dark sphere in Indian society. Part of the problem, of course, is with the madrasa authorities who have deliberately kept the madrasas out of any scrutiny because they have to protect their financial needs. But the bigger problem lies with successive governments who have refused to modernise madrasas and have treated the population therein as a captive vote-bank. In their desire not to interfere in their curriculum and functioning of madrasas, they have perpetuated social, economic and intellectual backwardness amongst Muslims. It is not surprising therefore that despite their existence in the Indian subcontinent for centuries, there is very little that is known about them especially by those who are in power today and who do not happen to be Muslims. The BJP has been born out of a warped understanding about Muslims. For them, the Muslims are the internal enemy: a minority which remains perpetually maladjusted due to their religion. The fact remains that their ideologue Savarkar always suspected the Muslims for their allegiance to the country because Muslims Punyabhumi (holy land) and Matribhumi (motherland) were not the same. Islam in India, despite centuries of presence, was to be treated as an eternally foreign religion.

But other so called progressive political parties are no better. During its heyday in Bengal, the then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee termed the madrasas in Bengal as breeding grounds of terrorism. The fact remains that Muslims and their madrasas have been anything but anti-national. During the freedom struggle, they were at the forefront of the struggle against the British. The role of Deoband in cementing the tie up with Congress Party cannot be discounted. In the process, they brought scores of Muslims within the ambit of the freedom movement. Deoband must be taken to task for other problems which it has beset the community with; chief being its conservative interpretation of religion, but then there were many such conservative forces amongst the Hindu community also. Why blame Deoband alone?

It is not that those in power do not know the history of Deoband. They very well do and it is recorded in the annals of history. Then why is it that they are singling out madrasas to exhibit their patriotism? It was another matter if the UP government had sent a common circular to all government aided institutions. But what we have is the specific targeting of a community to force them to prove their patriotism. Such a move can only be a product of gross suspicion and abhorrence of a community. It is logical to ask whether the Uttar Pradesh government can carry on with its daily business despite harbouring deep suspicions about a large number of its minority population. The problem is that they have reaped benefits through such a politics of hate and suspicion and there is no reason why they are going to abandon it soon after coming to power. It was the anti-Muslim which brought them to power in Uttar Pradesh in the first place. Showing them their proper place is not just an outcome of suspicion; it is also a message to the Hindus who voted them to power that they are putting the Muslims in their proper place by humiliating them.

The Hindu Right is in a win-win situation. If the Muslims reject the move to sign the national anthem as an imposition, then they will be castigated as traitors. If they decide to sing it, then the Hindu Right will claim that that have taught the Muslims a lesson and shown their proper place. In both these situations, the die is cast in favour of the Hindu Right. The Muslims must devise a strategy not to fall into such a trap. From some of the reactions which have come from the Muslim clergy, one can only say that they have willingly walked into that trap.

Arshad Alam is a www.NewAgeIslam.com columnist.

Courtesy: NewAgeIslam.com

Letter Appointing RSS Man, Makhan Lal as Adjunct History Professor, AMU Withdrawn, Swapan Dasgupta’s Name also in ‘List’: Sabrangindia Impact

August 17, 2017

UPDATE: Sabrangindia has further learned from AMU academics that apart from Makhan Lal, the second name in the UGC ‘list’ for AMU’s history department was Farhan Nizami, son of Khaliq A. Nizami, currently running the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. His father, a professor at AMU, was also reported to have been behind hosting a ‘parallel Indian History Congress, in earlier decades.

The Vice Chancellor, AMU, Tariq Mansoor has immediately cancelled the letter advising the History department of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) from appointing controversial RSS man, Makhan Lal as adjunct professor to the history department of the university. Yesterday, Sabrangindia had broken the story of the designs of the Modi regime to impose a whole set of professors with hardline Hindutva leanings on the AMU. It is now learned that it is not just AMU but several central universities have received a ‘list’ of names of academics-cum-Hindutva-ideologues who ‘have been directed’ to be appointed to social science departments of central universities.

Today, the Vice Chancellor has cancelled the appointment of Makhan Lal and clarified that it was not he, but in-charge of the AMU, Imtiaz Hasnain who had through a formal letter issued to the history department, directed the Chairman, Department of History to go ahead with the appointment. The letter caused a great deal of discussion and heat yesterday, especially the fact that the normal rule and guidelines had not been followed, in making the appointment. The VC thereafter has clarified today that the letter stands withdrawn and the appointment, not formally made, stands cancelled.

Sabrangindia has spoken to a cross section of professors, especially from the social sciences department. It is learnt that the University Grants Commission (UGC) sent a list of “academics” from the social sciences who should be appointed to various departments. Journalist and Hindutva ideologue, SwapanDasgupta is one of the names also recommended in this controversial list, suggested to be appointed to the political science department. This ‘list’ has been sent to not just AMU but several other Central Universities as well, it is learned.

The probable appointment of Dasgupta was also discussed in the Political Science department yesterday and stiff resistance was put up by several faculty members after which the decision, at least as of now, not to appoint him, has been taken.

Also Read : Controversial RSS Prof Makhan Lal appointed to History Dept at AMU

NOT GUILTY says Justice Roopanwal exonerating VC, UoH Appa Rao Podile, also concludes Radhika & Rohith Not Dalit

August 16, 2017

The Ministry for Human Resources Development (MHRD) has quietly tabled the justice Roopanwal panel report set up two years ago to probe the death of Dalit research scholar, Rohith Vemula on January 17, 2016. The timing is curious as the report that has been leaked (portions of it) to the media since October has been made public on the MHRD website only after the monsoon 2017 parliament was concluded. Predictably, this panel, that was appointed to investigate the suicide of Rohith Vemula has not implicated anybody! (The entire Roopanwal Report may be read here)

Shockingly, the 37 page report says that Appa Rao’s testimony states clearly that the suicide note of Rohith Vemula in no way “blames anyone” for his death. Significantly it is not the January 17, 2016 letter but the December 18 letter of Rohith Vemula where he spoke bitterly of the treatment of Dalit students at Hyderabad university, that clearly pointed to his state of mind and the non-responsiveness of the administration and the Vice Chancellor.

“The report further points out that nobody drove Rohith to commit suicide. It was an unfortunate incident, and the ministry will now study the recommendations to ensure that it’s not repeated,” said a source.The one-man panel of Allahabad high court former judge Ashok Kumar Roopanwal also recommended ways to improve the existing grievances redressal system at the university. Topping the list of recommendations were the setting up of an “appeal mechanism” that can be used by troubled students, and a counseling centre capable of providing immediate help.Citing Vemula’s lack of options to register an appeal after being removed from the campus, the report said: “The system of appeal will ensure that students’ rights are maintained.”

The panel also suggested the appointment of approachable academic counsellors, and the establishment of a grievance redressal cell for socially unprivileged students.Vemula’s death in January led to nationwide –and international- wave of protests against the NDA government and then HRD minister Smriti Irani. Agitating students said Vemula had been pushed to suicide by a suspension ordered by the V-C upon a prodding from Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

Vemula had committed suicide in January after the university management punished him for allegedly assaulting an ABVP leader.Roopanwal’s report was expected on August 1, 2017 but it was ostensibly delayed over fears that it may have derail the Parliament session.

Last October onwards, leaks from the report had begun to appear, leading former NCSCST Chairperson PL Punia in an interview to Sabrangindiato points out, pertinently, that the issue of which caste Rohith Vemula belonged to was never an issue that was part of the Roopanwal Commission’s mandate. Punia had also said that that the head of the one man commission appointed by the ministry of human resources development (MHRD) was ‘hired to hired to give a stamp of approval on what the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime has been saying all over the country’

Rohith Vemula had committed suicide in January after the university management punished him for allegedly assaulting an ABVP leader.A panel appointed to investigate the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a research scholar at the University of Hyderabad, has not implicated anybody in its report to the human resources ministry.

Letter of Rohith Vemula, January 17, 2016

“Good morning,
I would not be around when you read this letter. Don’t get angry on me. I know some of you truly cared for me, loved me and treated me very well. I have no complaints on anyone. It was always with myself I had problems. I feel a growing gap between my soul and my body. And I have become a monster. I always wanted to be a writer. A writer of science, like Carl Sagan. At last, this is the only letter I am getting to write.

I loved Science, Stars, Nature, but then I loved people without knowing that people have long since divorced from nature. Our feelings are second handed. Our love is constructed. Our beliefs colored. Our originality valid through artificial art. It has become truly difficult to love without getting hurt.
The value of a man was reduced to his immediate identity and nearest possibility. To a vote. To a number. To a thing. Never was a man treated as a mind. As a glorious thing made up of star dust. In very field, in studies, in streets, in politics, and in dying and living.
I am writing this kind of letter for the first time. My first time of a final letter. Forgive me if I fail to make sense.

May be I was wrong, all the while, in understanding world. In understanding love, pain, life, death. There was no urgency. But I always was rushing. Desperate to start a life. All the while, some people, for them, life itself is curse. My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.

I am not hurt at this moment. I am not sad. I am just empty. Unconcerned about myself. That’s pathetic. And that’s why I am doing this.

People may dub me as a coward. And selfish, or stupid once I am gone. I am not bothered about what I am called. I don’t believe in after-death stories, ghosts, or spirits. If there is anything at all I believe, I believe that I can travel to the stars. And know about the other worlds.
If you, who is reading this letter can do anything for me, I have to get 7 months of my fellowship, one lakh and seventy five thousand rupees. Please see to it that my family is paid that. I have to give some 40 thousand to Ramji. He never asked them back. But please pay that to him from that.
Let my funeral be silent and smooth. Behave like I just appeared and gone. Do not shed tears for me. Know that I am happy dead than being alive.
“From shadows to the stars.”
Uma anna, sorry for using your room for this thing.
To ASA family, sorry for disappointing all of you. You loved me very much. I wish all the very best for the future.
For one last time, Jai Bheem
I forgot to write the formalities. No one is responsible for my this act of killing myself.
No one has instigated me, whether by their acts or by their words to this act.
This is my decision and I am the only one responsible for this.
Do not trouble my friends and enemies on this after I am gone. “
A Hindi translation of the note left by Rohith Vemula can be seen here

Who is to blame for Rohith’s death? Is there no need to pin both immediate, institutional blame as also accept, with humility, a wider social and political responsibility.

On December 18, 2015, Rohith allegedly wrote to the vice chancellor, a month before he took his life, to supply “10 mg of sodium azide to all the Dalit students at the time of admission… [and] a nice rope to the rooms of all Dalit students.” This handwritten letter should have been read as a precursor to what was coming. In the letter, Rohith allegedly goes on to say, “I request your highness to make preparations for the facility [of] ‘euthanasia’ for students like me. And I wish you and the campus rest in peace forever.” This communication squarely puts the blame on the university authorities and, first and foremost, on the vice chancellor. The letter traces the officially sanctioned “social boycott” of Dalit students after they took on a member of the ABVP for making derogatory remarks about Dalits. “Donald Trump will be a lilliput in front of you,” Rohith tells Appa Rao before offering the chilling advice to supply sodium azide and a rope to all Dalit students.

Is this a communication that points no fingers, raises no issues for the panel set up the MHRD?

Related Articles:
1.Rohith Vemula declared ‘not Dalit’ based on 2 out of 7 testimonies, councillor’s statement ignored
2.A letter that should shake our world: Dalit scholar suicide triggers outrage

Controversial RSS Prof Makhan Lal appointed to History Dept at AMU

August 16, 2017

Newly appointed AMU VC, Tariq Mansoor has appointed Dr.Makhan Lal, the Sangh Parivar pointsman for re-writing history books, as Adjunct Professor in the Department of History, sources told Sabrangindia.

The professor closely associated with the sangh parivar ‘s project of re-writing (read manipulating) history will now be part of a history department that boasts of being the department of the world renowned medieval history expert, Irfan Habib.

In 2006, the Indian Express had reported how one of the 16 Volumes of the History of the Jan Sangh authored by Makhan Lal (http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/a-volume-of-jana-sanghbjp-history-account-withdrawn/4063/) was withdrawn four months after it was released as part of the silver jubilee celebrations in Mumbai.

The series, written by historian Makhan Lal under the supervision of senior BJP leader J P Mathur, carried a foreword by then Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani.

The History of Jana Sangh, reportedly contained certain obectionable portions, sources had then claimed. The book was withdrawn after senior leaders noticed some controversial references to Muslims. There was confirmation to the media then of the sale of the controversial volume having been stopped.

It was then reported by the paper that the references said the ”anti-Muslim sentiments” prevailing in the pre-Independence period were due to the Congress policy of appeasement of Muslims.

Eaelier, in 2003, Dr,Makhan Lal was sacked from another Institute for alleged sexual offences.(See link from Hindu Newspaper Archives: Hindu : Historian accused of harassing girl students)

Apart from being accused of tampering with history in school textbooks, historian Makhan Lal had faced allegations of not just forcing students to learn history the “right” way, but also harassing girl students in his capacity as director of the Institute of Heritage Research and Management here in the Capital.

Experts from the Hindu story:

Students had then lodged a complaint with the Hauz Khas police station and announced that they would not attend any class till the historian was removed from the Institute.

Denying the allegation, Mr. Makhan Lal said his students had been misguided into a political game. “I have been in academics for nearly 27 years. Never in my life have I been accused of such charges. I have always upheld the dignity of a teacher’s job and acted as a father figure for students. Why the students resorted to this is a mystery, but I will come out with the truth,” he had asserted.

Students had then said that they had to silently suffer the advances made by the director but decided to put their foot down after one of their teachers, Anand Burdhan, was asked to resign for inefficiency. According to the students, “He happen(ed) to be the only one to take our(their) classes properly and provide us(them) with practical knowledge. Most of the other teachers teach us (them) straight from photocopied books. Many good teachers were made to leave the Institute earlier too because they did not subscribe to the thoughts of the director,” said students at the time.

There was also resentment among students about the quality of education being offered at the Institute that was affliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, the Institute was then about three years old. Students allege that they were not allowed to refer to Romila Thapar or any other author that the director believes is inclined to the Left. One of the teachers even went to the extent of stating that the demolition of the Babri Masjid was justified.

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Its Election Year in Gujarat & Communal Violence Grips Eral, Gujarat

Action under draconian NSA likely against UP madrasas for not singing national anthem on Independence Day

1984 anti-Sikh carnage: SC to appoint its two retired judges to examine all cases closed by SIT

Muslim leaders angry after MP government ignores Muslim freedom fighters in advertisements

Why Patriot Tests are Designed to Fail Muslims

Letter Appointing RSS Man, Makhan Lal as Adjunct History Professor, AMU Withdrawn, Swapan Dasgupta’s Name also in ‘List’: Sabrangindia Impact

NOT GUILTY says Justice Roopanwal exonerating VC, UoH Appa Rao Podile, also concludes Radhika & Rohith Not Dalit

Controversial RSS Prof Makhan Lal appointed to History Dept at AMU

Newly appointed AMU VC, Tariq Mansoor has appointed Dr.Makhan Lal, the Sangh Parivar pointsman for re-writing history books, as Adjunct Professor in the Department of History, sources told Sabrangindia.

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