As promised, I am going to write more on the Ayodhya issue. I realize it is embarrassing for most of the young people to even talk about the topic and if you are a Hindu you are expected to be even more apologetic about the destruction of so called Mosque by the so called Hindu fundamentalist.

Indian media which is as usual devoid of any intellectual pursuit portrayed the whole Ram Janmabhumi Movement as a movement conspired by a few to gain votes. Thats a simple hypothesis and hence most of the people especially from my generation are likely of fall prey to. But the movement was lot more than this. It was not a conspiracy of few but a few tried to gain from the movement that had rose from masses. It is unfortunate, shameful and disgraceful that the leaders who lead it one day are now turning their face away. They have not only disowned their own responsibility but they have actually killed the movement.

1. The mosque or just a structure?

Had the case been that there was a very popular mosque sacred to million Muslims. Where Muslims offered prayers and one fine day some Hindu fundamentalists destroyed the structure by applying pure force, I would have understood the whole contempt for those who destroyed the structure. After all we are in process of building a law abiding society why should some group destroy other people’s sacred sites?

“But why do you refer to it as a mosque at all? Where is the mosque, my friends, when the namaz is not performed? When for forty years idol worship is going on there, what kind of a mosque is it? That is just the temple of our dear Ram.”[1]

Now I am not quoting Mr. L.K. Advani here I am quoting V. P. Singh. The structure that was destroyed on 6th of December 1992 was in fact a temple inside. There were idol of Ram inside and people flocked their to offer prayers everyday.The idols appeared inside the structure in 1948. A pujari offered prayers every day though the structure was kept locked.

Who opened the locks? MR. Rajiv Gandhi ordered to open the locks. He started his election campaign from Ayodhya. He had already conceded too much to Muslims in form of Shah Bano case and Stanic Verses Ban. Once the locks were opened VHP began demanding that a temple be built on the site as the structure is a temple for all practical purposes.

The government began to work. V.P. Singh devised the three point formula that the structure will be shifted brick by brick to another place and Hindus would bear it’s cost. Government would acquire the land and hand it over to the Shilanyas Committee. VHP, BJP and RSS agreed. They promised that they will not touch the structure, they promised to pay for shifting the whole structure.

And then what happened? Here in Shourie’s words.

Then came a stormy meeting of Muslim leaders with V P Singh. And so around 5 pm V P Singh let it be known that he had changed his mind. What was the “disputed structure became the “disputed land”. And all lands, the titles to which were in dispute before the Allahabad High Court were now to be taken to be covered by the expression “disputed land”.

As nothing was to be done to disturb what was “disputed”, this change meant that nothing could be commenced anywhere, not even at the spot where the shilanyas had been done.

“But once Government acquires the land,” the law officer of the Government explained to him, “all disputes about its titles would end. There is thus no reason for going back on what has been agreed — about commencing construction.”

“Then I won’t acquire the land,” said V P Singh.[1]

V.P. Singh indeed acquired the land. But instead of prior agreement between him and VHP he did not made any distinction between the disputed structure and non disputed land. This left both L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpeyi as losers in the eyes of their supporters because these were the two men who were responsible for maintaining peace and solving this matter peacefully. It was because of them that their supporters believed that this matter can indeed be solved peacefully.

People like Mulayam Singh Yadav saw this as an opportunity. If somehow they could jeopardies all move by Hindu leaders such as AB Vajpeyi and L. K. Advani, and instead build a mosque there they would have become eligible to the vote bank of Muslims. Thus the secular class of India which today claims that Babari Structure destruction was a heinous crime back stabbed moderate leaders like Advani and Vajpeyi to appease some factional Muslims leaders.

There wasn’t a mosque in first place. It was a temple. The structure however old was used as a temple for all practical purposes. The demand that it should be erased or respectfully moved to another place was denied in the most disgraceful way to make people like Sayyed Shahbuddin happy.

2. The Demolition

Two wrongs can not make one right. Indeed if Muslims destroyed the temple, destroying the mosque is not a solution. If it was there are over 2000 Mosques waiting for destruction. But then when the one wrong is performed it needs to be punished condemed and it should be made clear that such an act is not tolerable.

If at all India was secular and if the secularists were not Muslim appeasers, they had a brilliant chance to do so with Ayodhya. Had they built a temple over the Ramjanmabhumi it would have not only killed BJP’s upsurge but it would have also sent a strong message to increasing fanatic Muslim demands .

Any ways. The secularism faltered on those line and the structure was demolished. That resulted into BJP’s rise and it sent Islamic leaders on back-foot as they should have been.

The underlying demand and frustration of Hindu community was not an artificial one. Nor it was conspired by “a few” as the liberhan tries to portray it. Instead, it was because untill India got it’s independence Hindus were unexplainably at the receiving end. Not only Islam tried hard to destroy every good thing Hindus built, Islam even cut the nation into tow parts. After independence the government of India failed to even recognize that Hindus indeed suffered because of Islam.

By denouncing the valid claim of the masses. By terming it not just communal but heinous and national shame, they only hurt Hindus further.

What happened that day:

Even VHP leader Ashok Singbal tried to stop the activists, until they threatened to pull off his dhoti. Anti‑Hindutva spokesmen want us to believe that this was all theatre, but it was genuine (as was Murli Manohar Joshi’s jubilation). A small Hindutva faction had prepared the demolition, deliberately keeping the leadership in the dark about it.

If the Indian media had meant business, they would have found out and told you within a few days just who engineered the ‘Kar Seva’. Instead, they chose to spurn the scoop of the year and stuck to the politically more useful version that the BJP did it, somewhat like late Jawaharlal Nehru’s attempt to implicate Veer Savakar in Nathuram Godse’s murder of the Mahatma.

Most BJP leaders (Kalyan Singh being the chief exception) dealt with the event in a confused and insincere manner. The gradual BJP retreat from Ayodhya was completed overnight, and the party was reduced to waging its subsequent election campaign with colourless slogans like ‘good government’.

3. What is to be gained by building a temple?

Nothing. Temple is merely made up bricks and mortar. The question that whether there really existed someone like Ram is debatable. But the movement was no supposed be about the physical structure of some building. It was about undoing the wrong of past.

This is for those people who say things like “Will building a temple solve unemployment in Hindus?” Shouldn’t we have different priorities? At a superficial level it might appear as true. But underneath there is larger goal which BJP should have tried to achieve. Ram Janmabhumi should have been only a step forward.

The spineless leadership and ignorant second tier leaders like Shushama Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Vainkayya Naidu buckled up under the secularist/communist propaganda to downplay the whole movement and kill it.

4. Islamic damage to Hindu psyche.

The Ram Janmabhumi movement was the begging of process of that undoing of damage inflicted by Islam on Hinduism. No one else but Koenraad Elst puts it in the best possible words.

Some diehard Hindus activists demand that all the thousands of mosques built on top of destroyed temples, be handed over to the Hindus. They think that would be a physical undoing of the historical wrongs. Well, that is a very crude way of doing justice to Hinduism. It overlooks the fact that these stone structures are but the outermost layer of the real harm done to Hindu society. There has been a loss of vast territories — they may be claimed back, but that would hardly be any less superficial. Far more fundamental is the moral damage that has been done : the loss of self-confidence, the unprecedented and harsh enmity within Hindu society (internal enmity and bitterness typically occur in powerless groups), the boot-licking attitude among the Hindu intelligentsia, the negative self-image (e.g. Hindu caste inequality vs. Muslim brotherhood). The moral damage again is partly due to a loss of knowledge and memory : the Hindu education system has been destroyed, and the Hindus are helpless in the face of concerted efforts to disinform them and destroy their soul.[Source: Ayodhyaa and After by Koenraad Elst Voice of India publication]

5. BJP’s grand failures

BJP’s grand failure lies in the fact that it could not convert Ram Janmabhumi movement into a grand Hindu reconciliation. The movement had united Hindus across cast and creed. It failed to address their problems and genuine concerns to gather Muslim votes. BJP had not need to be “Hindu” in order to do this.

BJP should have been “truely secular” and worked hard towards the secular lies that Congress and Communists have perpetrated especially to degrade Hindusim. But they failed at every level. Except for few intellectuals like Arun Shourie, Govindacharya and another few it was more concerned about acceptance in Muslim community.

Let me quote Elst again.

So, the more fundamental concern should be the reviving of Hindu consciousness, both in a spiritual and in an intellectual sense. Of all the politicians involved in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, how many have ever taken parliamentary initiatives to revive Sanskrit education, to give more chances to the teaching of the Hindu cultural traditions, to abolish the discrimination against teaching Hindu religion in state-subsidized schools? How many have taken a look into the systematic distortion of history that is being broadcast by all the official media including the school curricula, and taken the official media including the school curricula, and taken initiatives to counter it at the intellectual or political level? It seems that all these Hindu campaigners needed a crudely physical issue like the bricks in Ayodhya in order even to get reminded of their responsibility to Hindu society.

If we check BJP’s track record, there hardly anything that BJP did different from Congress. That explains why people successively decided to vote for congress.

6. Arguments in History

Now that BJP is fully on back-foot and media completly under control of them, both Congress and Communists are getting up their long formlated arguments that there was never a temple on that site and hence it was never destroyed. Historians like Romila Thapar has romaticised that even Somnath Temple was not really destroyed. These people have even destroyed evidence by using their power.

Sita Ram Goel, Ram Swarup Arun Shourie and Koenraad Elst took pains to document these cases. And remind you none of these are RSS men as the secular media often Quotes them. Arun Shourie in his book Eminent Historians exposed Marxists historians like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib in a fashion that they had to hide their faces. They are not lifting their head up again in th Congress era.

Ram Swarup’s book Hindu Temples What happened to them ( a very rare book) documents over 2000 cases where mosques were raised by erasing temples. No historian has yet come forward to refute even a single claim. Most importantly he uses the Muslims scholar’s texts as the proofs.

7. The Path Ahead

I do not think issue of bricks and mortars at a particular place is important. But it should be symbolic of a larger issue. The issue which should lead entire Hindu society to look within, to unite, to rediscover it’s own glorious history and culture and of course to defend it’s beautiful culture from the Islamic and Nehruvian Invasion.

A lot was expected out of BJP. But as of today it is paralysed and continues to exist as Congress’s B team. The convoluted history and facts are running in the vein’s of Indian society making it even more difficult to bring the facts in light. Islam, the religion of peace continues to inflict wounds on our nation but we are more happy it believe that these are few misguided and politically or economically motivated individuals doing it out of frustration. It is easier to accept this fake argument than hard-hitting reality.

Elst wrote 5 years ago

This purely secular posturing worked well in the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, but it may prove to be yet another “cheque which can be cashed only once,” especially considering the BJP’s recent loss of credibility regarding governance.

The party’s best chance of a meaningful survival now lies in the adoption of a better‑considered Hindu agenda, not focused on dead buildings but on consequential  political reforms.

The path ahead seems to be dark. India’s survival was possible for so many centuries purely because of it’s adaptive, open and tolerent culture. May be for last one or two centuries we started calling it Hinduism. Several factors today are destroying this culture. Islam remains the biggest threat and Congress the second largest threat. But we should also put parties like BJP which buckle under the pressure and make these values obsolete are an equally dangerous threats.

Today most of over political notions are based on labels. Muslims Christians and Communists are secularists by the virtue of their existence and Congress remains the sole certification authority. BJP is tring hard to qualify it self by proving itself secular to congress. This is never going to happen. In the process BJP will become more and more like Congress and Monoatheist religious groups.

Optimist in me believes that this phase too will pass just like all previous ones. The cynic in me tells me that God his own designs of destruction.

BHOPAL: For a study in government and corporate inertia and indifference amid massive human suffering, come to this stylish old central Indian city where, 25 years ago tomorrow (Wed) night, a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide factory (left ) led to the death of over 5,000 people and continuing ill health of over 500,000 in one of the world’s worst industrial disasters.

The site remains virtually as it was 25 years ago, with gaunt steel structures and dilapidated factory buildings still standing, as governments and pressure groups argue about what should be done to clean it up along with nearby chemical dumpsites. Court cases continue in India, the US and elsewhere, while Dow of the US, which has taken over Union Carbide, runs for cover.

The state government dreams of turning the site and decaying structures into a 70-acre Rs116cr ($23m) landscaped memorial “like Nagasaki or (New York’s) Ground Zero”, according to Babulal Gaur, an 80-year old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister who is responsible for relief and rehabilitation in the government of Madhya Pradesh, where Bhopal is the capital. The key structures (below) are the Sevin and MIC plants which  blew that night.

I interviewed Gaur this morning, and he told me that the factory site’s “soil is very clean and the water is very clean”. Any water problems in the area were caused by nearby Indian Oil petrol tanks (which are to be moved), not the gas plant. Health problems were caused by the poor living, as they usually do, in “unhealthy conditions”, not the by the aftermath of the gas leak. That reversed a statement he made five years ago that the then Congress Party state government was downplaying the effects and that the BJP “would hold Dow responsible”.

This supreme example of a politician in denial was confounded three hours later when a new independent report was published, which alleged that there is far greater contamination from 1984 than had been previously expected on both the site itself, and in nearby residential areas’ groundwater.

Published by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE),  an independent organisation that specialises in pollution testing and environmental issues, the report   says that pesticides  and other dangerous cemicals are present at over 500 times Indian standard levels in some areas (see interactive website map).

The disaster happened on the night of December 2nd 1984, when water accidentally entered a methyl isocyanate (MIC) storage tank (right), triggering an uncontrollable chemical reaction and blasting a cloud of toxic gases across nearby slums. People died instantly, coughing and choking, while the gases burned into the survivors’ eyes and lungs to cause early death and ill health, with weakened immune systems and respiratory problems that now continue into a second generation.

According to official figures, some 5,000 people have died, though some estimates go as high as 30,000, while over 570,000 (and maybe as many as 1m) have suffered health disorders.

I came to Bhopal a couple of days after the disaster in 1984 to report for the Financial Times. There was a continuing acrid tang in the air. Bloated carcasses of dead animals lay in the streets, and funeral pyres were till burning. It rapidly became clear that the accident had happened because Union Carbide had tired of its Indian investment that had not come up to over-egged corporate expectations. Wanting to close it down, it had allowed safety standards and management control to decline disastrously, along with staff morale.

Dow, together with its Union Carbide subsidiary, denies responsibility for victims’ health or the state of the site, following an overall settlement reached in 1989 with the Indian government. The claims totalled $3 billion, but the Indian government settled for $470m (then worth 7.5 billion rupees) plus a further $43m that has still to be fully distributed.

Down the years, there have been many allegations of corruption and of other payments involving the Indian government and its agencies, state level officials and politicians, and Dow. Two years ago, Dow admitted it had been fined $325,000 by America’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) because employees in India had bribed officials.  “We know that Dow subscribed to the BJP election funds,” Sathyu Sarangi, a leading Bhopal activist who runs a successful ayurvedic-based medical clinic for gas victims.

Today’s CSE report seriously undermines the state government’s apparent attempt to protect Dow by saying that there are no continuing ground and water effects, nor health problems, resulting from the 1984 leakage.

The CSE says that groundwater in areas up to 3kms from the site contains pesticides 40 times India’s acceptable standards. This contradicts reports by three government agencies that say there are no continuing serious effects. The CSE took test samples last month and says various pesticides (some not covered by government standards) are present in health-endangering concentrations.

Sunita Narain, who runs the CSE, differentiated between the government claiming that toxicity on and near the site was not acute, which might be correct, and the CSE’s claims that there is nevertheless chronic toxicity. “Of course, if you go inside the site, you would not die,” said Narain, “but if you live there for ten years, you will suffer effects”. These effects could not be assessed till more long-term studies were carried out.

The CSE’s findings will be partially corroborated and partially questioned in about ten days’ time by the Delhi-based government-controlled Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), which took soil samples at the same time as the CSE on October 28, and also took water samples two weeks earlier. Among its findings are “very high” levels of chloroform in ground water.

Plans by both the state government, and local pressure groups to make the key structures a centrepiece of the memorial are questioned by CPCB officials have told me that they would have to be dismantled in order to clean the site. The officials also query state government plans to open the site to the public, which was planned for this week but has been delayed because (the government claims) of rules restricting its actions during a current Bhopal municipal election campign.

The CPCB officials say the site is still contaminated, including pools of mercury in some areas, despite 400 tonnes of waste lying around the site being moved into a warehouse in 2005, though the government has allowed local people (above, gathering wood) to roam the site for years.

India’s government wants to end the impasse on all fronts, partly for humanitarian reasons and partly so that Dow can rapidly expand investments that are currently curtailed and under attack by activists. However, the Madhya Pradesh state government is resisting Delhi’s attempts to set up an overall “empowered commission” to co-ordinate progress.

Part of the problem is Dow’s refusal formally to accept responsibility for what Union Carbide allowed to happen.

Sathyu Sarangi told me yesterday that a “compromise could be reached” if Dow, maybe without acknowledging legal responsibility, made provision for health damages and monitoring of patients, and agreed to clean up the site and surrounding areas, which it is resisting. “That would be some sort of compromise that we would consider”, he said.

However not all the activists are in a hurry – which is scarcely surprising since they have built a life-style around the disaster. Abdul Jabber, a leading local activist, points out that it took India 90 years from the first mutiny (or war of independence) in 1857 to achieve independence. “We will wait,” he says.

ML Update 48

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Liberhan Report:

Inaction in the name of ‘ATR’ will not do –

Punish the Perpetrators of the Babri Masjid Demolition

17 years after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Liberhan Commission’s findings are finally in the public domain and have been tabled in Parliament.

The report itself holds no surprises: debunking the BJP’s claims that the demolition was a spontaneous act by kar sevaks, it establishes instead that the act was elaborately pre-planned, and indicts top Sangh and BJP leaders for conceiving and executing the plan. Vajpayee, Advani, Joshi, Thackeray and other leaders of the saffron brigade are indicted for having fanned communal flames in the country. The report highlights the role of Kalyan Singh, the then CM of UP, in facilitating the demolition. It also names several members of the district and state administration who facilitated the demolition and were rewarded for it later.

Coming at the end of 17 long years and no less than 48 extensions, however, the report is noticeably lacking in sharpness and urgency. Most significantly, the report stops short of recommending any specific action against the perpetrators of the demolition (confining its recommendations to vague prescriptions of a general nature, such as ‘religion and politics should be separate’), and absolves the Narasimha Rao government at the Centre of failure to prevent the demolition, on the flimsy and unconvincing ground that the Centre could not act without a recommendation from the UP Governor.

The report’s credibility is further undermined by the UPA Government’s response and the manner in which it came into the public domain. Justice Liberhan’s report was submitted to the UPA Government on June 30 2009. At that juncture, the Home Ministry, in spite of the popular demand that the report be made public without further delay, refused to table it in Parliament, claiming that it was “studying” the report in order to take action and would subsequently present the report along with an Action Taken Report. Instead, the Report eventually became public through a ‘leak’ to the media, carefully timed to precede elections in Jharkhand.

The BJP has tried to use the occasion to close ranks and try and check the disarray in its leadership. It has also questioned the Report’s indictment of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was not physically present at the demolition site. Such arguments carry little weight. The demolition was a carefully crafted political act for which the entire political leadership of the BJP and RSS including Vajpayee undoubtedly bear the responsibility.

However, if history will hold the saffron leadership responsible for the fascist act of demolition of the Babri Masjid and the communal trail of blood that preceded and followed it, history will also not forgive the Congress Government at the Centre for its culpability – through criminal inaction – for the demolition.

Even today, the UPA Government is playing politics with the Liberhan Report, showing scant concern for or commitment to secularism and justice. Its ‘Action Taken Report’ is shamefully lacking in any action taken or even intended to be taken against the culprits of the demolition. In other words, the ‘action taken’ by the Manmohan Singh Government against the perpetrators of the demolition is exactly of the same character as the ‘action taken’ by the Rao government to prevent the demolition – in both cases, the Congress confined its role to some public hand-wringing and lip service, while choosing to take no action against the communal fascists. Interestingly, some of the communal leaders indicted by the Liberhan Report – such as Shankersingh Vaghela – have now switched sides and found a place in the Congress. Another Sangh product and former BJP leader, Babulal Marandi is now a coveted ‘secular’ ally of the Congress in Jharkhand.

Exonerating and emboldening the communal fascists is of course nothing new for the Congress: even way back in 1963, the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited the RSS (in spite of the taint of its linkages with Gandhi’s murder) to participate in the Republic Day Parade.

The Liberhan episode once again highlights the Congress’ characteristic complicity and collusion with communal forces and trivialization of the entire agenda of secularism and justice. The Liberhan Report establishes what is a self-evident truth, recognized by the people of India: that the BJP and Sangh leadership perpetrated the demolition of the Babri Masjid. After such an indictment, impunity for the culprits of the demolition is shameful and unacceptable. As we approach 6 December this year, the anniversary of the infamous demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, secular and democratic forces all over the country must demand real action against the culprits in the light of the findings of the Liberhan Report.

Response to the CPI(ML)’s Bihar Bundh Call of 24th November

The bundh called by the Party on 24th November (when the NDA Govt. completed its four years in Bihar) against the four years of betrayal by the Nitish Government on all fronts – be it the failure to implement of the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission as well as the Common School Commission; failure in providing relief, ration and employment to the poor under assault from severe inflation; failure in providing dignity and security to the dalits, women and poor; and failure in curbing loot and corruption in NREGA, ration and other schemes; or industrial and agricultural development, received a massive support from the people of Bihar.

During the bundh surface transport including rail traffic was completely shut-down and more than ten thousand people across the State were arrested. Thousands of bundh supporters all over the State carrying red flags and banners sat on dharna on roads/highways and railway tracks since morning thus blocking the traffic for hours. Also, due to extensive propaganda of the bundh many vehicle owners stayed off the roads. Many district headquarters and market places in several towns wore deserted look.

At Arrah hundreds of bundh supporters led by veteran communist leader Ram Naresh Ram sat on dharna near the main bus terminal thus completely blocking NH-30. Similar dharna and blockades were also reported from Dinara, Kochas and Maliyabag in Rohtas dist. Thousands of bundh supporters blockaded the GT road at Mohania, Dehri-on-Sone and Aurangabad completely paralysing this arterial highway.

At Jahanabad about two thousand people led by State Committee members (SCMs) Ramadhar Singh, Pradip Kumar and Mithilesh Yadav completely blockaded the Gaya-Patna railway track. Unions of rickshaw pullers and horse-carts (tumtums) supported the bundh, so there was hardly any traffic in the town and markets also remained closed. At Arwal more than five hundred bundh supporters led by SCMs Mahanand Prasad, Ravindra Yadav, Upendra Paswan and Jitendra Yadav sat on dharna on NH-98 connecting Patna and Aurangabad since 6 a.m. GT road and NH-2 were blocked at Gaya and Khijarsarai also.

At Siwan NH-85 connecting Patna with Siwan was blockaded by bundh supporters led by Com. Amarjeet Kushwaha since early morning. Hundreds of bundh supporters led by CPI(ML) leaders Vijendra Mishra and Jugnandan Rai completely jammed the NH-85 since 6 a.m. near Bheldi village in Chhapra connecting it with Muzaffarpur.

Bundh supporters also laid complete blockade of NH-57 at Mabbi (Darbhanga) and Bochahan (Muzaffarpur) connecting Muzaffarpur-Kishanganj, NH-28 at Sakra (Muzaffarpur) and Motihari connecting Barauni-Muzaffarpur, NH-105 at Aaunsi (Darbhanga) connecting Darbhanga-Jaynagar, NH-77 at Khanuachak (Samastipur) connecting Muzaffarpur-Sitamarhi, NH-103 at Rosra (Samastipur) connecting Samastipur-Rosra, NH-31 was blockaded at Begusarai, Kursela, Khagaria, Purnia, NH-28B at Pipra (West Champaran) and NH-80 at Bhagalpur.

Hundreds of bundh supporters also sat on railway tracks at Darbhanga, Madhubani, Samastipur, Ramnagar, Bhagalpur, Jahanabad, Nawada, Biharsharif, Buxar, Raghunathpur, Siwan, Arrah, Masaurhi, Bihta, Fatuha, . Gandhi Setu was blockaded at Hajipur and rail-road bridge at Jhanjharpur. Several superfast and express trains remained immobile for hours due to these protests.

One hundred bundh supporters were arrested at 7:30 a.m. in Daudpur (Siwan), more than 400 were arrested in Nawada, 50 arrested at Mainatand in W.Champaran, more than 500 were arrested in Biharsharif, 200 in Begusarai, two thousand in Siwan, 500 in Mairwan, 500 in Dumraon, 50 in Arrah and more than 3000 bundh supporters were arrested in Capital Patna. Among those arrested were CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. Nand Kishore Prasad, Ram Jatan Sharma – Polit Bureau member, comrades KD Yadav, Rameshwar Prasad, Mina Tiwary, Saroj Chaubey – all CC members, Kamlesh Sharma, Shyam Chandra Chaudhary, Shashi Yadav, Pawan Sharma, Amarnath Yadav and Satyadev Ram – all prominent CPI(ML) leaders in the State.

During the bundh massive rallies were witnessed at all district headquarters in Bihar and ensured the closure of markets and businesses. Bundh was successful also at Shekhpura, Jamui, Munger, Lakhisarai, Khagaria, Madhepura, Araria, Saharsa and Banka.

In Capital Patna, three different contingents of thousand bundh supporters each ensured successful bundh in the city. Members of the All India Students’ Association led by Com. Abhyuday ensured total closure of Patna University and all colleges. More than three thousand people were arrested in Patna at IT crossing, Dak Bungalow crossing, Bailey Road and Patna bypass during the day.

Hundred more were arrested at Phulwari Sharif after burning an effigy of Nitish Kumar, 200 were arrested in Bihta, 150 and 100 were arrested in Punpun and Bikramganj respectively. NH was also blockaded at Naubatpur and Fatuha.

CPI(ML) State Secretary Com. Nand Kishore Prasad said that the agricultural labourers, peasants, student-youth, State employees, shopkeepers, vehicle drivers and all toiling, democratic section and justice loving citizens of Bihar by supporting the bundh massively have slapped hard on the State machinery controlled by feudal, communal, anti-people and regressive forces, and that this bundh has exposed the hollow statistics and false propaganda of Nitish Govt. He also appreciated the support extended by CPI, CPI(M), Forward Block, SUCI, RSP and other Left parties and other dozens of organisations including the RJD and BSP to the bundh call. He also condemned the arrests and lathi-charges on bundh supporters.

Students from JNU, Jamia and DU Protest against the Hike in Metro and Bus Fares

On 23rd November, students belonging to the All India Students’ Association (AISA) from Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia and JNU protested against the Delhi’s Sheela Dikshit Govt.’s move of hiking the fare of Metro trains, DTC buses, and the indiscriminate hike in fees of Students’ Passes in DTC. The protest was held at Vishwa Vidyalaya Metro Station in North Campus. The protesters formed human chain and later burned an effigy of the Delhi Government, at the Chhatra Marg of University, after blocking the road for some time.

DU AISA unit General secretary Sunny said “the protest was to give a message to the Delhi government against its decision of increased bus and metro fare whose consequences has mainly fallen on the students, who commute on a daily basis. So the demand is to withdraw the increased bus and metro fare, issue of concessional rate metro pass for the students and extension of DTC Bus passes to all buses in Delhi”.

“It has been a great concern for the student community that the Congress govt. is taking a lot of anti-students moves of which the increased fares of buses and metros are an integral part. At a time when the govt is hell bound to make education a reserved enclave for the rich, the present moves are no surprise. However the students will also respond by fighting back if these autocratic decisions are not done away with immediately and this protest is only a starting point”, said AISA General Secretary Ravi Rai.

The gathering also condemned the recent brutal lathi-charge by Delhi Police on students of JNU, while defending some outsiders with high connections, who eve-teased girl students at the campus. The gathering demanded that the guilty police officers involved in the lathi-charge must be suspended immediately, and the harassers be punished.

Health Camp Organised by AIALA & AIPWA in Karnataka

All India Agricultural Labourer Organisation (AIALA) and All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA) jointly organised a health camp at Sogahalli in HD Kote taluq, Mysore dist in Karnataka. It was attended by Dr. Manikarnika and Dr. V Lakshminarayana. More than 150 patients were examined and free medicines distributed. The doctors also made speeches before the health camp and emphasized the role of hygiene and balanced nutrition in maintaining a healthy body and mind.

Report from AP

CPI(ML) Liberation, Sathupalli Mandal, Khammam district, Andhra Pradesh, organized a memorial meeting on the death anniversary of Com. Narra Venkanna who passed away on 13/11/2008. Nearly 200 Party and AIALA members participated. A Martyr’s Memorial was inaugurated by Com. N Murthy. Red Flag was hoisted by Com. Bangaru Rao and a meeting was organised by District Leading Team presided by CK Damodar, District Leading Team Secretary of Khammam district.

State Secretary Com. N Murthy called upon the Party activists and members to strengthen the Party at the grass roots level in Khammam. R Veeraswamy, AIALA, B Venkateswara Rao, AICCTU, N. Vijaya, AIPWA, M Sarveswara Rao and other leaders attended and addressed the gathering and meeting.

Agitation in Puducherry

Movement for Protection of Roofless in Pondichery held a protest demonstration on 11th November 2009 demanding relief for the rain affected families of urban poor. The recent incessant rain in Puducherry and Karaikal regions of Puducherry Union territory terribly affected all poor people living in slums and other semi urban areas. The demonstrators demanded from the territorial Congress Government a free supply of 25 kgs of rice and 5 litres of kerosene to all rain affected families in the UT. They also demanded compensation of Rs.2000/- to all families of unorganized workers who lost employment due to continuous heavy rains. Rs 5000/- to each family who lost their dwelling places including households articles. A compensation of Rs two lakhs was demanded for the family members of victims who lost their lives during rains and that of Rs 75000/- to the victims injured during the rains.

The year 2010 is the Centenary year of Sri Aurobindo’s arrival at Puducherry. The Aurobindo Ashram which was developed by Sri Aurobindo grew larger and larger in size in terms of wealth and properties. The movement for protection of roofless on the same day demanded free housing quarters to the workers of Aurobindo ashram and also free schooling and education for the workers’ as well as the local people’s children. They also demanded from the management of Sri Auribindo Ashram free medical services for the general public. The demonstration was addressed by Com Mothilal, GS of the movement and by Com. CS Sagayaraj, President.

Com. P Shankaran, organizer of AIALA in Puducherry State also addressed the demonstrators. Finally a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Minister of Puducherry in this regard. A large number of women and other activists of the movement participated in the demonstration. Workers from AICCTU also took part in the demonstration in large numbers.

Women Workers Hold Protest against Govt.’s Anti-Women Policies

As a part of the All India Central Council of Trade Union’s (AICCTU’s) nationwide call for a Demand Day for women workers, women workers in different parts of the country and different production units held protest demonstration on 23rd November.

DELHI: Women workers from different parts of Delhi marched to Jantar Mantar to press for their specific demands. They held a dharna at Jantar Mantar and sent a memorandum to the Union Labour Minister as well as Delhi CM Mrs. Shiela Dixit. Women present in the Dharna condemned government’s policies causing further inequality and hardships for working women and demanded equal opportunities in jobs as well as equal pay for equal work besides other demands.

All India Progressive Women’s Association’s (AIPWA) National Secretary Com. Kavita Krishnan addressed the protestors where she demanded from the Sheila Dixit Govt. in Delhi and the Union Govt. specific legislations for the women workers. She said that the liberalisation policies have led to more and more exploitation of women workers and they are now being pushed to more hardships.

AICCTU Secretary Santosh Rai spoke of utter violations of labour laws for women workers and said that in Delhi lakhs of domestic workers and other women workers have been facing atrocities and violation of their fundamental constitutional rights for a long time but the state government, headed by a women CM, is not doing anything to improve the working conditions of women.

Letter that was submitted included demands for Rs. 200 in wages for 8 hours of work, central legislation for domestic workers, permanent employment for Anganwadi and Aasha workers, safety of women at workplace, crèche facility at the workplace, BPL cards to all toiling women, and 50 Kg. ration and 10 litre kerosene oil at Rs. 2 per kg. or litre to ensure the food security of all workers.

TAMIL NADU: Demand Day was observed at Pricol in Coimbatore in which over 100 Pricol women workers participated in a pledge taking meeting. They decided to celebrate the 1000th day of their struggle in a big way. They also decided to reach out to 1 lakh people around Pricol and take up a campaign about their struggle. Comrades Mallika, Tamilselvi, Sridevi and Indrani spoke in the meeting.

In Chennai, women workers of Leela Scottish P. Ltd, an export garment company participated. They said only after they joined Trade Union, the attitude of the management toward them changed. They have decided in the hall meeting to take up a campaign for revision of minimum wages for tailoring industry, which is the only industry for which the TN government did not revise the minimum wages. Comrades Bhuvana and Palanivel, State Secretary, AICCTU attended the meeting.

In Nellai, over 60 women workers of Workers’ Rights Forum staged a demonstration before the Collector’s office demanding work under NREGA and to check malpractices in NREGA. They were led by Com. Thenmozhi, State Vice President, AICCTU. They later submitted a memorandum to the Collector. Com. Jayalakshmi, who was elected as a ward member in a recent by-election, Com. Rave Daniel and Com. Ganesan, State Executive Committee Members, AICCTU, also spoke in the demonstration.

In Kanyakumari, a meeting of Workers’ Rights Forum was held in which around 60 unorganised women workers participated.

WEST BENGAL: “Demand DAY” was observed at Krishna Nagar, Nadia, where 150 women workers assembled before DM office for a sit-in demonstration for 12 hours and continued till 5 p.m. A Memorandum was also submitted to the DM. Com. Amal Tarafdar, President, AICCTU Nadia District committee, Com. Apu Kaviraj, Secretary, AIPWA and Com. Anima Haldar, leader of Bidi workers led the demonstration and delivered speeches. Com. Nitish Roy and Com. Biplab Bagchi sang revolutionary songs.

Demand day was also observed in Howrah Dist. A campaign meeting was held at Howrah Maidan. Com. Mina Pal, Vice-president, AICCTU, WB, Com. Sabita Koley, Secretary, Domestic Workers’ Association, Com. Sobha Mallick, unorganised women worker and Com. Debabrata Bhakta, Secretary, AICCTU, Howrah, delivered speeches there.

Demand day was observed at Kaliachak, Malda district. Mainly Bidi workers particiapated here. Com. Ibrahim Sheikh led the demonstration.

ASSAM: 500 women workers blockaded road at Tinsukia in support of their demand.

CHHATISGARH: 500 women workers, mostly sanitary workers, held a militant demonstration in Bhilai in support of their demands.

An update on the Chunar struggle that was carried in earlier issues of ML Update:

Subsequently, a meeting was held between the Mirzapur district administration, representatives of the party and Jan Samasya Nivaran Samiti on 21 November. The delegation was led by the UP State Secretary Sudhakar Yadav. Specific demands placed before the administration were – Repeal of Gangster Act on the 23 people; a check on the pollution being spread by the factory; ensuring that no passage for transit of locals is blocked by the factory; full payment to casual labourers working in the factory, who as of now are being paid Rs. 100/- per day while they are made to sign against a sum of Rs. 132/- by the labour contractor hired by the company.

The officials agreed to initiate a magisterial inquiry into the events that led to the imposition of Gangster Act on the innocent villagers. Also, a date for tripartite talks involving the party and villagers, administration and representatives of JP Associates has been fixed. The Kisan Sabha has decided to lift the dharna till the talks. It has been decided that if there is no fruitful outcome, the movement will be renewed again.

CPI(ML) Candidates for the Jharkhand Assembly Election:

1 Dhanbad – Kiran Hembrom (F)

2 Jharia – Bhajohri Mahto

3 Devghar – Rakhi Devi (F)

4 Podaiyyahaat – Motilal Bhagat

5 Nala – Jagat Mandal

6 Dumka – Rameshwar Soren

7 Shikaripada – Paltan Hansda

8 Jarmundi – Sahdev Prasad Yadav

9 Tamar (ST) – Sukhdev Munda

10 Mandar (ST) – Budhva Oraon

11 Gomia – Baleshwar Gope

12 Gandey – Rajesh Yadav

13 Giridih – Israpheel Ansari

14 Barkattha – Basudev Yadav

15 Barhi – Javed Islam

16 Badkagaon – Qayamuddin Ansari

17 Mandu – Chandranathbhai Patel

18 Koderma – Parmeshwar Mahto

19 Chandankyari (SC) – Janardan Harijan

20 Dhanwar – Rajkumar Yadav

21 Bagodar – Vinod Kumar Singh

22 Jamua (SC) – Satyanarayan Das

23 Manoharpur (ST) –Durga Sundi

24 Chakradharpur (ST) – Bahadur Oraon

25 Bishunpur (ST) – Suresh Bhagat

26 Simdega (ST) – Birjanand Oraon

27 Kolebira (ST) – Shyamsundar Badaik

28 Lohardaga (ST) – Ashamani Oraon (F)

29 Garhwa – Kalicharan Mehta

30 Bhavnathpur – Sogra Begum (F)

31 Panki – Kavita Singh (F)

32 Vishrampur – Anwar Ansari

33 Manika (ST) – Kanhai Singh

34 Chatarpur (SC) – Ramraj Paswan

35 Chatra (SC) – Pramod Ram

Babri Masjid: Background

The below article is a reproduction of the one written by Harkishan Singh Surjeet on the occasion of 10th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, that was published in the Special Number of People’s Democracy, on December 08, 2002.

The tenth anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, a momentous event in the history of independent India, comes at a time when the nation is in the midst of a battle to defend its unity, amity and harmony, its composite culture and secular ethos. Needless to say, the BJP-ruled Gujarat, slated to go to polls on December 12, has become the immediate battlefield.

IMPORTANCE OF THE DAY

THE importance of the day cannot be underestimated from the viewpoint of mass mobilisation against the communal danger. The people will have to be clearly told that the dispute is not just a temple-mosque dispute. If only it had been simply that, it could have been solved long back. The thing to realise is that the temple-mosque dispute is just a pretext for the communal forces who are out to impress upon us that the Muslims, and the minorities in general, have no right to live in this country. That is why these forces do not want any amicable settlement of the Ayodhya dispute and, whenever the possibility for a settlement arises, they do something to scuttle it. Nay, every now and then these forces keep threatening to raise the issue of a mosque in Mathura and of Gyanvapi mosque in Benaras. This only shows that, on one pretext or another, these forces are out to play their fratricidal game to achieve their aim of turning India into a fascistic theocratic state.

The struggle to bring to book those who led the Babri demolition squad, and to get the mosque rebuilt on the spot, assumes importance in this very context. In sum, this is a struggle to unambiguously tell the saffron brigade that the secular, patriotic masses are very much alive to the dangers facing the country and will foil every attempt of the brigade to threaten our secular polity, our composite culture, our existence as a civilised nation.

NO BASIS IN HISTORY

IN regard to the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi dispute, the fact is that there is no proof for the saffron brigade’s claim that the mosque was built in the year 1528, i e more than four and a half centuries ago, by demolishing a temple. Writing his works in Akbar’s reign, even Tulsidas did not mention any such thing. Guru Nanak, who died in 1539, was highly critical of Babur, but he too did not say that a temple was demolished to construct the mosque. Historians have quoted these and many other facts to demolish the myth of temple demolition that is propagated by the brigade. A Report To The Nation issued in 1990 by four eminent historians, viz Professors R S Sharma, D N Jha, Athar Ali and Surajbhan, has effectively debunked the claims made by the saffron brigade in this regard.

The said report also gives us incontrovertible evidence to show that, as per their policy of divide and rule, the British rulers of India propagated the same myth which the brigade is propagating today. Also, a mistake made by Mrs Beverige in her translation of the Baburnama gave this myth a boost it did not deserve.

In sum, the saffron brigade’s claim about temple demolition lacks any basis in history. Its much-touted grievance in this regard is purely hypothetical.

GENESIS OF THE DISPUTE

IT is also a fact that even if there was a dispute about the character of the site, it remained dormant till the country attained freedom. But the communal forces got particularly unnerved when it became clear that, contrary to the newly created Pakistan, India was not going to become a theocratic state. In the face of the indescribable horror that preceded and accompanied the country’s partition, our constitution-makers did realise the value of secularism to ensure that such horror was not repeated in future. The word “secularism” was included in the constitution’s preamble only in 1976, but it was clear from day one that Indian political system would be a secular one. Here the citizens are not to be discriminated or favoured on the basis of their religion(s), just as they are not to be discriminated or favoured on the basis of caste, ethnic group, region, language or sex.

True there was a flaw in the conception of secularism our rulers upheld; in practice they did not keep religion completely separate from politics. Yet, there is no gainsaying that India has been an essentially secular country. And the credit for it goes to the mass of our people who, while following their respective religions, have an instinctive regard for other faiths.

But this was enough to make the communal forces nervous and they did everything to turn the tide of events. The dastardly assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in the immediate aftermath of independence was but a move to remove from the scene this most towering figure of our liberation struggle — simply because he was a staunch defender of secularism.

In this situation, in less than two years of the Mahatma’s assassination, idols were surreptitiously placed in the Babri Masjid in one wintry night of December 1949. But the then chief minister of UP, Govind Ballabh Pant, did nothing to restore the status quo ante. However, the site was locked after the prime minister Nehru wrote him a strong letter about the incident. The idols remained untouched. At that time, the communal forces failed to rouse the people for an agitation against this locking.

This situation continued for the next 36-odd years, till the Faizabad district administration removed the locks of the site in February 1986, at the behest of the powers-that-be. It was thus that the dispute, after remaining dormant for decades, got a new lease of life. Only a little while ago the BJP had suffered the worst rout in its history; it was swept by the sympathy wave generated by Mrs Indira Gandhi’s assassination and could win just two Lok Sabha seats in the early 1985 polls. The party saw in this unlocking a golden opportunity to recover the lost ground, and the RSS moved one of its pawns, the VHP, on the political chessboard. The VHP’s Ekatma Yatra from Kathmandu to Benaras and collection of bricks in various parts of the country in the name of temple construction were some of the brigade’s moves in this period to rouse passions.

The unfortunate stand taken by the ruling Congress party in the Shahbano case and the subsequent bill passed in parliament regarding the alimony for divorced Muslim women only added grist to the RSS mill, appearing to confirm the brigade’s charge of “Muslim appeasement.”

The ruling party made yet another mistake of giving the VHP permission to perform shilanyas at some distance from the disputed site. This was done some time before the Lok Sabha polls took place in November 1989.

COMMUNAL DRIVE INTENSIFIES

THE 1989 polls led to a rout of the Congress party and the V P Singh-led Janata Dal (JD) emerged as the biggest group in Lok Sabha. The BJP did try to join the government along with JD, but the Left parties’ intervention foiled the move. The Left asked the JD to form a government and implement its own poll manifesto. As a result, and under the pressure of pro-JD sentiments in the country, the BJP had no option but to extend support from outside. It was thus that the JD-led National Front formed a government, with V P Singh as prime minister. Evidently, this was too much for the BJP whose game to capture power had been foiled.

However, as soon as the government announced its intention to implement the Mandal commission recommendation to give 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs, the BJP and the opposition Congress party began vying with one another in rousing anti-Mandal sentiments. In this period many towns in north India saw the worst type of street violence. The then BJP president, L K Advani, took out a rathyatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya. This infamous yatra, with the BJP’s election symbol prominently displayed on the rath, left a trail of blood and mayhem in its wake. Many places along the yatra’s route suffered communal violence engineered by the brigade. The process halted only when the JD government of Bihar, led by Laloo Prasad Yadav, showed the courage to stop the yatra and detain Advani. The JD government of UP, led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, also incensed the BJP by taking strong steps against the so-called karsevaks when tens of thousands of them assembled in Ayodhya. Some in this crowd were even found in possession of dynamite rods; it was only the state government’s determination that prevented any damage to the mosque.

Now the BJP withdrew its support from the National Front government while a section of the JD defected from it. These defectors, the Congress and the BJP now objectively collaborated with one another to defeat the confidence motion moved by V P Singh government; only the Left stood by it. The government had to resign. In its place the Congress propped up a government of the defectors; that lasted only for five-odd months till the Congress ditched it midway.

The mid-term polls then brought the Congress back to power, with P V Narasimha Rao in the lead. In the meantime, the Mulayam government of UP also fell and the BJP came to power in the state. It was already in control of state governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Himachal.

BACKGROUND OF THE CRIME

THIS was the background in which the saffron brigade intensified its drive to polarise the country on communal lines; the BJP’s Palampur conclave had already given up the pretense of aloofness from the Ayodhya dispute. The sad facts that the BJP’s strength in Lok Sabha had gone up in 1989 and again in 1991 and the party was able to form a government in UP, made it believe that it could sweep the country by a strident communal campaign. The VHP served a warning on the Rao government that it was going to start its so-called kar seva at the disputed site from December 6.

This was a cause of serious concern for all patriotic people, more so because the RSS-controlled state governments were openly misusing the official machinery to mobilise the karsevaks and take them to Ayodhya.

This was the background when the National Integration Council met in the third week of November 1992. All political parties attended the meet; only the BJP boycotted it though it well knew its importance. On behalf of the opposition I moved a resolution at the NIC meeting and it was unanimously accepted. The meeting authorised the prime minister to take whatever steps he thought to be necessary to protect the mosque from any damage. In the midst of dissatisfaction over the official resolution, even the then home minister S V Chavan extended support to the resolution I moved.

But this was precisely what the prime minister failed to do. I was in England when karsevaks began to assemble at Ayodhya. This was causing concern, more so in view of their vandalism at the same site two years ago. While in England, I received a message that 15,000 to 20,000 had already gathered at Ayodhya and many more were on their way. The message also said a task force had been deployed around the site but it was lying idle and confused for want of orders from above. However, when I contacted the prime minister, he assured me that he was keeping an eye on the situation and that no damage to the mosque would be allowed.

The rest is history. We all know how the heinous mosque demolition took place, how the government remained a mute spectator to the event and how the crime was followed by a wave of anti-Muslim riots in Mumbai, Surat, Jaipur, Bhopal and many other cities.

In this context, it is notable that the saffron brigade once again resorted to mean tricks to keep the people in dark. At the time of shilanyas in 1989, the VHP had assured the central government in writing that the whole affair would be peaceful, that peace and communal harmony would be maintained and that it would not try to “change the nature of the property in question.” But we also know how the VHP breached its promise; in fact, but for the strong steps taken by the Mulayam government the mosque could have suffered incalculable damage. The trick was repeated by the UP’s BJP government in 1992 when the chief minister assured the Supreme Court and the prime minister that no harm to the mosque would be allowed. This was nothing but the height of perfidy. But no less astonishing was to see how naively the central government behaved and took the brigade’s assurance at its face value.

Incidentally, the brigade performed its perfidious act on the death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, the architect of India’s constitution.

CAN THE BRIGADE ESCAPE UNPUNISHED?

IT is this criminal act that will be remembered on December 6. For, as Balzac said, “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.” The brigade is already trying to vitiate the atmosphere; in fact it never gave up its game during the last one decade. Though they said development would be their main poll plank in Gujarat, they are in fact rousing basest passions to garner votes there. This only indicates what their strategy at the all-India level will be in the days to come. The minorities are in a state of fear.

Meanwhile, the UP’s BSP-BJP government played a dirty game to let Advani and other culprits of the Babri demolition off the hook. For some reason unknown, the Liberhan commission too is taking an exceptionally long time to finish its work and bring the role of various conspirators to light. But will all this save the BJP from facing the day of judgement?

It is true that sometimes people may be temporarily misled but, as they say, you cannot dupe everybody every time. Our people are instinctively secular and will never allow the communal forces to play with national unity and harmony. It is they who showed the BJP the door in UP, MP and Himachal when assembly polls were held there in 1993 after the Babri demolition; in Rajasthan too, the BJP could come to power only by dirty means. It is our people who have routed the BJP and allies in 21 out of 26 polls in the last four odd years. They have also begun to voice their discontent against the anti-people LPG policies the BJP-led regime is following. And, apart from other ways, they will show their anger in the ten states that are to go to assembly polls in 2003.

But all this popular discontent needs to be positively channelised, and it is here that the Left and democratic forces have to step in, in the most vigorous way possible, so as to save the country’s present and future. The coming days are crucial in this regard.

-By Harkishan Singh Surjeet

Source: People’s Democracy

Babri Majid: Timeline

1528 A mosque is built on the site which some Hindus claim is the birthplace of Rama

1859 After first recorded violence in 1853, the British administration erects a fence to
separate the places of worship, allowing the inner court to be used by Muslims and the outer one by Hindus.

1949 Idols of Rama appear inside mosque, placed allegedly by Hindus. Muslims protest; both parties file civil suits. Premises are proclaimed ‘disputed’ and gates are locked.

1984 Hindus under the VHP decide to build a Ram temple at his birthplace

1985 The Rajiv government succumbs to Muslim demands and overturns the Supreme Court decision in the Shah Bano case.

1986 To appease Hindus, the district judge at Ayodhya is ordered to open the gates of the mosque. It allows Hindus to worship there. Muslims protest.

1989 VHP steps up campaign, laying the shilanyas (foundation) of a Ram temple on land adjacent to the disputed mosque

Sep 1990 Advani begins rath yatra, fostering discord which flared up into riots post-demolition

Dec 6, 1992 The mosque is demolished by radical Hindu groups as senior BJP leaders watch. Riots break out across India, 2,000-odd dead.

Dec 16, 1992 The M.S. Liberhan Commission is set up to inquire into the demolition

Feb 2002 VHP sets deadline for temple construction. Hundreds of kar sevaks arrive in Ayodhya. On their return, 58 of them are killed in the Godhra train fire.

Mar 2002 Over 2,000 die in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat

Sep 2003 A court rules that seven Hindu leaders should stand trial for inciting the Babri destruction, but no charges are brought against L.K. Advani

JUL 2005 Disputed site is attacked by Mujahideen. Security forces kill five militants.

Nov 2009 The Liberhan report is tabled hurriedly in Parliament after it’s leaked to a daily.

Source: Outlook

——TOP

On the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, the leaked Liberhan report and when the RSS is looking to increase its stronghold over the B.J.P. once again, I recommend this piece of Vir Sanghvi. This bit, I liked best :

I don’t wish to make too much of Advani’s pious hand-rubbing or his crocodile tears. But the furore about the demolition should serve to remind us that no matter how reasonable BJP leaders may seem on television, at the heart of the parivar, there lurks a nasty fascist core.

A fascist core — that is what is common to so many parties today. Even considering Vir Sanghvi’s Congress leanings, I can’t find much to complain about in what he puts forth.

In a discussion, a friend once claimed that the RSS/BJP kar-sevaks didn’t really demolish the masjid and it was the Central government that completed the task after nightfall. All I say is, I still hold the RSS/BJP responsible for the demolition and every death that occurred consequently.

Advani has done plenty for the country, but speaking for myself, I won’t be disappointed if history remembers L.K. Advani as just the architect of the Babri Masjid demolition.

Link via @amitvarma.

Watch this video of Sarah Palin supporters who turned up in large numbers at her book launch. The money quote is at 5:09, when a supporter justifies her experience with international issues :

I’m sure she’s had boundary issues to deal with [Russia].

It is easy to sit back and mock Palin’s supporters, but they are just as delusional as those who passionately and unconditionally support a political party. These people, I find, often justify the wrongdoings and come up with explanations, at best laughable. Not just the U.S., the same applies to supporters of parties such as Congress, B.J.P., M.N.S., Shiv Sena, etc. I don’t anymore see the sense in supporting a party in every election — each election needs to be studied on a per case basis before deciding who your vote goes to.

For example, in the Indian general elections of 2009 (if I could vote), the B.J.P. would’ve lost my vote the minute Varun Gandhi’s speech became public and reactions from senior leaders followed. Perhaps at the core, I prefer a socially stable society more than anything else.

As for Republicans and Palin supporters, the hypocrisy in their ideology is so obviously visible when they bat for liberty and oppose same-sex marriage in the same sentence. Enough said.

MATHIHALLI MADAN MOHAN writes from Hubli: It is now clear as crystal.

Either the chief minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa, is mortally afraid of annoying the Reddy brothers, lest it cost him his chair. Or, he and the bigwigs in the BJP have a stake, direct or indirect, in the illegal mining happening on either side of the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border.

This is the only inescapable inference one can draw from Yediyurappa’s dogged refusal to agree for a CBI probe into the illegal mining operations, which the Centre is desirous of having.

Yeddiyurappa, mind you, is not required to initiate the process of a CBI enquiry on his own.

Such a step has already been taken by his AP counterpart, K. Rosaiah.

Acting on the recommendation of a committee constituted by the Supreme Court, which is seized of the matter, Rosiah has called for a CBI proble, notwithstanding the fact (or probably because of the fact) that one of the Reddy brothers, Gali Janaradhana Reddy, was a dear friend of the late AP CM, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

In a virtual indictment of the Reddys, the central empowerment committee said that the illegal mining be stopped in the six mines in Obulapuram and Siddapuram villages of Anantpur district, and that mining activities be resumed only after a demarcation of the boundaries of the mining leases was completed.

It is this reference to the demarcation of the boundaries in the report of the CEC which brings Karnataka into the picture.

The mines are located on the border areas and the allegation is that the company owned by the Reddys has encroached upon the mineral-rich areas outside their mining leases and is carrying out large scale illegal mining in the unclothed reserved forest areas.

The Centre is inclined to accede to AP’s request for a CBI probe and it wants a formal concurrence from Karnataka to start the CBI enquiry.

But Yediyurappa is dillydallying in the matter and has been stonewalling the request.

It is true that the Reddys officially have no mining leases in their name in Karnataka. All their mining operations are conducted in the name of the company—Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC)—located on the other side of the border in Andhra Pradesh.

But the fact remains that the Reddys have emerged as the movers and shakers of Karnataka from the financial clout that they have acquired through mining over the years. Several mine owners of Bellary openly talk of how the Reddys intimidate or overpower the lesser lot and dominate the mining activities.

One such person, Tapal Ganesh, whose family has been in the mining operations for over three generations, has taken the issue up to the Supreme Court.

In his application he has said, inter alia, that the OMC:

“…is owned by influential and politically powerful persons. Its managing director Janardhana Reddy is a cabinet minister in the Karnataka government and who is also involved in business partnership with the son of the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The OMC has encroached upon mineral-rich areas outside their mining leases and is carrying out large scale illegal mining in unallotted reserved forest areas.”

Yediyurappa’s stand is surprising on three counts.

One, whether Karnataka agrees or not, it cannot preclude CBI from looking into OMC’s activities in the State because of the reference to the illegal mining activities. It would be graceful if Karnataka agrees. Otherwise Karnataka would lose grace as CBI, by the very nature of its mandate, can press ahead with the investigation regardless.

There are already reports that the CBI team has visited Karnataka to collect lot of documents required for the  enquiry.  And the report of the Lok Ayukta of Karnataka, which Karnataka wants to push under the carpet, provides enough grist to the CBI mill.

Secondly, it was the BJP group, which had vociferously demanded a CBI inquiry when Janardhana Reddy, then a first time legislator, had hurled charges of  corruption in the mining activities against the then CM, H.D. Kumaraswamy, during the BJP-JDS coalition in the days preceding the 2008 elections.

Thirdly, as a leader of the opposition, claiming to champion the cause of the people, Yediyurappa was prone to demanding a CBI probe at the drop of hat and used to slamming governments which did not accede.

But the illegal mining issue is more serious than all the issues on which Yediyurappa had demanded a CBI probe in the past. This is such a serious issue that no CM would have said “no” in the first place. As a matter of fact, the onus of demanding the CBI enquiry should have been on Yediyurappa  himself.

But he is weakly trying to stall the matter.

Or is it that Yediyurappa wants the CBI enquiry without officially appearing to be favouring it as a matter of strategy to deal with his bete noire, the Reddys?

Nothing can be ruled out in the mercurial nature of the internal politics of the BJP, where the wounds left by the Reddy sponsored rebellion against Yediyurappa have yet to begin to heal.

Photograph: courtesy Outlook

I missed the Martin Parr talk. Feedback was… students were disappointed because he didn’t convey the magic formula of how you can use a ringflash and the same technique all your life to make loads of money, get in to Magnum, produce far too many photography books, how to become a celebrity and generate a huge fan club. I think he went down well and was as crammed as the Eugene Richards talk. A good contrast. Missed that as well.

The exhibitors are few. No Canon this time. The Sony stand still plugging away furiously at Nikon and Canon users to get them to convert systems! Linhofstudio gave people an opportunity to look at sumptuous kit they can never afford. The guy at Islington college looked depressed, they’re still teaching their students on Leaf digital backs, and Nikon have also offered lots of free kit so listen up colleges.

There was a good buzz of students, the next generation and no doubt this is where the ‘emerging’ photographers are.
The Epson printers looked tasty.
No Direct Lighting this time.
Had an inspiring conversation with a professional retoucher. There is room for up and coming retouchers to set up a business to cater for people not working on huge budgets.

The £10 entry fee is a bit mean.

The anniversary of Mumbai attack also resulted in ugly fighting between the ruling party and main opposition party in Loksabha.

Leader of opposition LK Advani charged the government with neglecting the victims of 26/11 attacks. He said that out more than 400 eligible people only 118 have been given compensation checks.

He said even in case of recruitment in Railway only 32 eligible kiths and kin of the attack victims out of total 64 have been offered job by the Railway.

This resulted in an angry response from leader of the house Pranab Mukherjee.

He retorted, “You are making politics out of this. Earlier also you did it and were paid back. … You will be again paid back in your own coin,”

Sr. BJP leader Anant Kumar objected to this asking the government to answer the question of Mr. Advani.

At this some members of the house were observed shouting �shame-shame�.

Source: http://www.merisarkar.com

Liberhan Commission Report on Babri Masjid

Vijay M. Deshpande

 

Justice M.S. Liberhan Commission of Enquiry submitted its report on demolition of Babri Masjid on 6^th December 1992. Selective leakages and thereafter extracts of the report have been published by the media. The commission was set up within ten days of the event on 16^th December 1992 and has outlasted any other commission perhaps going into Guinness Book of Records! 48 extensions and 17 years time frame was designed to test the patience of the people. Not that anyone really cares for what the report says, but it speaks volumes about what is not there in the report perhaps.

1. When observations have been made with references to Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was not present at the site, why he was not summoned for any clarifications or information? It is unjust to drag his name without giving him an opportunity to tell the truth.

2. Why is there no reference to P.V.Narsimha Rao, then the Prime Minister, who reportedly went to sleep when the Babri Masjid was being demolished? Wasn’t the Union home minister having any responsibility and role to safeguard the structure? Didn’t home ministry have any intelligence reports on intentions of karsevaks if there was a conspiracy?

3. Why the commission was given 17 long years and 48 extensions to come out with a report only at a politically convenient time to suit the Congress and just when BJP is at nadir of its fortune?

4. The final outcome of commission’s findings is released only when they become irrelevant. Or, perhaps this time the commission was not to be given extension due to austerity measures (sick) and was forced to submit winding up report?

5. Why was there a deliberate leakage of the report when it was only with the home minister? And predictably there was some call for setting up another commission of enquiry on this leakage!

6. Why public money is being wasted on such political tools to fool the public?

7. Now Liberhan Commission Report is handed over to CBI as proof to proceed further in prosecution. Is CBI itself not mandated and competent enough to investigate & find out what happened and who is the culprit? Has the government “outsourced” the fact finding & investigative task to Liberhan Commission taking it away from CBI?

8. Didn’t some one say justice delayed is justice denied? Is this “Pseudo justice”?

Safety Valves:

The commissions of enquiries have been always used to cool off the public anger and to let the time take care of the issues involved. It is only an escape valve to let off the steam.

Commissions of enquiry have been set up in the past by states and the centre whenever there have public disturbances, riots or violence of unusual nature. A retired judge is appointed as chairman of the commission to give a sense of impartiality and sound analysis but not the judgment. With a report from a retired judge the government acquires a moral high ground to deal with opposition. Most of such cases could have been dealt with by CBI which has the necessary mandate and specialization for investigation.

Strengthen CBI:

When there is a need to have a fact finding mission about an event, invariably there is a court case and the matter is sub-judice. The prosecution (or the government) needs to gather evidences and supporting witnesses to present the case to the court. The government should therefore leave the matter to the investigative agencies and not find a substitute like a retired judge. If required, CBI should hire a retired judge to do the work and submit the findings just like they would hire a sleuth. CBI should have enough teeth without political interference to investigate the matter. Does CBI have authority to reject the findings of a commission and trust its own assessment?

At least CBI would not have taken 17 years to present a report of their findings.

More Senas and Dals:

There are many Senas and Dals of different hues and shades all over the country which are the fronts for political parties to engineer public unrests. Be it problems in Godhra, Goa, Mangalore, Mumbai, or Orissa the state governments set up commissions of enquiry and perhaps no one knows what happens to them. When inconvenient the Centre appoints another commission, like Laloo Prasad Yadav did to get contrasting report on Godhra.

 One lesson from appointing such commissions is that we should be ready for tackling more of such public disturbances. Today we have separate National Investigative Agency for terror related cases. CBI now focuses on corruption and criminal cases. Why can’t we have an independent agency or a wing under CBI exclusively for politically triggered public disturbances? Possibly such cases will be more in numbers and more frequent than terror events. In such cases generally there will be a political pressure to submit report before the next session of the assembly or parliament. At least there will be a reasonable time frame for investigation and lesser waste of public money.

As far as the utility of the Liberhan Commission report is concerned the government should reflect on what administrative steps should be taken to make it more responsive in future. But the simple facts stand out like Congress first opened the doors of Ayodhya site for limited worship. That was the first mistake. Then Congress at the Centre slept when the structure was being demolished. That was second mistake. The Liberhan Commission was allowed 48 extensions because of which it was robbed of legitimacy as well as seriousness was the third one. And the report was leaked before being tabled in the parliament was the fourth one. Well, it is not that BJP has done nothing wrong. But Congress in power could have done much more by being proactive instead of passive player & a mute witness and now trying to rewrite the history to project itself as the savior of secularism.

I hope the parliamentary debate focuses on how to deal with similar situations in future to avoid fiasco.

Vijay M. Deshpande

Corporate Advisor,

Strategic Management Initiative,

Pune

November 27, 2009

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Apropos :

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Ugly-scene-over-26/11-Advani-and-Pranab-clash/articleshow/5271886.cms

Advani definitely can do a lot of rehabilitation post 26/11. We should give him Kasab and 5 more hardened terrorists whom he will take to Terror capitals ( Kandahar , Kabul) to negotiate with the master minds of 26/11.

What we should not give him is a return ticket. He will be delighted to have his grave near Jinnah ( He strongly adores) Jaswant wont mind giving him company there.

Register if you like at: http://web.incisive-events.com/ptg/2009/11/vision/index.html

BJP has it’s annual inspirational show at the Business Design Centre in Islington in the small hall. Nice and compact and cosy mainly aimed at students and ‘emerging photographers’. I love that term ‘emerging’.

Eugene Richards makes an appeaance this year. It will be packed to the helm because of him. A good move by BJP.Eugene was recently at Foto8 so he must be doing a tour of the UK or he’s moved to London!

Kalyan Singh is shouting from the rooftops that he has neither regret nor remorse for his actions on that fateful day of 17 years ago when the secular nature of India was brought into disrepute by a horde of unintelligent louts. The top leaders of the BJP are shouting themselves hoarse expressing outrage over the leakage of the report and the fact that Vajpayee’s name figures in it. The congress is shouting as well as they scramble to make as much political capital out of the report as possible while ensuring that the Liberhan report is rendered ineffective by coming out with an ATR which is clearly a cop out. Amidst all this shouting the central issue is getting blurred.

No one with an IQ of 80 or above believes these firebrand leaders when they now state that they were not aware of the possibility of such destruction taking place. Any person of normal intelligence would have had the prescience to comprehend that the incendiary speeches and vitriolic rhetoric were whipping the gathered rabble into frenzy. Any leaders who state that they did not anticipate the razing of the structure are either sadly lacking of mental faculties required to aspire for public office or are lying through their teeth.

Now all the involved parties are unanimous in expressing disbelief over why Vajpayee’s name is figuring in the list of indicted people. Their incredulity is as ridiculous as the sorrow expressed by Advani for the structure being razed. The Bhadwad Gita says “Karm kar, Phal ki chinta mat kar” which loosely translates as “Do your best and don’t worry about the results.” Well, the leaders of the Hindutva brigade have done their “Karm” now instead of prevaricating and losing what little respect they have, they need to stand up and take their lumps.

I am not taking a stand here for or against the demolition, that is a topic for another blog, the only thing I am trying to say is that these leaders, who first instigated the public and now seek to avoid all culpability by dumping the entire blame on the kar-sevaks, do not deserve to be allowed to represent us in parliament. Hinduism is one of the most wonderful of all religions and it does not deserve to be sullied and soiled at the hands of these so called protectors of Hindutva.

Q: Which is the costliest book released in 2009?

A: The 1029-page Liberhan Commission Report. After 17 years of extensive research and Rs 8 crores (that’s Rs 80,000,000) of Indian tax payer money, it works out to be Rs 80,000/- and 6 days spent per page.

It’s easy to see what everyone will do to remember 26/11 – the idiots in the box will run “specials” ad nauseam and people will take out rallies and candlelit processions. But what about the terror that ensued after 26/11 – the pub attacks on women by the Sri Rama Sene? The quick blood of the Marathi manoos against fellow-citizens in Maharashtra? And what shall we do with all those luminaries named in the Liberhan Report?

Seriously, don’t we have to redefine what constitutes terrorism before we figure out who is a terrorist? 26/11, our very own desi version of 9/11, offers us just that opportunity – to make no distinctions in the war against terror. To unseat the terrorists in power, and to deal terrorism in every form a body blow.

26/11 is not an anniversary to remember terror. It’s an opportunity to never allow ourselves to be shamed by it, in any form.

Game?

Commissions and their reports have never held any interest for the common man in India. It is an accepted fact that all such reports are always way beyond late, rarely nail the actual wrongdoers and can never force the hand of the government to take action.

Therefore, more intriguing and interesting than the findings and recommendations of the Liberhan report is its ‘leakage’ and the timing of its leak.

As suggested by media reports, the leakage serves to shatter the recent opposition unity as displayed in the sugarcane prices issue. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Liberhan-report-leak-source-still-a-mystery/articleshow/5265606.cms

If we conduct a close examination of the timing of this leakage and the consequent infighting and name calling amongst the political parties, there are some major gains from this discord for the perpetrator of this leak.

The first and the most important gain is that this infighting will ensure that the government will face a lesser degree of heat as the nation faces the first anniversary of Mumbai terror attacks – a sore point in the Indian hearts.

Two, it diverts attention from a close scrutiny of PM’s US visit.

Three, it will also ensure that the ruling party is not pulled up on important issues like inflation, high price rise in essential items and the recessionary state of the economy in the ongoing session of the parliament.

Four, the dramatisation of the leak and the subsequent reactions have once again brought the Hindu-Muslim factor to the forefront. Politicos stand to gain only if the communities remain divided in India.

And of course the most obvious of the lot is to further weaken an already battered major opposition party. 

The drama here lies not in the content of the report but in the timing of the ‘leak’. It makes for a good example of the opportunistic nature of politics. The game of politics has been played extremely adroitly!