In the wake of photos and videos of a Dalit family being stripped in Dankaur doing rounds in social media and news reports of the same a fact finding team of CPI-ML and RYA activists today (9th October) visited Dankaur and the village of Atta Gujraan around 5 Kms from Dankaur, which is home to the Dalit family. During the course of the visit we met some family members of Sunil Gautam (the man in the photos and videos), his neighbors as well as eye witness to the actual incident in Dankaur town. We also tried to locate the person who had taken the photos and the video and subsequently circulated them over social media
Background and Sequence of Events
On the evening of 6th October (Tuesday) Sunil Gautam a Dalit belonging to the Jatav community and resident of Atta Gujran village and his elder brother Sonpal were watering the small plot of land which they owned near Dankaur town. It was late in the evening and was getting dark, at this time three men stopped on the road and threatened both Sunil and Sonpal with knives and katta (country made revolver) and looted their bike (which belonged to Sunil), money, keys of Sonpal’s autorickshaw and ran away with it. After this both Sunil and Sonpal went to Dankaur Police Station and asked for a FIR to be filed. At this point the police refused to file an FIR.
The next day (7th October) Sunil and Sonpal along with their wives Harwati and Reeta, the wife of Sunil’s youngest brother Sudesh, Babita along with the Sunil and Sudesh’s children (all of them within the age group of 6months – 3 years), in total eight of them sat on a dharna in Dankaur demanding immediate filing of FIR with specific charges of looting and physical assault. The site of the dharna was opposite the shop owned by Sunil’s family. Then SHO Pravin Yadav, in civilian dress, came to the dharna site and started beating Sunil and tearing his clothes at this point his wife tried to intervene and the SHO started to beat Reeta and tearing her clothes. Having lost all hope and frustrated with the inaction and atrocity of the police they tore their own clothes as an act of protest.
Stripping oneself as an act of protest against the powers that be is not something new for fellow travelers of movements. We have seen that in the wake of the rape and murder of Manorama Devi, women in Manipur stripped themselves and openly challenged the Indian Army to Rape them.
Aftermath and Present Situation
The aftermath of the incident is extremely shocking. After Sunil and his wife stripped themselves the SHO arrested all eight of his family members and took to the Gautam Budh Nagar District Jail at Luksar.
It is even more alarming that two separate FIR’s have been filed against the family, which includes three infants, one by apparently the ‘public’ which contains sections IPC 341, 504 and 294 (Indulging in obscene acts).
The FIR filed by the police on the Dalit family is shocking and ridiculous, it contains sections IPC 147 (Rioting), 324, 294, 307 (Attempt to Murder), 394 (Causing Hurt in Committing Robbery), 7 CL Act.
From the charges that have been foisted on the family along with the photos and videos it becomes clear that it is a case of police atrocity and targeting Dalits.
As of now all eight of them including three infants are in Luskar Jail. In their village there is only Sonpal’s daughter Bharti, Sunil’s younger brother Sudesh and Sunil’s mother. We met Bharti in the village who being present at the site of the Dharna gave us an eye witness account. We couldn’t meet Sudesh who had gone to meet the Sunil and the rest of the family in jail.
It is the police which is squarely at fault for beating up Sunil and tearing his clothes who was only exercising his democratic right to protest as the police was not filling his FIR. Instead of heeding to his demand and filing the FIR the police has falsely charged with attempt to murder, when none of his family members had any weapon with them, they were only peacefully sitting on a dharna.
This is also related to the larger collapse of any semblance of law and order in UP.
This is not the first time that Dalits are being attacked with impunity during the rule of Akhilesh Yadav.
Also since most of the family is in jail the family is in need of able and skilled and all help in this regard will be welcomed.
We Demand:
All the charges against Sunil and his family are withdrawn and they are immediately released from jail
The SHO of Dankaur, Pravin Yadav should be immediately suspended and a case of atrocity on SC/ST should be filed against him.
The Looters of Sunil’s bike must be immediately arrested and brought to the book
The Family should be adequately compensated.
The Fact Finding Team Consisted of Com. Aslam, Com. Brahm, Com. Harpal (CPI ML Activists in the Noida, Dadri and Greater Noida Area) and Com. Om (National Secretary, RYA)
Rahman Abbas also wrote that the social and political scenario of the nation was
worsening with each passing day and it was their duty to raise (their) voice
against fascism, right wing intolerant forces and lawlessness which was promoted
as a strategy to divide country on the lines of religion, sentiments of segments
and dogmatic cultural doctrines
Rahman Abbas
Urdu novelist and Maharashtra State Sahitya Academy Award winner 2011
Friends and fellow writers,
The social and political scenario of our beloved country is worsening with every passing day. Right wing forces have polarized nation in the name of religion, caste and ethnicity for political gains.
Dissent is systematically crushed and rational thinkers and writers are threatened and brutally killed in broad daylight.
The central... and state governments don’t show any eagerness to hold and punish murderers of Narendra Dabholkar, Comrade Govind Pansare and Prof Kalburgi. The State is seemingly hesitant and hiding behind various excuses from banning organizations, which had reportedly played clandestine role in heinous crimes. Against this rampant violence, intolerance and anarchy Hindi writer Uday Prakash, English novelist Nayantara Sahgal, Hindi poet Ashok Vajpeyi have returned Sahitya Academy Awards. Nayantara Sahgal had said yesterday that returning award was a protest against ‘vicious assault’ on Indian’s diversity, whereas Ashok Vajpeyi had reacted that ‘ It is high time that writers take a stand.’ Vajpeyi had further said that Sahitya Academy had failed to rise to the occasion and respect its autonomy. Moreover, on the 4 October six Kannada writers had returned literary awards in protest over delay in the inquiry into murder of Prof Kalburgi. The Kannada writers, Veeranna Madiwalar, T. Satish Javare Gowda, Sangamesh Menasinakai, Hanumanth Haligeri, Shridevi V Aloor and Chidanand Sali were conferred state Sahitya Academy Awards in the year 2011. These authors had returned awards to put pressure on the state govt to hasten the probe and nab the culprits behind the murder of Prof Kalburgi. This is high time, as said by Ashok Vajpeyi, and we cannot remain voiceless. Hence, I request senior Urdu writers, poets and critics including Nida Fazli, Salam Bin Razzak, Abdus Samad, Javid Akhtar, Gulzar, Munawwar Rana, to register protest against murder and killing of creative writers by returning Sahitya Academy Awards. This might be a small step but in such volatile times, it is inescapable. It is our duty to raise voice against fascism, right wing intolerant forces and lawlessness which was promoted as a strategy to divide country on the lines of religion, sentiments of segments and dogmatic cultural doctrines. I am an ordinary person. However, in the year 2013, I was awarded by State Sahitya Academy on my third novel ‘Khuda Ke Saaye Mein Ankho Micholi’ (Hide and Seek in the Shadow of God), hereby I announce that I am going to return this award to the state. I demand that the state punish forces who had killed Narendra Dabholkar and Comrade Pansare. I demand central govt to hold forces responsible who had instigated mob who killed Mr Akhlaq in Dadri. I urge senior Urdu writers to take a stand as this is high time and our secular democracy is under attack. My friends and fellow writers, history will judge you for your stances taken at such high times. Don’t disappoint me.
It is a dark picture. It looks as if a spectre is haunting India-the spectre of Hindu fascism. There is no room for complacency. Our task is to fight this menace. W.C.Deb
Mohammad Akhlaq First Mahesh Sharma with his absurd statements, then the notorious riot-accused Sangeet Som visited Dadri.
And today Yogi Adityanath is visiting with Yuva Vahini workers.
No statement from PM, the Home Minister didn't bother to visit.
The state CM didn't bother to stop/arrest any of these lunatics visiting and making inflammatory speeches like his government has responded in Varanasi by jailing the Congress MLA and coming down heavily on trouble-makers.
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Yogi Adityanath & his supporters visit Dadri. Yuva Vahini workers also present#BeefPolitics — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 7, 2015
And the bhakts on the social media are blaming the media and the secularists for flaring up the issue and resorting to sinister lies about Dadri.
Sadhvi Prachi While the likes of Sadhvi Prachi come out in an outright defense of the Dadri lynching, and BJP Minister Mahesh Sharma thinking that the daughter of Mohd Akhlaq must be grateful the mob didn't touch her, the social media foot-soldiers of the sangh parivar are busy spreading blatant lies.
Some of these lies have actually been peddled by pro-RSS papers like Dainik Jagran and then re-posted on the social media by the right-wing trolls.
The RSS brigade doesn't shy away from propagating lies to suit its communal goals. While now the govt is clarifying on the beef export that India does not export cow-meat but actually its buffalow meat, that did't stop Modi himself from making rabid communal speeches during his election campaign by accusing the Congress govt on 'pink revolution'.
Here are some of the lies and brazen obfuscations and justifications of the hate crime. While some tried to establish that it was indeed beef, others linked it to cow-theft and Akhlaq's visit to Pakistan.
@madhukishwar Truth of Dadri and no FIR against Danishpic.twitter.com/PO83K9Axmu — From India to भारत (@rbatra01) October 6, 2015
Why #MSM slient on #Akhlaq's mysterious Pak-trip? Will @BDUTT @sardesairajdeepgo to Dadri and find out? #DadriTruth pic.twitter.com/3G5pcGcNqh — Watching PM #NaMo (@goyalsanjeev) October 7, 2015
So #Dadri has failed to support riot hungry media. Truth coming out that Akhlaq, after visiting Pak, has been into heavy Islamic propaganda
— Shakuntala Iyer (@shakkuiyer) October 7, 2015
This is d truth of #Dadri Incident RT&spread so India knows how MSM spreads communal violence thru false reporting pic.twitter.com/q4okgXQNoe — सत्यसाधक☝TruthSeeker (@RituRathaur) October 2, 2015 Biggest Expose On Dadri: Pakistan Visit, not BEEF was Reason behind Iqlakh’s Murder. Read The Truth!! http://t.co/3qWTLGlj5D @kuvalayamala
— Arya Dileep (@dillu05) October 6, 2015
No matter how hard #CommunalMedia tried, truth is out. Just like Patel riots, MAIN ACCUSED in DADRI case is an AAP leader. #MediaWantsRiots
— :) (@AsYouNotWish) October 5, 2015
The truth of dadri not only rumours. pic.twitter.com/qSdEP3Elgi
— Adv.Ashwani Rathore (@ashwanikrathore) October 1, 2015
Truth about #Dadri , Difference Between Hindu did its Justify but Muslim Did its always Wrong @HDLindiaOrg @Nir_27 pic.twitter.com/qNUG4UavcW
— Sandeep Sharma (@ruskinbond1210) October 1, 2015
No matter how hard #CommunalMedia tried, truth is out. Just like Patel riots, MAIN ACCUSED in DADRI case is an AAP leader. #MediaWantsRiots
— :) (@AsYouNotWish) October 5, 2015
The truth is: Mohd Akhlaq did not visit Pakistan. Even if he would have gone, how does it make him a criminal and justifies the mob-killing?
Other assertions like the killers of Akhlaq were AAP supporters are mere rumors. 8 of the 11 accused have been found to be BJP supporters and close relatives of the local BJP leader.
And the charge of Mohd Akhlaq, father of an Air Force jawan, surviving on cow-theft is plain ridiculous. The priest himself has admitted that he was forced to make an announcement about beef-eating from the temple's loud-speaker.
Also, the sangh-supporters on the social media are blaming the press and journalists with choicest abuses:
@BDUTT अपना इलाज करवाओ बुरखा दत्त मानसिक रोगी लगती हो कसम से।।
— Anil B.Arch (@indiandesignf) October 5, 2015
Will be ever knw d Truth whether its Godhra,Church Attack or Dadri Killing. The#pressitutes of my country r the biggest enemy. #Agendanews
— tweeting d issues (@Umesh2307) October 1, 2015 @Ajit_Doval @BJPRajnathSingh @mygovindia This traitor @ajaishukla be booked under NSA pronto ! http://t.co/UK5qCIQ8FQ
— Kurukshetra (@rajji3351) October 7, 2015
The UP Police, in the meanwhile, has asked twitter to delete some of these provocative tweets:
Uttar Pradesh police asks Twitter to delete controversial tweet on Dadri lynching casehttp://t.co/576bLYFlCa
— Social Keeda (@Ant_Bite) October 7, 2 SOURCE: INDIA RESIST MODI'S SAFFRON MADNESS REPLACES RATIONAL POLITICS IN INDIA
NDFP Condemns Sentencing of NDFP Consultants Emeterio Antalan and Leopoldo Caloza
25 September 2015
The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) condemns in the strongest terms the conviction by the Aquino regime of NDFP consultants Emeterio Antalan and Leopoldo Caloza for the trumped up charge of murder and sentencing them to life imprisonment, reclusion perpetua, with no possibility of parole.
This is the latest blatant violation by the Aquino regime of the GRP-NDFP Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) of 1995 which guarantees peace negotiators, consultants, staffers, security and other personnel with immunity from arrest, detention, prosecution, and other punitive actions.
This is likewise a flagrant violation of the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) of 1998, which stipulates that the Hernandez political offense doctrine must be observed and that prisoners and detainees who have been charged, detained or convicted contrary to this doctrine ought to be released immediately.
The NDFP demands the release of NDFP Consultants Emeterio Antalan, Leopoldo Caloza and the other NDFP Consultants detained in complete disrespect by the regime of binding peace agreements.
These gross violations of the JASIG and CARHRIHL are further proof that the Aquino regime has no political will to comply with peace agreements that are binding and effective. Thus, GPH President Aquino is going down in history as the saboteur of GPH-NDFP peace negotiations. He must answer to the Filipino people, peace advocates in the country and abroad, for destroying the peace negotiations with the NDFP.
Luis G. Jalandoni
Chairperson, NDFP Negotiating Panel
The series of beef bans and the atmosphere of polarisation on beef and meat has resulted in a mob lynching in Dadri, at just 60 kms from Delhi.
While it is true that the UP govt needs to be hold accountable for immediate action, especially in the wake of the news from Dadri that the local police has tried to threaten the suffering family against naming local BJP leaders, the whole incident should be seen in the context of Modi's own vitriolic against beef-eating, in the run up to the 2014 elections and before that.
Here are two videos where Modi is seen speaking on the issue of beef. And he is no different than Sadhvi Prachi and Mahesh Sharma, who are called 'fringe' elements despite their repeated communal exhortations that goes unchecked by Modi.
New Delhi, 05/10/2015: On the night of 28 September, in a heinous instance of hate crime Mdohammad Akhlaq a resident of Bisara village of Dadri in western Uttar Pradesh was lynched to death and his son Danish brutally assaulted by a mob of villager over a rumour that Mr. Akhlaq and his family had slaughtered a calf and consumed its meat.
Just before the lynching, an announcement was made from the local temple to spread the rumour, within moments a mob constituted itself and attacked Mr. Akhlaq resulting in his lynching.
Mr. Akhlaq’s son Danish has been in hospital since that night and despite undergoing two brain surgeries his condition is still said to be critical.
We, a six member team of activists, went to Bisara village in Dadri on 03 October 2015, the day when there were news reports that a thousand women have been mobilized to prevent the media from entering the village.
The women pelted stones at media personnel and OB vans because of the alleged'disrepute’ they were bringing to the village and for disrupting ‘normal’ life.
Dadari
We arrived in the afternoon and encountered some media OB vans on the road leading up to the village. As we proceeded towards the village, the visibility of police presence kept increasing. At one point we stopped to talk to the police about the situation in the village and we were told very clearly that the villagers were very angry about outsiders coming in and they can’t really tell us what kind of reactions we might face from the villagers. The police strongly advised us to not go in to the village and also told us that if something were to happen then it would not be their responsibility.
We managed to proceed to the village after speaking on the phone to the village Pradhan,Sanjeev Rana, who sent someone to ‘safely’ escort usto his house, where we met him and some other men from the village. After that, we visited Mohammad Akhlaq’s house and met his family. We also briefly attended a meeting of village elders called by the District Magistratewho upon figuring out that we are not from the village requested us to leave saying they are trying to resolve issues internally. In addition, there was some interaction with men who were around.
Some Facts about Bisara Village
Bisara is a large villagein Western UP. It has an inter-college, a market and the presence of many industrial plants in the surrounding areas. A canal runs close to the village. The village appeared to have a thriving agricultural economy. However, we were told that a substantial number of men also work outside the village. The area has recently been re-categorized from rural to an urban zone. It now comes under Greater Noida urban administrative zone, due to which it is not going to have village panchayat elections again.
The numbers for the total population we got varied from 15000 to 18000 people. 300 were reported to be Muslim. Rajputs (who mainly use the Rana surname) are the dominant caste, owning most of the land. We were told that there are also over 100 Jatav families, and approximately similar numbers of Valmiki families. Muslims appear to belargely landless artisans.
Mohammad Akhlaq owned a shop in front of the village inter-college where he repaired iron implements. Three Muslim households live in the main part of the village, in a narrow lane behind village pradhan's house. Akhlaq's house is one of these.
All other Muslim families live in another part of the village. The village apparently has an old mosque (approximately 70-80 years old) and an Idgah. It is possible that before 1947 it was home to a substantial number of Muslim Rajputs, who migrated out to Pakistan. We were told that the Muslims now living there are Saifis (a caste of Muslim ironsmiths or Lohars).
Narratives in the Village
(a) The three village youth we talked to outside the village near the canal told us in hushed voices that the meat in the Akhlaq’s fridge indeed was beef (“Large hoofs, ears and white skin, it could only be cow!” was their refrain). They all said they had heard it from others who had seen these. They had little remorse over the murder.
These three village youth were Class XI/XII students in the village inter-college. When we asked how and what happened. Their first reaction was what happened was both “good and bad”. Bad because somebody lost his life and good because by slaughtering a cow Akhlaq betrayed the goodwill of the Hindus.
The Mosque and the Idgah stands on Hindu land, despite the benevolence of the majority community what Akhlaq did can be captured by the saying “jis thali main khaya, usi main ched kiya”. These youths also strongly asserted that “Akhlaq’s family will get new house and compensation from the Government, what else do they want?”
(b) A man on a motorbike with milk cans argued vociferously against media induced disruption of ordinary life. His refrain was 'our children are unable to go to school and college' and ‘an internal matter of the village has been unnecessarily made into this big issue’. However, we did later see two 7-8 year old girls in uniform with big school bags, though perhaps they were coming from one of the private schools, or tuition. The village has a Sarawati Shishu Mandir school, with a large new board, close to the inter college on the main village road.
(c) The village pradhan and others emphasized on how the Hindus have always cared for Muslims in the village. The pradhan said that he had given Rs. 40,000/- from his own pocketfor the renovation of village mosque because the Muslimcommunity did not have the resources to renovate it by themselves. He said that other Rajputs of the village too had contributed. To further illustrate this goodwill amongst communities in the village, he narrated an incident of last year when the Rajputs from the village had sat on a dharna in Dadri, after a Muslim woman (from the village, but married outside) was killed in a road accident. Apparently, men from the village were still facing a court case because of that protest.
When asked about what according to him transpired on the night of the murder, the pradhan told us that he was in his farm house that night, which is two kilometres away from the village. He claims that he became aware in the incident only after the announcement from the village temple had been made and the mob had already proceeded towards Akhlaq's house, and by the time he managed to reach the village Mr. Akhlaq's was already dead. According to him, only young men were ‘involved’ and elders came to know about it after the murder.
(d) Relatives/ family friends of Mr. Akhlaq thought he was targeted because theirs' was a relatively well-off Muslim family.Mr. Akhlaq's elder brother in the meeting of village elders called by the DM said that lumpenisation, everydayness of ruckus after drinking, and petty crimes were on rise in the village for some time. But villagers had not taken any action.
The DM in the meeting with village elders was trying to impress upon them to disclose the identity of the culprits. His refrain was those (young men) involved in the crime will tomorrow attack their own villagers and families. He had allowed the media in the village these past days because he did not want to create the impression that the administration was trying to hide something. From next day, only those with the clearance of the Commanding Officer (of the police), and whom Akhlaq's family wanted to meet would be allowed in the village. On some of us standing on the side, he asked us to leave as this was an 'internal' meeting.
The estimates of how many constituted the mob varied. While the Pradhan said it was anywhere near 2000-2500 people; in the DM’s meeting two different estimates emerged. One elderly Hindu man put the numbers at around 500 people, the DM himself referred to it as mob of somewhere between 500 to 1500 men.
(e) At a rather superficial level, most people we talked to said that killing of Akhlaq is sad. But there was no visible sense of remorse in the village. While they claimed it was an unfortunate event, in the same breath people pointed out that it had been turned into a big issue by the media that has brought shame and bad name to this supposedly “peaceful” 800 years old village.
(f) Leave aside any lack of remorse, the major reason people were agitated is that the “media has only been focusing on Akhlaq’s death and his family. It is not even mentioning the concerns of the “other side” (the Hindus), ie; “Hindu youth being picked up randomly by the police”.
Our Observations
(a) The narrow lane leading to MohammadAkhlaq's house is barely four feet wide. It cannot accommodate more than twenty people at a time. It is unlikely that the mob which attacked could be a thousand strong. The heinous crime may actually be the handiwork of a much smaller number of people. In fact, the talk of a large mob may be a ruse to 'normalize' the crime, and show it somehow enjoying a popular support. By all indications it appears that while there were a large number of young men who were part of his mob, there was a small group of men who actually murdered Mr. Akhlaq. The claim of a very large mob is also often a ruse to prevent identification of individuals involved under the obfuscated identity of thousands of people.
(b) The houses are so cluttered and close to each other that it is impossible for Akhlaq to have butchered a calf in his house without the neighbours noticing it. If he butchered it outside his house, then it is very surprising that while he could secretly kill the calf, but was foolish enough to be found with ears and hoofs, as said in the narrative of the village young men we talked to. There is now a clever shift in the dominant narrative. It has moved from butchering the cow to beef found in his house.
(c) A spontaneous mobs is not usually selective in their attack,in this case Akhlaq's brothers’ house right next to his and was not even touched; in all likelihood the crime was not the result of a spontaneous mob fury. The crime was the result of a criminal conspiracy, known to a few people, but who were very sure that the people at large will not oppose them. The immediate aim of the investigation should be to isolate these people, and give them speedy punishment.
Media has reported the existence of Hindutva organizations active in the area in the name of 'cow protection'. Their role in the crime should be investigated.
In fact, on our way out of the village, we noticed a Scorpio vehicle parked outside the village road on the arterial road, which had a flex banner on the rear windshield, which read “Hindu Gau Raksha Dal” (Hindu Cow Protection Party).
(d) MohammadAkhlaq's family is terrified and isolated. We met his elder brother, younger sister, daughter-in-law of the older son and few other relatives. Apart from the elder brother, none of them live in the village and had arrived after hearing of the incident. They are worried about the son (Danish) who is in hospital battling injuries from the attack and also for their 82 year old mother who was injured.
We could not meet Mr. Akhlaq’s wife or his mother but we briefly spoke to the other two women separately, but in the presence of a woman police constable. They expressed shock and horror about how this could have happened in a place where they have been living for generations. They also said that hardly any neighbour or people they knew for long have come to offer any help or condolence.
They said they don’t want to live in the village anymore and feel scared just by thinking about what will happen when the police presence will not be there.
According to them, the mob seemed large enough in number and many were known/familiar faces. Mr. Akhlaq’s sister took us to the first floor of the house where the mob had ‘found’ him ‘hiding’. The bricks that were used to support the double bed were used to attack him and his son. There were splashes of dried blood, broken rods, spilt over rice, a broken sewing machine, an over turned fridge and charpoy; all left intact the way it was. We were told that some people had most likely come to collect some evidence/samples. Mr. Akhlaq’s sister told us ‘un logon ne usski biwi or maa ki izzat pe haat dalne ki bhi koshish ki…’ (the mob tried to sexually attack Mr. Akhlaq’s wife and mother). But circumstances and time did not allow us to talk to the women more about it.
(e) Back in the village, the pradhan again brought up the common narrative of peaceful co-existence. It was asserted that even during the partition or Babri Masjid demolition or during the Muzaffarnagar communal riots nothing apparently happened in this village. The strong emphasis on this “history” seems to be ploy to put a question mark to any suspicion/narrative of a planned attack that might arise or have arisen. This emphasis is also a subtle way of putting the cause of the outrage/attack on the alleged slaughter of a cow ie; Akhlaq’s house wouldn’t have been attacked if he had allegedly (or rumoured) slaughtered a cow.
4) Brief Analysis
(a) The presence of approximately 300 Muslims in a village of approximately 15000 people dominated by Rajputs, in itself doesn’t give much scope for Hindu communal mobilization. So a rumour of cow slaughter becomes the most feasible vehicle to mobilize a certain dominant agrarian caste on a Hindu plank against Muslims in general. This is a similar trend of mobilizing a dominant caste against Muslims that was also visible during the riots in Muzaffarnagar in 2013.
(b) This particular incident is also not something that can be seen in isolation just because it happened for the first time in this particular village. There has been a concerted campaign around ban on cow slaughter in India but more specifically in Uttar Pradesh.
In a recent event one person (from Sangh Parivar) has been caught red-handed in Azamgarh while he was throwing cow meat in a temple.
Similarly such patterns of event and rumours were witnessed in Muzaffarnagar, in Delhi’s Bawana and Najafgarh area in 2014.
So, the narrative of rather peaceful history might be true on the surface, but it does not suggest that this “first of a kind incident” of this scale could have happened just as an“accident”because of “hot-headedness of youth”.
(c) Another fact, also common to other instance (also observed in the Muzaffarnagar fact-findings), was women of the villages coming out very aggressively against the police and media for their alleged “sympathies to Muslim family and biases against the Hindus.”
While in the meeting with the DM about maintaining peace and identifying the culprits, there were no women present at all. Here it should also be noted that as quoted in The Hindu, the SP (Rural) Dadri confirmed that on Friday night Thakurs/Rajputs held two meetings to strategize how to deal with media and its “one sided coverage”.
Even while it is the work of a criminal conspiracy; the context of the crime is purely political in the 'beef ban' politicking of the BJP.
Many BJP ministers, MPs and others have tried to deflect attention away from the enormity of the crime, by calling it as an 'accident' (Mahesh Sharma, Union Minister and BJP MP from NOIDA), or writing that 'lynching on mere suspicion is bad' (Tarun Vijay, spokesperson BJP), indicating that if the suspicion turn out to be true it would have been OK.
We demand:
Speedy arrest and bringing to book of all the men who participated in the murder of Mohammad That Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav ensures the safety of Akhlaq’s family and also of other Muslim families in the village.
That the Union Government take serious action against Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and other BJP leaders for attempting to justify this heinous crime and communally inciting the villagers further. A criminal investigation of the role of Hindutva organizations who have been operating in this area be instituted.
That Prime Minister Modi break his shameful silence on this brutal incident.
Team members: Bonojit Hussain (New Socialist Initiative), Deepti Sharma (Saheli), Kiran Shaheen (writer and activist), Naveen Chander (New Socialist Initiative), Sanjay Kumar (People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism and New Socialist Initiative) and Sanjeev Kumar (Delhi Solidarity Group)
THE WINNER THE ANDREW MARR INTERVIEW WITH DAVID CAMERON CREATED BY GREENSTEIN AND HARVEY :
RED SALUTE FROM SWINISH MULTITUDE TO TONY GREENSTEIN AND JON HARVEY
RUNNER UP PEPPA PIGGATE IN VIDEO CATEGORY
BUT WOULD BE FIRST IN ANY CARTOON CATEGORY - WELL DONE JOHNNY LANG
PICTURE CATEGORY
The following picture was selected for educational as well as entertainment value
Runner Up recent entry David Cameron's Arrest at Tory Party Conference Opening Today
We also Remember the Welshman Richard Price and his Defense of French Revolution who spoke for Wales and the World against Edmund Burke the Tory who branded us the Swinish Multitude
Democracy and Class Struggle thanks the Swinish Multitude for its support of the Piggate Red Carpet Awards and applauds the virtual proletarian cultural revolution that has erupted on the internet which will sweep away the Tory Beast from our Land.
Well done Scotland who have made the most progress in driving out the Tory Beast from their Land.
To Jeremy Corbyn we say you missed an opportunity to expose Ruling Class Rituals be it Bullingdon Club, Assassin Society or Piers Gaveson Society rituals right at heart of Tory Party - is that because you are part of the Westminster Club Rituals Jeremy ?
Democracy and Class Struggle joins in the campaign to drive the Tory Beast from these Islands and his friends in the Labour Party.
PS: The word "Tory" derives from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe; modern Irishtóraí: outlaw, robber or brigand, from the Irish word tóir, meaning "pursuit", since outlaws were "pursued men".
REPORT FROM THE PEOPLE PROTESTING TORY PIG PARTY MEETING IN MANCHESTER - PROLETARIAN MANCHESTER RESPONDS TO TORIES IN THEIR CITY
AFTER PORKIES FROM CAMERON EGGS FOR YOUNG TORY TOFF
Democracy and Class Struggle re-publish the anniversary statement from 1999 on the 50th Anniversary of Chinese Revolution by Comrade Mukesh as a tribute to 66th Anniversary of Chinese Revolution as it still a good summation for 66th anniversary.
In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Chinese Revolution - Historic Significance And Relevance Today – Comrade Mukesh
Forty years ago, on October 1, 1949, Comrade Mao Tsetung declared the formation of the People’s Republic of China. With this, one-third of humanity had broken free from the chains of exploitation and oppression, and entered a world of freedom.
In just a century after the communist manifesto was written, Marx’s dream of a new society became a living reality in a large part of the globe.
In human history, no single ideology has transformed society so rapidly and so thoroughly, as did Marxism.
Having taken birth in Europe, it spread to all corners of the earth, liberating even a most backward country like China.
On that occasion, Mao declared that "the Chinese people have stood up". "Stood up" against 2000 years of feudal oppression; against a century of colonial plunder and robbery; against inhuman oppression and exploitation ... and "stood up" as self-respecting people no longer cowed down by any form of tyranny, old or new.
The Chinese revolution was an epic saga in human endurance, sacrifice and indomitable courage.
The legendary Long March was itself a feat of herculean endeavour, where a poverty-stricken army of peasants and workers, traversed 12,500 kms, over mountains and grasslands, fighting at every step a sophisticated enemy force, ten times its size.
Implanting enroute, the seeds of revolution, and setting up its headquarters in the mountains of Yenan, the embryo of the new society was taking root in the womb of the old.
And it was here, in a room structured out of a cave in the Yenan mountains, that Mao wrote some of his path-breaking works that, till this day, act as a guide for revolutionaries throughout the world.
The CPC was born in the midst of a powerful democratic revolutionary movement against imperialism and feudalism.
The nationwide upsurge ignited by the students in the May 4th (1919) movement coupled with Sun Yat-sen’s repeated attempts to overthrow the war-lords and set up a Republic of China, created the favourable grounds for a joint Kuomintang-Communist struggle for the overthrow of feudalism.
With the betrayal of the revolution by the Kuomintang after the failed Northern Expedition, and a number of defeats in urban insurrectionary tactics,
Mao was to evolve new insights into the course of revolution in backward countries.
His earth-shaking concepts ‘New Democracy’ and ‘Protracted People’s War’ came out of the earlier failed experiences which sought to mechanically implant the Russian path to the Chinese revolution.
In his concept of ‘New Democracy’ Mao gave a more scientific shape to Lenin’s concept of two-stage revolution. In this, Mao, for the first time, pointed out that: while all anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolutions in the pre-1917 period were part of the old bourgeois democratic revolution, in the post-1917 period, they were part of the World Socialist Revolution; while the former was led by the national bourgeoisie, the latter must be led by the proletariat; the bourgeoisie now splits into two camps — the comprador bourgeoisie, that is a target of the revolution, and the national bourgeoisie that is its ally; and the revolution must be built on the four-class alliance, with the peasantry as the main force and the proletariat as a leading force.
This theory contributed to a leap in the Marxist understanding of two-stage revolution in the post-1917 era.
In his concept of "Protracted People’s War", Mao chalked out a new path, which is today valid for all revolutions in backward countries.
(DCS see this as universal concept and not just for backward countries, while it is a universal concept it is mediated by local particularities)
Fighting against various left lines that negated the role of the peasantry and that sought to make revolution through urban insurrection on the Russian pattern, Mao developed the strategy of peasant guerilla warfare; of setting base areas in the countryside and step-by step encircling the cities.
And while fighting this war, first against the Kuomintang reactionaries and then against the Japanese aggressors, Mao developed the science of "people’s war", and for the first time gave the international proletariat its military theory.
In his concept of people’s war, Mao said that the masses must not merely be armed, but organised militarily.....comprising a regular army and a people’s militia, working in close coordination. Mao said that the Red Army fights "in order to conduct propaganda among the masses, organise them, arm them, and help them establish revolutionary political power".
In this, Mao developed the laws of guerilla warfare, mobile warfare and its relations with positional warfare. Moreover, he worked out the minutest details on how to conduct this war, which till today, is a necessary military manual for any serious revolutionary fighter.
While fighting a non-stop war, Mao was not a mere peasant guerilla leader, as made out by some so-called Marxists, he was first and foremost an exemplary communist. This was evident not only in his deep insights into Marxist Philosophy but also his major contribution to building a proletarian party of a new type.
It was Mao who further developed Lenin’s theory of the unity and struggle of opposites in his article ‘On Contradictions’. He also raised the Marxist understanding on the theory of knowledge in his major work ‘On Practice’. More important, Mao brought to centre-stage of all policy, the question of the proletarian world outlook, and the necessity to continuously remould one’s bourgeois outlook.
His concepts of ‘Serve the People’, Mass-Line, and acquiring the communist spirit of selflessness, simplicity, modesty and concern for others, is a theme that flows through his entire writings.
On the question of the proletarian party, Mao saw it not as some static monolithic entity, but, as a dynamic body, developing, like any other phenomena, through the unity and struggle of opposites — i.e., the struggle between the proletarian view point and the bourgeois view point.
Mao developed the understanding of how to preserve the proletarian revolutionary character of the party through waging a two-line struggle against opportunist and revisionist tendencies and lines; and by the ideological remoulding of party members through criticism and self-criticism and through rectification movements.
Today, without adding these principles, to the already existing Leninist Party principles, it is difficult for any proletarian party to grow and develop.
So we find that in the course of victory of the Chinese revolution, a more developed science of Marxism was taking shape in the form of Mao Tsetung Thought or Maoism. This particularly gives to the Chinese revolution, like that of the Russian revolution, its historical significance. But, with victory in 1949, the revolution did not end, but continued in a new form. And here the Chinese experience and Mao’s contribution is, probably, even more significant than in the earlier period. On the very eve of the Liberation of the country
Mao said : "To win country-wide victory is only the first step in a long march of ten thousand li."
And he was proved right... the class struggle in the course of building socialism, proved to be as acute, as ruthless, as that in the pre-revolution period.
The first task before the new communist government was to rehabilitate a war-ravaged economy, while at the same time smashing the old rule of imperialism, feudalism and comprador bureaucrat capitalism and replacing it with a new democratic structure and economy. The next step required the step-by-step transition to socialism.
Finally, it required the continuous consolidation of the socialist system until communism. Throughout the entire period this meant continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
By 1953 the economy had been put on a sound footing, by the land reforms in the countryside and the revival of industry, both state-owned and private. By 1956, the transition to socialist ownership in the means of production was, in the main, completed — through cooperativisation of agriculture, and by gradually bringing private industry and commerce under state control and/or part-ownership. From 1958 began the process of consolidation of the socialist system with the formation of communes in the countryside, bringing industry under the control of the workers and by restricting bourgeois right.
To undertake this entire process of change there was a fierce class struggle .... first, against remnants of the old system; second, against a new bourgeoisie engendered through widespread petty commodity production; and third against old ideas, habits, customs and culture as well as against revisionist ideas within the party that called for ‘stabilisation’ of the economy at the new democratic stage and opposed transition to socialism. It is in this process that Mao’s gigantic contribution to the development of Marxist theory came, with his detailed elucidation of continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In doing so he put forward a ‘Critique of Soviet Economy’ and more scientifically elaborated the laws of development under socialism. He more concretely put forward the dialectical relationship between the economic base and the superstructure, and the important role of the latter in facilitating the transformation of the former. He put forward the nature of the principal contradiction during the entire period of socialist construction. He evolved the economic principle of ‘walking on two legs’ and of taking ‘agriculture as the base and industry as the leading factor.’
He devised the Great Leap Forward to take technology to the peasantry, and smelt iron and steel in the ‘backyard’. And, most important of all, he discovered the form for continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, in the historic Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR)
In evolving the laws for socialist construction Mao said that the principal contradiction for this entire period was that between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie; he said "class struggle is the key link and everything else hinges on it"; he attacked Liu Shao-chi’s theory of productive forces that saw the principal contradiction as that between the backward productive forces and advanced production relations; he pin-pointed the headquarters of the new bourgeoisie as being capitalist roaders in authority within the very communist party itself; he indicated the process for resolving the three major contradictions — that between the working class and the peasantry, town and countryside, and mental and physical labour; he evolved the methods to restrict bourgeois right and curb the ‘Law of value’; etc.
To bring about this revolution in the superstructure, Mao evolved the GPCR. While explaining the aims of the Cultural Revolution Mao said, "struggling against the capitalist roaders is the principal task, but in no way is it the goal. The goal is to resolve the problem of world outlook; it is the question of pulling up the roots of revisionism....
The CC has emphasised many times that the masses must educate and liberate themselves, the world-view cannot be imposed on them.
To transform ideology it is necessary that external causes work through internal causes, although these latter are principal. What would victory in the Cultural Revolution be if it did not transform world outlook ?
If the world-view is not transformed the 2000 capitalist roaders of today will become 4000 the next time."
Mao’s various slogans during the GPCR reflected this goal. The call to "Grasp revolution, promote production" dialectically handled the relationship between revolution and production, consciousness and matter and the superstructure and the economic base.
By the slogan "keeping politics in command" and "never forget class struggle," Mao sought to maintain a proper balance between the growth of the productive forces and the development of the production relations.
His call to "fight self, repudiate revisionism" was combined with the mass movement for struggle-criticism-transformation, in an attempt to go even deeper and eradicate the bourgeois outlook from its very roots.
Such then were Mao’s gigantic contributions to understanding the laws of socialist construction and working out the forms to bring about the necessary change.
No communist can conceive of building socialism in the future, without understanding these contributions, of Mao’s in this sphere.
Finally, it was Mao who led the struggle against revisionism not only within China, but also at the international plane.
When, from the land of the Great Lenin, Khrushchev began spouting his revisionist trash, and threw the international communist movement into chaos, it was Mao and the CPC who led the great ideological battle. It was a relentless struggle in the glorious tradition of Lenin’s struggle against the Second International.
Through this ‘Great Debate’ not only did Mao defend Marxism-Leninism from the betrayers, he rallied the international communist forces from all over the world, to make a clean break with ‘modern revisionism’ and establish genuine Marxist-Leninist parties.
This monumental contribution to the Marxist cause is an invaluable weapon with which to counter revisionists of all hues.
Notwithstanding the reversal by the Deng revisionists, the Chinese revolution is of historical significance primarily because, in its course, it developed Marxism-Leninism to a new and higher stage — that of Mao Tsetung Thought or Maoism.
Mao developed Marxist science in every conceivable sphere :
in philosophy,
political economy, scientific socialism,
proletarian tactics, party organisation,
military science, The herculean effort to create the new communist man.
Today, there are many in India who claim to be Maoists, but do not apply these principles to their daily practice. Chanting Mao’s name is no panacea for revolution: the point is to apply it in practice to the concrete conditions of the country.
There are those who deny, in their actual practice, the minimum tasks necessary for launching a people’s war; there are others who get stuck in the morass of parliamentarism; there are yet others who indefinitely postpone armed struggle; and there are others who ‘wave the red flag to oppose the red flag’ by dogmatic, stereotyped rendering of Maoist quotations like formulas. Mao taught us, particularly through the GPCR, how to distinguish real Marxism from sham Marxism.
On this the 50th Anniversary of the historic victory of the great Chinese revolution, let us widely propagate the glorious achievements of this revolution; let us undertake a wide campaign for the propagation of Maoism throughout the country, and learn how to apply it concretely in our daily practice.
Our PM Narendra Modi travels across the globe soliciting global capital to make in India and announces various deals making India a very attractive destination for multinational capital to earn its dream profits. PM recently met the CEOs of various companies in US for Digital India. Spectacular events were staged and attractive announcements were made.
The CEOs – whether of Indian origin or nationals of other countries – are accountable only to their share holders for the profits they earn. If they find India attractive destination for business, it is only for cheap labour, land, natural and other resources, including financial resources availed from the Indian taxpayers. The deals are announced, but the terms are seldom available for the scrutiny of experts. At least not immediately to spoil the headlines of the following day.
It is amazing how rapidly the RSS, BJP and the Sangh Parivar have abandoned their swadeshi campaign which advocated policies opposing foreign investments and consumption of foreign goods. Organizations affiliated to Sangh Parivar came on a platform in November 1991 and named it Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) to oppose liberalisation-privatizsation-globalization (LPG) policies of the Congress. The SJM still exists in all probability but we seldom hear about it. The SJM in the 1990s was carrying on the campaign on economic policies consistent from the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) days.
The 31st December 1952 resolution of the BJS All India General Council held in Kanpur reads, “It is a matter of regret that after the attainment of Independence the attention of the people has moved away from the Swadeshi Movement and use of foreign clothes, cosmetics, and other articles is on the increase. The Government has not taken any steps to check this harmful tendency. On the contrary, the import of unnecessary foreign articles is increasing without check. Hence this Session directs the All India General Council and Central Working Committee to again attract people’s attention towards Swadeshi for the health of the economy and to give it a prominent place among constructive activities.” (Bharatiya Jan Sangh, 1973, p. 5). Swadeshi was defined by the resolution as reconstruction of self-sufficient economy and love for ‘country’s own goods’ (p. 7).
The Resolution No. 58.03 passed on 5th April 1958 in the Ambala Session the BJS called for prioritizing agricultural production and focusing on irrigation, improved seeds and ceiling on land holdings. The resolution also called for reduction of imports ( (pp. 128-29)
The resolution No. 61.05 passed in Lucknow on Jan 1, 1961 called for reconsidering the policy regarding foreign loans and foreign capital. (p. 20). In Resolution No. 61.17 of the AIGC held in Varanasi on 12th Nov. 1961, suggested that the 3rd Plan objectives by “Small-scale mechanized units should be made the basis of all industrialization.” (p. 23)
In the June 4, 1968 resolution of Central Working Committee held in Guwahati on approach to 4th Plan, resolved that the Plan should be mainly based ‘on our own resources’ and this needed to be made fundamental feature of ‘our development effort’ and that we should evolve an indigenous technology of ‘our own’. (p. 29).
In the early 1990s, as the LPG policies were being pushed, the BJP and the Sangh Parivar opposed globalization. They would attack KFC outlets and proclaim that such consumer outlets were against ‘Indian culture’. The Sangh Parivar graduated from the demand of no foreign goods and technology, unless crucial, and developing indigenous technology to welcoming foreign technology but not foreign culture. L K Advani famously said – ‘we want computer chips, not potato chips’.
During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s premiership, liberal policies were pursued first under the finance minister Yashwant Sinha (13th October 1999 to 1st July 2002) followed by Jaswant Singh (1st July 2002 to 22 May 2004). However, SJM was entrusted the task to educate the people about the virtues of Swadeshi. Under the Premiership of Modi aggressive wooing of foreign capital is consigning the Swadeshi campaign to its funeral pyre.
If the economic policies of the Hindu nationalists have changed drastically, it is not for job creation or any such noble cause. Job creation was how their economic policies were sought to be marketed to the youth and the unemployed then, as now. Swadeshi; demanding taxation policies to discourage import and facilitate export and encouragement to small scale mechanized units was to serve the interests of the ‘national’ industrialists that hadn’t the financial muscles and technological base to compete with the multinationals.
More and more Indians are entering the billionaire club – nearing 100 now – and 7 companies incorporated in Indian have entered the Fortune Global 500 list of world’s biggest corporations. They could enter the Fortune Global 500 list by exploiting the natural resources of the country for a song which include its mineral wealth, natural gas, spectrum and other common resources and cheap labour of millions of Indians. These richest corporations are now interested in acquisition of foreign brands and tying up with international capital. The rise of the Indian millionaires has been impressive with the number of rich Indians rising 27 percent in the last year from 196,000 to 250,000 (Chadha, 2015).
It is the interest of this class that the Hindu nationalists seek to serve and make them richer by investing taxpayers’ money in mega events, creating conducive atmosphere, laying red carpet for them without necessarily creating jobs.
While agriculture is being neglected and farmers continue to commit suicide.
Ideological U-turns of Sangh Parivar
There are many other policy U-turns taken by the BJP – one stand when in opposition and diametrically opposite when in government. For example, on nuclear deal with the US, land acquisition bill etc. The Sangh Parivar has revised its ideological position on other issues too.
While revising their ideological positions on economic issues, the core beliefs of constitutes Hindu nationalist ideology has remained. These core beliefs can be identified as: 1) Authoritarian structure – both within the Sangh Parivar and for the country; 2) Imposition of select cultural traditions – patriarchal, hierarchical and elitist – terming them as Hindu nationalist – to the exclusion of egalitarian Indian traditions and culture; and to strengthen the former two core beliefs, 3) Stigmatize minorities
Authoritarian structure:
The Hindu nationalist ideology invests heavily emotionally building certain symbols. The followers are then expected to submit themselves unquestioningly to that symbol of virtue. Once a human mind can be made to accord highest veneration to a symbol, s/he can be made to accept most authoritarian structure on the pretext of such structure being necessary to protect the venerated symbol.
Bhagwa Dhwaj – saffron flag is one such symbol of Hindu Rashtra. What the Bhagwa Dhwaj stands for would be explicated by the head of the RSS – Sar Sanghchalak.
RSS also follows ek chalak anuvartita principle – follow one leader. The leader is not elected through any democratic process (Roy, 1989, p. 57). The Bhagwa Dhwaj symbolizes corporate Hindu nation which is venerated as living God (Andersen & Damle, 1987, p. 76). In his books Bunch of Thoughts, RSS ideologue M S Golwalkar employs various terms to describe the living God – Jagan Mata, Adishakti, Dharmabhumi, Devabhumi, Mokshabhumi, etc.
The venerated nation has a sacred geography that almost encompasses South Asia and the nation is said to possess a soul, referred to as chiti. Chiti is supposed to be above political institutions and human made laws (Andersen & Damle, 1987, p. 77).
All the affiliated organizations are expected to follow all the directives of the Sar Sanghachalak. The RSS organizes a series of training which their cadres have to undertake. During the training the discourses touch the heart of the cadres and train their minds for submission to the living God and the chiti of the nation and train them to accept directives of the Sar Sanghachalak.
However, in spite of the training, some followers are bound to rebel. Balraj Madhok, co-founder and later, President of BJS who was expelled described his expulsion as another sign of a “fascist attitude” within the BJS and the party being developed into a front of RSS (Andersen & Damle, 1987, p. 187). L K Advani too alleged that RSS was micromanaging the BJP after he resigned from all posts in the BJP in June 2013. He was however persuaded by the Sar Sanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat to withdraw his resignation (PTI, 2013).
The Hindu nationalists always found democracy a problematic idea. Golwalkar (1939, p. 56) writes, “...we have almost completely lost sight of our true Hindu Nationhood, in our wild goose chase after the phantasm of founding a "really" democratic "State" in the country.
Intelligence Bureau Chief T V Rajeswar claimed that the then RSS Chief Balasaheb Deoras had supported emergency declared by Indira Gandhi and they tried to establish contact with her (PTI, 2015) (Express News Service, 2015)
Construction or common traditions
The ideologues of Hindu nationalism defined Hindu nation on the basis of common culture, history and language.
The concept of nation itself was a western concept.
The Hindu tradition is that of vasudhaiv kutumbakam (the whole universe is one family). However, in contradistinction to Congress defining nation on inclusive principle of equality of all geographical inhabitants of the territory, the Hindu nationalist ideologues wanted to define nationalism on the basis of exclusion of what they termed as followers of “foreign” religion and culture.
There is no common language that all Indians speak and there is diversity of culture and traditions that Indian follow on the basis of their caste, region, religious beliefs, sub-sects, ethnicity and traditions.
Savarkar and Golwalkar had a slight different approach in the construction of common religio-cultural language – the former emphasising blood ties and common bloodline, while the latter defining it in terms of common religion, language and culture and race.
Aryans were superior to the cultureless mere bipeds – the Mlechhas according to Golwalkar (Roy, 1989, p. 61). Golwalkar calls upon non-Hindus to adopt Hindu culture and cease to be “foreigners”, think of nothing else but the glory of the Hindu nation, else, be treated as non-citizens and claim no rights.
Muslims are seen as treacherous, enslaving and destructive (Roy, 1989, p. 58 & 61).
The ideologues of Hindu nationalists tried to instil common bonds not on the basis common religion or culture or language, but on the basis of feeling of superiority and constructed feeling of victimhood and hatred against the “foreign culture, religion and race”.
The “common” religion, culture and language of the Hindus was selected and constructed on the basis of texts and traditions followed by the victorious Aryans – Vedas and Upanishads and the Advait Vedanta philosophy compiled by the Shankaracharya after Buddhism was nearly banished from Bharatvarsha. Golwalkar (1939, p. 48) states, “Buddhistic influence – a misunderstanding of the teachings of the Great Master – had the baneful effect of effacing from the minds of the masses their tenacious adherence to their faith.”
Hindu nationalists ignored the egalitarian traditions of Hindu saints like Tukaram, Ravidas, Kabir, Mirabai, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, charvaka philosophy, siddha and nath panthas and many others rational religio-philosophical traditions.
In search of common religion and culture, the Hindu nationalist ideologues selected those traditions, texts, which divided the society into hierarchies and justified caste system on the basis of purity and pollution, on the basis of superiority and inferiority.
The egalitarian traditions were inclusive and based on only one principle – love and rational approach.
Religious traditions that do not discourage rational thoughts and do not help in creating regimented minds also do not help construction of a homogenous cultural society, wherein authoritarian political state becomes acceptable.
Authoritarian state is necessary to manage growing inequality with brute authority as we are witnessing in present time – rapid growth in number of millionaires as well as the poor plunging deeper into poverty and growing hunger.
Hindu nationalists do not abhor caste system. Savarkar (1922) writes, “All that the caste system has done is to regulate its noble blood on lines believed – and on the whole rightly believed – by our saintly and patriotic law-givers and kings to contribute most to fertilize and enrich all that was barren and poor, without famishing and debasing all that was flourishing and nobly endowed.”
The Integral Humanism doctrine propounded by Deendayal Upadhyay justifies the caste system to be a good social organization. Balraj Madhok, the then President of BJS too justified caste system on the grounds that different organs and limbs of the human body perform different tasks but together they constitute one human body. Likewise, different castes performed different functions and all together were one integral society (Roy, 1989, p. 66).
Stigmatizing the Minorities
In the Hindu nationalist ideologies, the minorities were represented as foreigners and seen as a threat to the Hindu Rashtra. Construction of minorities as a national threat was with the objective of instilling feeling of commonality.
Minorities continue to be victims of this construction, notwithstanding the composite culture that they share with people of India.
RSS does not accept the culture of minorities (Noorani, 2000). Minorities must accept the culture of the majority – which according to them is homogenous and monolithic, shorn of all its diversity. RSS has no criteria to determine which of the diverse cultures of majority would be acceptable as “national culture”. “Hindu” culture is to be accepted, adopted and embraced as national culture, whereas cultural contribution of Muslims and Islam is considered alien.
Muslims must give up their claims on Babri Masjid and eating of beef (Pathak, 2015). Muslims must accept, adopt and embrace national (read: Hindu) culture, race and ancestry.
The RSS affiliated organizations strike a strident posture against the minorities stigmatizing them as anti-nationals who would not be allowed inside garba (Hindu devotional dance) pandals; stigmatize consensual marriages between Muslim man and Hindu woman as an evil design of the community to abduct fertile Hindu woman and convert her – calling it ‘love jihad’; when a Muslim is sold a residential bungalow in a ‘Hindu’ locality in Ahmedabad, the VHP President thunders how this could be allowed and ordered his cadre to see that the bungalow reverts back to a Hindu; converts minorities to the majority community calling it ghar wapsi
.
It is in this light that the recent statements of Minister for Culture and Tourism must be seen calling upon to purge the western influences from Indian culture. The minister was not courting controversy as was felt by section of the media – he was stating the hard core belief of the Hindu nationalists having the political objective of infusing conservatism, polarizing communities along Hindu nationalist notion and creating space for authoritarian illiberal state.
How much ever financial liberalism the Sangh Parivar may subscribe to, political illiberalism is the core of its ideology.
