right wing Hindus | SabrangIndia

One month after Purola, another threat to drive out Muslims issued by right wing extremists, this time in Kurukshetra

sabrang — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 08:30:08 +0000

Not a month has passed since Muslim families were targeted and forced to flee in Purola town of Uttarakhand, having faced abuse, violence and threats of genocide, members of the Hindu far-right groups have now threatened to drive out Muslims from Kurukshetra, Haryana over an alleged scuffle with Muslim fruit cart sellers.

A video has been making rounds on social media, wherein a group of people donning a saffron scarf can be heard issuing a threat to the Muslims in Kurukshetra, peddling conspiracy story invoking the issue of ‘Love-Jihad’, using anti-Muslim slurs, and making highlight offensive and derogatory statements. In addition to attacking the religious minority community, the group also accused the police officers in Kurukshetra for siding with the Muslim community.

Different men from the group came forward with the issue that they, as a part of the Hindu community, have been facing with the Muslim community. The first man to come forward says the following in the video:

“The Hindu community is fed up with these people. We have approached and complained to the authorities many a times, but if some action is not taken soon, then a revolution will take place in Kurukshetra and these be-dharmi (people belonging to the a different faith) will be made to flee from Kurukshetra.”

Another man can then be seen making vile accusations against the Muslim community and against the police officers. The man can also be heard pointing fingers at the police, stating that they took money from a Muslim man and handed against a Hindu girl to him against the will of the girl. He states “One Hindu girl, who did not want to stay with that m***a (anti-Muslim slur), and had given statements to the police and district magistrate to that effect, was threatened and beaten up by women police officers. We, the workers of the organisation, were humiliated by them. They disrespected the whole Hindu community. We stood watching they took money from the Muslim man and handed over the Hindu girl to them. Such type of corrupt officers are there in the country.”

The video then shows another man wearing a saffron scarf on his head and holding a piece of paper, claiming that a Rohingya Muslim has illegally captured his land. He further states that the illegal Rohingya Muslim has been wrongfully given a watchman’s job at a government school by the panchayat, who are trying to secure their vote bank. He then accuses the police of aiding illegal migrants in getting false official documents in exchange for money.

The video then shows this big group of men raising slogans against the police and the Station House officer, Nirmal Singh, who they accuse of being anti-Hindu. The group then proceeds to shout various religiously motivated slogans, starting with ‘Jai Shree Ram’, which then takes a violent and offensive turn, with slogans such as “jo bhi humse takraega, churr churr ho jaega” being raised.

A different man from the group then speaks about how he was attacked with a knife by a group of 20-25 Muslim men at around 10 pm at night. Giving more context on the issue, the man states that he had a fight with certain Muslim vendors for setting up their carts on a busy bridge. As per his narration, even the police had asked the Muslim fruit sellers to not sell their fruits on the bridge. After the police spoke to the vendors, it is then alleged by the man that he was attacked by the group as they thought that it was him who had started the whole issue. He further alleged that no police investigation is taking place in the said issue.

The same man who made up the aforementioned “love jihad” story comes again and says “One of our brother’s has a shop on G. T. Road. In front of his shop, at least 15 of these ‘be-dharmi’ set up their carts and cause accidents. The police has not asked them to leave even after making complaints against them.” He then alleges that the SHO Nirmal Singh does not pay much heed to complaints raised by the Hindu community, and has not filed an First Information Report (FIR) in this case as well. He then urges the police to get rid of the fruit vendors, as they do when the Chief Minister comes to visit the city, give them a specific place, and ensure that these Muslim vendors do not commit any harm to the Hindu people.

The video can be viewed here:

Location: Kurukshetra, Haryana

Members of Hindu far-right groups have threatened to drive out Muslims from town over an alleged scuffle with Muslim fruit cart sellers. pic.twitter.com/9mgNzSidKi

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) July 4, 2023

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The post One month after Purola, another threat to drive out Muslims issued by right wing extremists, this time in Kurukshetra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

RW mobilises masses; people get on streets to demand “love jihad” law

sabrang — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 10:58:25 +0000

In the past few days, public rallies have been reported from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Jammu. The common factor in these rallies is that they are certainly mobilised by some right wing groups or fringe groups but the speakers are not prominent. They are probably just members or ad hoc members of these groups (presumably) and advocating for the same right wing ideologies. Currently, the theme is around “love jihad” and to keep a watch on Hindu girls so they don’t run astray.

A public march was held by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) in Sangli whereby slogans were raised in support of Hindu Rashtra and against “Love jihad”. The video surfaced on June 9. One of them, addressing young Hindu girls, said on the mic, “don’t fall in the trap of Love Jihad. Avoid being friends with non-Hindus. Realise the greatness of Hindu religion and avoid making friends with people from other religions.”

They also demanded, “To fight against Love Jihad, establish a special Police cell. Conduct an enquiry into the funding of Love Jihad and the recruitment of young girls for terror activities.” They also demanded central laws against “love jihad” and religious conversions.

Location: Sangli, Maharashtra

Hindu Janjagruti Samiti organized a hate rally in support of Hindu nation & against the conspiracy theory of “love jihad,” where speakers demonized Muslims. pic.twitter.com/Wmr1JwPlXO

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 9, 2023

On June 8 a video surfaced from Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh where a public rally was held on the streets. A person speaking on the mic was blasting these objectionable words on the loudspeaker, “don’t fall for Jihadis. They are targeting Hindu girls and trapping them and then killing them mercilessly. Mostly people from only one community are involved.”

They demanded the death sentence for the “murderer of Sakshi”, referring to the gut wrenching incident where a young man stabbed the girl named Sakshi repeatedly in complete public view. The incident was recorded on CCTV.

Location: Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh

Far-right Hindu Raksha Dal organized a street march, where its members used a speaker mounted over a vehicle to deliver hateful speeches vilifying Muslims. pic.twitter.com/6eAvEV44E1

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 8, 2023

On June 7, a video came up of a public demonstration organised in Satara, Maharashtra by HJS. The few people present there, demanded death sentence for Aaftab Poonawal (accused in the gruesome murder of Shraddha Walkar). They also demanded the death sentence for Sahil Khan, accused in the murder of the young girl Sakshi, in Delhi.

One of the speakers said that parents should keep a close eye on their daughters, who are their friends and where they go to “protect” them from radicalisation.

Location: Satara, Maharashtra

Hindu Janjagruti Samiti organised a hate rally where speakers indulged in fear-mongering against Muslims and called on Hindus to “strike back against love jihadis.” pic.twitter.com/AHzSogGTfr

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 7, 2023

In Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand where disturbances have been reported due to an incident of abduction of a minor girl, where one of the accused belonged to Muslim community, a person was found instigating the crowd in Chinyalisour. The video surfaced on June 7 and was reported by a local news channel Garhwal Tak.

He said, “We don’t know whether they have come from West Bengal or are Rohingya Muslims. They are buying shops and our (Hindu) brothers are forced to return empty handed. They use Hindu names for shops. We come to know the reality when they trap our girls. We realise they are Raheem Khan. We are telling shop owners that they should employ locals.”

Sabrang India reported on May 30, how Muslim traders and shop owners had reportedly fled Purola town due to the uproar the abduction incident had caused and how right wing groups and other shop owners were demonstrating against the Muslim community. Further, Muslim shops, which are now shut down in Purola and Barkot, were marked with a black cross mark and intimidating posters were pasted on the shutters of these shops. The posters were removed by the police.

Location: Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

Hindu far-right leader delivers hate speech demonising Muslims and calls on locals not to rent shops or homes to Muslims. pic.twitter.com/mNfz4jacS0

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 7, 2023

In Samba, Jammu a video surfaced on June 6 where Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad held a hate rally demanding a law against “love jihad”. Slogans of “Jai Shree Ram” were also raised.

Location: Samba, Jammu

Antar Rashtriya Hindu Parishad held a hate rally against the conspiracy theory of “love jihad.” pic.twitter.com/TukPRvSyMW

— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) June 6, 2023

Uttarkashi: Muslims flee homes as right wing threatens the community over abduction of young girl

The post RW mobilises masses; people get on streets to demand “love jihad” law appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Independence Day: Right-wing ideologues march with bulldozers in New Jersey

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 08:54:31 +0000

New Jersey: While Indians are celebrating Independence Day on August 15, right-wing ideologues in New Jersey were seen marching with bulldozers.

Photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh were also found on the bulldozers.

In India, bulldozers were in the headlines as authorities on various occasions used them to demolish homes and livelihoods claiming that they are illegal.

After a video of the march went viral on social media, Indian American Muslim Council tweeted, ‘Today, the Hindu right-wing in Edison, New Jersey marched with bulldozers, which have become a weapon in the hands of the BJP government to destroy Muslim homes and livelihoods’.

Reacting to the march, many Twitterati slammed the right-wing ideologue. One of them wrote, “I think we are all human be it Muslims or Christians we should be treated as one”.

Some other Twitterati’s reactions are

Bulldozer culture

In the recent past, Bulldozer has been at the center of controversy after authorities have demolished houses claiming that the structures are illegal.

The matter has even gone to courts including the apex court of the country.

The legality of the instant bulldozer action seems complex and full of intricacies even as experts differ on the issue.

Bulldozers have now become a symbol of Yogi Adityanath’s crackdown on alleged anti-social elements.

Courtesy: The Daily Siasat

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In Defense of Bipan Chandra: Resisting the Communal Hijackers of Our History

Sat, 07 May 2016 07:52:07 +0000

In the last week of April 2016, Team Arnab [Times Now news channel] staged another show, attacking academicians and historians at large at JNU. This time it was Bipan Chandra, and his book India’s Struggle for Independence (1987). The crime: calling Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries “revolutionary terrorists” and “intentionally maligning the patriots” of the Indian freedom struggle. Bipan and his co-authors were accused of being court-historians of the Congress and being pro-Nehru and Gandhi to intentionally call Bhagat Singh a “terrorist”. Next day, Anurag Thakur, the BJP MP raised the issue in the Parliament and another “row” was manufactured, with JNU once again at the centre of it.

This is not the first time Bipan has been under attack by the right-wing regime. This has been happening to him and various other left-leaning historians from the late 1970s; 1977 to be specific, when the right-wing shared power for the first time in the centre. This article brings back those moments, taking help from the articles published in the Times of India (henceforth TOI) archives[1], from late 1970s to 2006. It presents a chronology of all such attacks and debates on Bipan, along with Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, RS Sharma, and various such historians who have used Marxist interpretation as their tool of analysing past and the Indian history. It briefly expresses concern over the rising trend of attacking “non-Bhakts” by calling them anti-nationals, and dangers of (mis)appropriating the national icons as the icons of the Hindu right.

Cartoon credit: The Times of India

Freedom Struggle, the book written by Bipan, Amales Tripathi and Barun de, published by National Book Trust (NBT) faced ban and withdrawal during the Janata government regime in 1977. Several such books were under threat of banning and withdrawal. An article dated 21 September 1977 talks about a memorandum submitted by teachers and journalists, which says,

The books should be judged on merit and on purely academic considerations, and not on spurious grounds fabricated by politicians who have no academic credentials. The reported move by the Prime Minister’s secretariat to ban the books is in favour of those who want to throttle academic freedom and impose communalist regimentation.[2]

Books written by Bipan, Romila, Harbans Mukhia, etc. were banned by the Morarji Desai government as the regime blamed that they were written in a Marxist style. The report of 28 September 1977 quotes Bipan asking, “Why do Indians get so upset if someone makes critical references to their past? Why do we like to worship our past?”[3] “The purpose of studying the past is to study it critically and precisely so that we can find out what is wrong with our present and how we can improve it, he said.”[4]

In the same year, amidst the text book controversy, Bipan answered few important questions in an interview given to Narendra Panjwani. Bipan told Panjwani, “One of our main objectives [of writing these text books] was to write the books in such a way as to get students to take history seriously…. We wanted to write history so as to show that it can be logical and scientific and capable of throwing useful light on the present.”[5]Comparing the content of Modern India with other books written so far, he said,

We have attempted for the first time to conceive and restructure the whole account in a nationalist spirit – where the people of India, their lives, their struggles and achievement occupy the centre of the historical stage. I would even claim that my textbook is the only one which tries to bring out the nature, the origins and mechanisms of colonialism at the school level.[6]

Answering why the communalists have got so angered by his books, Bipan gives an analytical answer, in simple language and giving examples:

…in this ideological struggle, the crucial role has been that of history. Why? Because the whole rationale of communalism (as an ideology) derives from a certain interpretation of history. The heart of this interpretation is that Hindus were the greatest of nations and cultures in ancient times. The Muslim rule, meant decline and decadence. And the task now – according to this school – is to go back to the greatness of that Golden Past….no historical period can be scientifically explained merely as the march of a single religion which is allegedly inherently aggressive. Now this does not suit the communalists because they would like people to believe that Ghazni’s sole motive was religion – which would imply that there is something in Islam which leads its followers to plunder and destroy. Permit me, finally, to pose a question to you in this context. What if the writers of these five textbooks by chance happened to be Muslims? It is just an accident that all of us are Hindus by birth – can you imagine what an ugly furore there would have been had a Muslim written what we have, about Ghazni, Aurangzeb, Shivaji etc.?… This should give you an idea of the extent of communalism underlying the whole controversy.[7]

I want to make a special reference to a passage Bipan wrote in a letter to editor responding to journalist N. Ram’s attacks on Bipan. In this passage, Bipan gives some advises to Ram and says,

It does not help anyone, least of all a young man, to brand and smear people through literary flourishes. It may produce the psychologically exhilarating feeling that one is joining the ranks of revolutionaries at one jump and thus making up for concrete and sustained political or intellectual work. In the long run, however, it neither develops the person concerned nor advances whatever intellectual or political cause one wants to see grow.[8]

Are the current batch of TV anchors listening?

Bipan strongly believed that the government’s concessions do create communal fever. Giving the example of the Punjab crisis in 1986, he cited how the concessions given to the Akalis first and then to the Hindus “resulted in creating a feeling of hatred and distrust between the two communities.”[9] During the lecture he delivered in Lucknow on ‘Communalism – the Way Out’, he also said that “the teaching of history had been one of the major instruments for spreading communal ideology. Certain largely circulated language magazines were also responsible for infusing communalism.”[10] Recently, we had come across a statement by the Rajashtan state minister for education on how major changes are being made in the school curriculum so that “no one like Kanhaiya Kumar is born.”[11]

The year 1988-89 is regarded as the times of Mandal and Kamandal, referring to the caste and religious resurgence in India. Govind Nihalani adapted Bhisham Sahni’s Hindi novel, Tamas as a lengthy feature film to be serialized on Doordarshan. The Hindu right wing strongly objected to it and multiple court cases were filed and a debate ensued on artistes’ freedom and hurt-sentiments. Bipan Chandra was consulted by Doordarshan before the serial was approved for telecast. In an article published in January 1988, on the eve of the Republic Day, Bipan is quoted to observe, “If Tamas had been stopped, it would have become impossible to criticise even sati on television”.[12]

Bipan told the TOI news service that the serial does not open old wounds, rather it might help prevent future wounds as it shows how communal riots break out. He is reported to have said that the serial supports the fact that the ideology of communal organisations was not based on the “profoundly humanist” Indian culture but was rather borrowed from Nazism.[13] Deriving two lessons from Tamas, Bipan said that it is very important to act fast and diffuse the tension once communal tension is in the air, and Tamas also shows that the basic Indian culture has been anti-communalism, as is shown by people who tried to save the victims, irrespective of their religion.[14]

Image: India Today

In March 1989, while visiting Bombay, he spoke with TOI on issues like casteism, democracy, and regional chauvinism.[15]Talking on the connections between textbooks, education and the rise of communalism and racism, he said,

Education in several parts of the country is intellectually backward for there are few books in regional languages which do not portray regional chauvinism. Our peasants were far more secular for they were illiterate. Our students are fed on wrong history and are less secular. West Germany, a country with the highest number of PhDs and a high overall level of education, was also the country which put forward the racial theory of Nazism.[16]

Emphasising the need for responsible mass writing by academicians, he said it is important because through a study of history “not just the statesman but also the citizen learns what we have become and how. It enables individuals to make a choice, whether the individual is the Prime Minister or average citizen.”[17]Bipan strongly encouraged, almost forced, historians like Romila Thapar, to write textbooks as he believed that “writing textbooks is a national duty of academics”.[18]

In March 1992, Bipan wrote a comment in support of the Indian history Congress (hereafter IHC), after the controversies over the Ujjain session in December 1991 when the Hindu right-wing tried to capture the history congress by using money power to enrol wholesale or in bulk life members. Answering the critics for whom Indian IHC is a pleasure trip to its participants, he wrote, “Most of the delegates travel at their own expense by second class. They stay in student hostels, bring their own beddings, stand in long queues before the latrines, often bathe without hot water, and eat meals which are Gandhian in their simplicity.”[19]He also highlighted the point that IHC had to take steps “to ensure that history teaching, writing and historical research remain the business of historians while political groups and parties confine themselves to making history, good or bad.”[20]

During NDA-I regime, Murli Manohar Joshi, the then Union minister of human resource and development had called such historians and academicians “intellectual terrorists”. Most of the NCERT textbooks written by left-leaning historians, like Romila and Bipan, were taken back from the shelf and major changes, suiting the needs of the fascist regime were made in the school textbooks, particularly history.

In 2002, the saffron brigade crossed all the limits when they handed over a 7-year-old boy to the police for being an “intellectual terrorist”. The event occurred at the Bhopal session of the IHC in January 2002.[21]The crime of this 7-year old “terrorist” was that he was trying to sell an “objectionable” booklet titled Communalisation of Education: The History Textbook Controversy. The book contains articles by Romila, Bipan, Irfan Habib, RS Sharma, Satish Chandra, and Arjun Dev. Reprints of newspaper articles by Vir Sanghvi, Dileep Padgaonkar, and others, and the text of deletions made from NCERT’s history textbooks were included in this booklet.

Srikanth, the 7-year old “terrorist”, son of Prof. Sucheta Mahajan, and nephew of Profs. Mridula and Aditya Mukherjee, all at JNU, students and colleagues of Bipan, and co-authors of India’s Struggle for Independence, had accompanied his parents to the congress. While selling copies of the booklet to IHC delegates, a man accosted him and threatened to hand him over to the police.[22] Srikanth was actually taken to the police posted at the venue.

The saffron brigade has always used intimidating tactics to “expose” the Marxists and people/organisations who they consider as threats to their existence in India. The tactic continues, this time the difference is that Bipan is not alive to put forth his defence and launch scathing attack on the saffron brigade playing with historical facts and history writing in particular.

We have a Destroy-History Inc. ruling the country. We must assert ourselves and tell them that you do not teach us who Bhagat Singh is; as historians, we must tell them that history writing is a serious business and you keep your “melodramatic” TV anchors and MPs away from this very serious discipline. You do not possess that critical qualification needed to produce an unbiased, objective history, because your only qualification is enacting a “high-voltage drama” in TV rooms and the Parliament, you don’t even know the difference between a TV studio and Parliament. We will resist the attempts of communal forces to replace historians like Bipan, Romila, and Irfan with a PN Oak, we will not let you scrap Mughal history, and we will not let you teach us that Taj Mahal is a Shiva Temple.

Let’s wage a fight against this fascist regime, which is not only trying to appropriate our great icons like Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, and Bose, but, as Kanhaiya Kumar said, they are actually “encroaching” upon these icons.

Let’s stand in defence of history and historians.

(Sudha Tiwari is a PhD research scholar at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi.)

[1] These articles have been accessed through the Proquest Times of India archive available on the JNU library website.

[2] A Staff Reporter, “Teachers, journalists assail move on history books”, The Times of India, 21 September 1977, p. 4.

[3]A Staff Reporter, “Author denies Marxist style of interpreting history”, The Times of India, 28 September 1977, p. 3.

[4] Ibid.

[5]“Historians Under Attack: Narendra Panjwani talks to controversial …”,The Times of India, 27 November 1977, p. SM2.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid. I was reminded of a similar question asked by Umar Khalid in his comeback speech in JNU, what if he was a Namazi, a believer, a practicing Muslim, what if he was from Azamgarh and not a student at JNU? How would the judiciary and police and intelligence agencies have dealt with him then?

[8]Chandra, Bipan, “Crucial Test”,The Times of India, 29 January 1978, p. 4.

[9]“Govt. sops feed communal fever”, The Times of India, 28 April 1986, p. 16.

[10] Ibid.

[11]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Changing-textbooks-so-no-one-like-Kanhaiya-is-born-in-Rajasthan-Education-Minister/articleshow/51451274.cms, date accessed 20 March 2016.

[12]Historian defends “Tamas” telecast”, The Times of India; 25 January 1988, p. 4.

[13] Ibid.

[14] Ibid.

[15]Sen, Manjula,“Historian decries regional chauvinism”, The Times of India, 22 March 1989, p. 9.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Joshua, Anita, “Politicians mourn Bipan Chandra”, The Times of India, 31 August 2014, http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/politicians-mourn-bipan-chandra/article6365968.ece, date accessed 5 May 2016.

[19]Chandra, Bipan,“Of those who write history”, The Times of India, 1 Mar 1992, p. 15.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Sakina Yusuf Khan, “7 -year- old targeted at history congress”, The Times of India, 13 January 2002, p. 7.

[22] Ibid.

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