| | | Gujarat Elections 2007's Profile : | |
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|
 The
state of Gujarat went to the polls in December 2007 to elect
182
legislators, as declared by the Election Commission of India.
There were two phases of voting, on December 11
and December 16.
Vote counting for both the phases took place on December 23, 2007 and the new
Government was formed on December 25, 2007. |
|
Gujarat
Elections 2007 – vital statistics |
| Total Voters |
3.66 crore
(36.6 million) |
| Total Polling
Stations |
39,620 |
| Female Voters |
1.77 crore
(17.7 million) |
| Male Voters |
1.89 crore
(18.9 million) |
The last
Gujarat assembly elections were held in 2002 where the
BJP (Bhartiya
Janata Party), led by
Narendra Modi had claimed a comfortable
victory.
|
Gujarat
Elections 2002 – Snapshot |
|
|
Party |
% Vote |
|
BJP |
50 |
|
Congress |
39 |
|
Independents |
6 |
|
Others |
5 |
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|
Under the leadership of
Bharat Solanki,
Arjun Modhwadia and
Shankarsinh Vaghela,
Congress
had put up a tough fight in the elections.
The President of the Indian National
Congress party
Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, along with her political advisor
Ahmed Patel and
Rahul Gandhi had taken keen
and active interest in the elections.
BJP, on its part, had fired off the first salvo of
high-profile political campaigning, with national leaders and
celebrity supporters like
Rajnath Singh,
Arun Jaitley,
Om Mathur,
Navjot Singh Sidhu,
Smriti Irani, who had addressed public meetings
in various parts of Saurashtra.
BJP led by
Narendra Modi won 117 out of
182 seats in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly Elections while
Congress won 59 seats. It was
the fourth consecutive win for
BJP in Gujarat. |
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Congress had selected ‘Chakde
Gujarat - Chakde
Congress’ as the campaign
slogan for the elections while
BJP had gone with ‘Jeetega
Gujarat’.
|
Note from
JeetegaKaun
founder:
We don’t know whether
BJP’s slogan (Jeetega
Gujarat) has been inspired by our brand (Jeetega Kaun)
or not, but it sure sounds like a direct answer (in the
context of
Gujarat Elections 2007)
to the all-important question on which our brand is based:
Jeetega Kaun?
Jeetega Gujarat.
Two further points still remain to be clarified, as
follows :
 |
JeetegaKaun
is not affiliated to
BJP in any way. |
|
|
The
JeetegaKaun
portal went online and was available to global
Internet users some two months before
BJP ads with the
slogan ‘Jeetega Gujarat’ started appearing across
various publications. |
|
|
State Assembly Elections 2008
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| | | March 19, 2009 | | | The 15th Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) Elections of India are scheduled from April 16, 2009 to May 13, 2009, in order to elect 543 members of | parliament from 35 States and Union Territories of India.
Results will be declared on May 16, 2009. |
| To Read, Write Comments on any General Elections India 2009 Seat/Candidate at  [click here]. | |
|  | | Thursday, Sep. 2, 2010 (IST) |  |  | |  | | | | | Visitors' comments on Gujarat Elections 2007 forum | Total Comments : 444
Last Comment : 60 days ago |  [ Add Your Comment ] | | | S h a r e O u r B o o k m a r k |  | | | | | Welcome to | | | | We hope you have fun reading and sharing views at JeetegaKaun. | | Why not Invite Your Friends to read and share their views too? |  | | |  |
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 | Jayanti Patel (Charleston.il, United States) | | 115 days ago ( 2010-05-10 13:44:11 ) | | BJP Lover | I Know Mr.Bapu(N.K.Patel) personaly.He had best job as mayor of
Kalol Nagar Palika for 30 Months of his term as hard worker,surplass
accont in the history of Nagar Palika.Try to get paid to lower cast
worker their pension,pay etc.He is non currpte politician like our
father,We feel sorry for his lost in 2007 Election,Kalol had lost minister of Mody's cabinet,Because is worth of that post.I feel same
on those,Who had work for them and did not vote him. | |
 | SHAKTISINH (Gujrat, India) | | 251 days ago ( 2009-12-25 16:31:04 ) | | E-GRAM YOJANA | | 7-12,8-A NI NAKAL AAPVAMA E-DHARA NI MANMANI | |
| | NARESH THAKOR (Mudarda, India) | | 1 year ago ( 2009-04-21 19:57:33 ) | | - | | NARENDRA MODI P.M.IN INDIA | NARENDRA MODI IS THE CANDIDATE OF INDIA
NARESHTHAKOR(M)9 974551159 | |
| | naresh thakor (Mudarda, India) | | 1 year ago ( 2009-04-21 19:51:18 ) | | - | | e gram yogna ek gam ne vishav sathe jodti yojna se | | e gram vishav gram yojna gamda ne vishav sathe jode che.aayojna thi gujrat ni sarkar apna angna thi agl vadhi ne angdi na terve aavi gai che | |
| | ZALA DIVYARAJSINH (Raysangpur, India) | | 1 year ago ( 2009-01-29 21:45:53 ) | | E GRAM MA PAGAR APO | E GRAM MA SALARY APO
CALL ME 9898118009 | |
| | BANWARILAL VARMA (Ahmedabad, India) | | 1 year ago ( 2009-01-07 09:59:43 ) | | VOTER LIST | DATED : 7.1.2008
SIR, WHEN NEW VOTER LIST LIST WILL BE PUBLISHED ON INTERNET TO VERIFY OUR NAMES AND ADDRESS
THANKS | |
 | NARSHIH PATEL (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) | | 1 year ago ( 2008-11-24 13:33:36 ) | | NAREDRA MODI | sir we r happy to see u as our chief minister
and always would like to see u
your image is very good keep it same
we all r with u forever and forget u never
u are our ideal man
and sir u r great person
i agree with you
u did great job
Thenks bye | |
 | Zindadil (Pareshaan Nagri, Ukraine) | | 1 year ago ( 2008-10-11 00:24:22 ) | | Accountability of aggression towards the Minoritiy | People can live in harmony anywhere in the world, only when law and order is established. In a state of lawlessness, all is chaos. In a state of chaos, what is born are groups based on religion. (Common cause)
A country whose economy has just started to roll must avoid this chaos as this will ruin the stability of this country. If India wants to move forward into the new millennium then it should leave behind the differences and as one nation undivided must move forward to enjoy the spoils of a good economy.
But if we start digging into old records then we won’t be able to forget the past and hence will miss an opportunity to excel ourselves and will go back to the Old Stone Age.
Modi is a classic example of a ruler who will go down in history as tyrant and with affiliation to all the parties like RSS, BJP, VHP, SP and who knows how many more. A guy who talks what the public want to hear a byproduct of all the dictators of the past ex. Hitler. He went after the Jews and the Gypsies, Modi and all his allies going after the Christians and Muslims. How can one forcefully convert a Hindu. Let alone religion, the British could not remove the Saree of the Indian women in their 200 years of rule. It is hard to believe that today in the subcontinent of India, Hindus are being forcefully converted to Christianity.
Then who is being converted, yes there are conversions, and who are these Hindus. Yes, these are the lower caste Hindus, the sweepers, the toilet cleaners, the people who keep the Hindu cities, villages and their toilets clean. No wonder these people are being persecuted, not because of their faith, but because they dared to say no to clean their dirty laundry. Because they realized that here’s a people who are a equal opportunity employer and liked how they were treated and adopted their religion.
Do not return until you have converted to Hinduism. How can you even attract anyone to the Hindu faith with such words.
Until and unless the Hindus do not love the toilet cleaner, give him a place inside their hearts and not in the backyards, then Hindutwa looks good. Lets see a Hindu marry his or her daughter to a Bhangi (the toilet cleaner) and then we will say yes Hindutwa will succeed. Where there is no equality, there will be no religion.
What is making the Hindu mad is that who is going to clean their waste. That’s why they do not want conversions to take place. That’s why the state laws being placed.
Reality my dear friends | |
| | Anand (Mumbai, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-09-01 15:27:16 ) | | Some statements are absurd in original article | The statement saying that Bihar had efficiently managed riots in the past better than Gujarat is nothing but absurd and it shows that writer lacks efficiency in collating the data related to the communal violence in India.
I hope the writer knows that Bhagalpur is in Bihar and the massacre of Muslims in 1989 at Bhagalpur was as huge as the one happened at Gujarat. The Bhagalpur riots continued for weeks and poor Muslims & Hindus have lost their loved ones in the genocide. Gujarat is given more importance because the effected Muslim community are rich and they have even power to stop US from issuing Visa for Modi. However, Muslims suffered in Bhagalpur riots were struggling for their daily bread. This is certain discrimination towards poor Muslims by their own community in India and also the media.
Why is there a constant effort to undermine all other riots and uphold Gujarat alone by many people who talk about human rights? They are really biased against Modi. Teesta could have fought for the people of Bhagalpur, where poor street vendors, Rickshaw pullers and villagers were brutally killed during the massacre and their suffering still continues. She likes dipping her finger in the lukewarm water of politics and take bath.
Shame on the people like Teesta and others who can see only Gujarat for the sake of politics. If they are true lovers of humanity, let them serve like Mother Teresa without having wish of any returns. | |
| | Sharath (Hyd/ Bangalore, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-07-26 16:38:26 ) | | Is this what you want, Blasts, Rapes and Cheapos | Will this maddening spiral of death and destruction ever stop? Is there a way out?
Can Bangalore respond to these blasts and how. Be very careful before listening to Narrow Minded and extremely gutless People who influence many supposedly educated people - many of whom are on this blog.
We have a government talking big against terrorism, support it with their actions. How much donations did do they get?
The CM Yediyurappa has let down the state by having Gujarat CM Modi at the swearing in and now to follow Gujarat’s model, which manufactures cheap fakes. Such a gutless and cheap people as the Gujjus yet to be seen, they butchered a section of minorities and celebrated screaming out.
But pardon me did they tell all what happened to Gujaratis in 4 other countries, 3 in Africa and 1 in E. Europe who were given the same treatment 10 times over. Entire Gujju families slaughtered, properties earned over a 100 years or more seized (in one country more than 1 lakh Hindus lost entire savings, property and their women…!!) and guess what they told shameless Modi when he interfered. You telling us cheapo….get lost, and went back to rape & loot more. Is this what Non Gujju Indians, Kannadigas want?
So when in Bangalore are 1000 people going to murder pregnant woman and kick her in the stomach, burn babies and when are Kannadigas going to get it in other places.
In Kargil 5 peaks are still with the Pakis, more than 400 militants/ terrorists were given safe passage thru Indian soil to end the Kargil Conflict which was called a War for votes (India never declared war on Pakistan on that occasion). More than 1200 of our soldiers killed to remove mostly untrained Mujahideen because of political interference where the army should have taken a decision. Electronic weaponry was not provided as BJP leaders were bargaining for the highest commissions - check it out.
Is this a victory? A shame on India, called a victory.
Shame India Shame you fed the terrorists biriyani and safely sent them thru and lied only like we Indians can & others want to believe Shit is Gold.
In the Afghanistan plane hijack, the same gutless but big talking government without considering options let go off Top Terrorists and they have the guts to scream against terrorism.
This cheap BJP government made up of the uneducated asked for it, and we have to pay for it.
Come on their criminal Sriramulu with dacoit cases pending threatened HDK to put him in jail within 5 days of coming to power, who would transfer power - BJP were not cheated, but people lapped up their cheap twisted nonsense.
The useless JD(S) with a father son combo and the Congress could not even explain this to the people - the people on their part believed all that the communalists had to say.
India and Bangalore will lose its sheen under these cheapos, go on ask who started Gujarat - no not Modi it was Godhra.
-Excuse me but why did the VHP torch a train of their own people - so they could start it all as cadres ready, even if the Mossies did it - ask them they will say remember You Guys, then we say …on and on.
Cmon the almost all the Gutless Attacks was started by the VHP-RSS and their illegal other organisations, burning in Orissa, Gujarat, provoking in Assam and a hundred other places for Votes.
Expect more and respond by not fearing and moving around, there will be much more as long as this government made up of cheap rabble are around.
As far as Gujarat being no1 - it produces cheap fakes, or cheap stuff. Check the Patel flask which keeps the water hot for 3 hours - a Eagle flask for 24 hours plus. The Gujju bhai tells me what's in a flask, its a mirror inside - Uneducateds.
As more and more Gujjus are raped, property taken over - Cmon clap for Modi ... cmon clap, clap clap.
I rest my case once again - Is this what India and Karnataka want. | |
| | ANKUSH KHANNA (Amritsar, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-04-03 17:56:37 ) | | ALWAYS WIN BJP | Hi
I AM ANKUSH KHANNA .NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU WO HIRA HAI JO KABHI KABHI PAADA HO TA HAI.HAMARI KHUSH KISMATI HAI KI ,HAMARI GURU NAGARI KO AISA M.P MILA .AUR US SE BADI BAAT WOH BJP KE MP HAI.JIS SE HAMARA VIKAS HI VIKAS HOGO.BALKI 2009 LOK SABHA KE ELECTION ME BJP KI SARKAR BANEGIMERI REQUEST HAI KI.NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU KO BHARAT RATTAN MILNA CHIYA......... | |
| | Rakesh Chaudhry (Fayetteville, United States) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-03-04 00:31:09 ) | | Modi is Hindu Osama bin laden | | He allows killing of innocent people, their ethnic cleansing , Gujarat is discriminating muslim since 2002, They do not have job oppertunities, they are living as 2nd class citizens. Modi is terrorist and much worse than Taliban in Afganistan. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-02-07 23:59:45 ) | | Faith attack | Faith attack
December 27, 2007
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A A AChristmas is usually a season of good cheer. Not so for the over one lakh Christians of Orissa’s tribaldominated Kandhmal district as simmering communal tension reached a flashpoint turning their celebrations into a tragedy.
What began as a dispute between local Christians and Hindus over the erection of welcome arches for the festivities at Brahmanigaon village on the eve of Christmas, snowballed into a major conflagration the next day. Mobs damaged three churches and vandalised 12 others, also targeting minority-run schools and institutions.
With the state police apparently illprepared to deal with the violence, one person was killed and more than 24 sustained injuries in clashes which occurred in several parts of the district. The state administration was forced to impose curfew in the troubled zones to restore peace.
The violence coincided with a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) sponsored bandh called to protest the attack on Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, a social worker, while he was on his way to Brahmanigaon village in the wake of clashes the previous day. VHP state general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath says Laxmananand sustained injuries on his head and face when miscreants, allegedly from the Christian community, stopped his vehicle and beat him up.
However, Christian leaders insist that the “reign of terror” was unleashed by VHP and Bajrang Dal workers who led the bandh from the front. “It was a terrible night. With armed goons roaming the streets we could not move out of our houses, let alone celebrate Christmas,” said Arup Jena, president, Oriya Baptist Church, Phulbani, and joint secretary of the All Orissa United Christian Forum.
Police are being blamed for not taking preventive measuresThe spate of violence subsided only the next day after over 23 platoons of armed reserve police were rushed to the district. But the police are to blame for not taking preventive measures earlier.With the battlelines drawn between Christian missionaries and the Hindutva brigade, the district remains communally sensitive.
The clash between members of the two communities at Brahmanigaon on December 24 should have alerted the police, especially with VHP giving a bandh call.
Christian activists charge Laxmananand with having a hand in several attacks against churches and missionaries in the past few years. “The atmosphere of hatred has been building up slowly,” says Jena. Laxmananand refutes the allegations and points an accusing finger at Rajya Sabha MP, Radha Kant Nayak, a Christian, for engineering the attack on him.
“They wanted to turn the entire area into a Christian belt but people like me are an obstacle. Therefore I have been attacked,” Laxmananand claimed. But Nayak denied his involvement in the incident.
Given that the killing of missionary Graham Staines had also taken place in Orissa, there has been concern about violence spreading to other parts of the state. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has appealed to the people to maintain calm. But for the communities to feel secure, the state will have to take proactive measures to keep the peace.
Ashutosh Mishra | |
 | Ashok hari bhadvina (Leicester, United Kingdom) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-02-03 23:05:28 ) | | JGJHGJHJHHKHKHK | | somlo, kathiyo ane rano aa badha ne lat mari party mathi bhar kadho ane himat hoi ne to modi vajya ne pan ghare besadi dyo | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-29 23:17:17 ) | | What will the Vatican do? | What is behind Hindu-Christian violence
By Dan Isaacs
BBC News, Orissa
Some of the displaced are in a refugee camp in the town of Bamunigan
Hundreds of families in a remote region of the eastern Indian state of Orissa remain homeless and without support after a wave of violence swept the region last month.
The minority Christian community in Kandhamal district, many of whom are forest tribal people and low-caste Dalit converts from Hinduism to to Christianity, say they've been targeted by radical Hindu nationalist organisations seeking to put an end to the church and its activities in the region.
This is rejected by the Hindu groups who say the violence is the consequence of local issues unconnected with their presence in the area.
The district has remained under night-time curfew since the tensions erupted and has been largely inaccessible to foreign journalists until now.
Repeated pattern
Father Ravi Samasundar stands amid the burned out ruins of his church in the town of Bamunigan.
Lakhanananda Saraswati says he was attacked by a mob
"They brought oil, and kerosene, piled everything they could find in the middle of the church and set fire to it. They destroyed or looted everything."
Across this remote region, deep in the highland forests, the pattern was repeated over and over.
Churches were ransacked, entire villages razed and their inhabitants forced to flee into the forests.
The violence, which began on Christmas Eve, has now largely abated, but the plight of the people has not.
Many are now living in the shells of their burned out homes, all their possessions lost.
The conflict has pitted Hindu against Christian, tribal against non-tribal.
All share some responsibility for what has happened, all have suffered. Years of relatively peaceful co-existence of these communities, living a fragile rural existence, has been shattered.
Seething
The Christian community blames the virulently anti-Christian rhetoric of Hindu nationalist organisations; and one person in particularly, a revered local holy man, Lakhanananda Saraswati.
Father Ravi Samasundar seethes with anger at what has been happening. "Saraswati speaks against Christianity, against the priests, against the nuns," he says.
Hindu activists accuse the local Christian community of stirring up trouble by making "unreasonable" demands - a reference to their attempts to be granted the same preferential access to jobs and education given to low-caste Hindus and tribal communities.
"Political parties or organisations have nothing to do with this. It is a clear social problem", says Jagabandhu Mishra, editor of Rashtra Deepa - a newspaper in the local Oriya language, which reflects the more extreme views of the Hindu nationalists.
When I met Mr Misra in his office, the front page of a recent addition of the paper lay on the desk between us.
It accused the 'Sons of Jesus' of attacking Hindus, and reported on a Christian mob brutally injuring the local Hindu leader Saraswati, an event which triggered much of the worst violence, and which subsequently turned out to be entirely false.
Was there, I asked, a campaign of conversion, or re-conversion of Christians to Hinduism in the area? "If those Hindus who converted to Christianity want to come back," he told me, "the door is now open to them."
Christian mob
No side is left blameless in this conflict. After the initial attacks on church institutions and the shops and homes of Christian families, Christian mobs responded in kind.
A Hindu woman walks through her destroyed village
In the village of Gadapur, Hindu families, standing amid the charred rubble of their homes, told me how a mob of tribal Christians had descended on them, forcing them to flee into the forest, before destroying every shop and dwelling in the village.
For those now living in makeshift tents, or in the ruins of their old homes, aid from the state government has been limited: a few tents, some plastic sheeting, food and cooking utensils.
But far more is needed on a sustained basis.
Ministers from the Hindu nationalist BJP-controlled state government have toured the area, made promises, but pledged little constructive support for those in most need.
Perhaps more alarmingly, NGOs and church organisations have been banned from offering direct assistance. The official reason given is that by helping one community and not another, they may provoke further violence.
Interest rates
Church and other aid organisations, desperate to help their local communities see sinister motives at work.
This elderly Hindu woman lives with her adopted Christian son
"This conflict is fought in the name of religion," says NGO worker Kailash Chandra Dandpath, "but the real motives are economic and political.
"The business community here, with its links to the Hindu nationalist organisations, were once in complete control here. They'd lend money to the tribals and the Dalits at incredibly high rates of interest, up to 120% per year, and then the debtor would have to sell his farm produce to the lender at a price controlled by the businessmen."
Mr Dandpath is describing the system still widely practiced in India, of bonded exploitation, where a family might well be indebted to the lender for generations.
"What's happening now", says Mr Dandpath, "is that the farmers, the most marginalised of whom are from tribal and Christian communities, are being linked by the NGOs to local banks, lending at perhaps 10% interest a year - ten times less.
"This is clearly a threat to the businessmen. And they are trying to break this link, using religion as an excuse... in India, the easiest method of politics is to take religion to divide and rule."
The dynamics of conflict are rarely easy to dissect.
There are always economic and social divisions within society to be exploited by those more rich and powerful, particularly when the existing order is threatened.
And there's no doubt that the diverse communities in Kandhamal district have suffered a terrible tragedy in recent weeks, which threatens to break down the existing delicate social order there forever. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-23 23:33:51 ) | | 13 rapists, murderers convicted in Gujarat riot ca | 13 rapists, murderers convicted in Gujarat riot case
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By Khabrein.info Correspondent
New Delhi, Jan 18: In a landmark judgment, a Mumbai court today convicted 13 rapists, murderers in the gang rape of Bilkis Bano, one of the few cases that had caught the eyes of the country during Gujarat riots. The accused include a police official also.
Bilkis Bano who was pregnant at the time of the incident was not only raped repeatedly by scores of men but also her small child was brutally killed in front of her eyes. 13 other family members of Bilkis Bano were also killed while most women were gang raped by her tormenters. It included one of her sister who was killed on the spot after being raped.
Bilkis was left for dead after severe beating and gang rape, but was able to gain consciousness and was able to reach a relief camp in Godhra with the help of some good samaritans.
Today in a landmark judgment additional sessions judge U.D. Salvi held 13 of the 20 accused guilty of rape, murder, assault, conspiracy and causing enmity between two communities. The remaining seven accused, including five police officials and two doctors, were acquitted.
The convicts who will be delivered the verdict on Monday include police officer Somabhai Khoyabhai Gori, Jaswantbhai Nai, Govindbhai Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radheshyam Shah, Bipinchandra Joshi, Kesherbhai Vohania, Pradip Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, Ramesh Chandania and Naresh Modia (dead).
The court also acquitted four police officials including Narpatsingh Ranchodbhai, Idris Abdul Siayed, Bhikhbhai Patela and B.S. Bhagoria.
This correspondent who was in Gujarat reporting for a news website met Bilkis Bano in the early days of the riots. She was staying in a relief camp run by Maulana Umar who was later put in the jail. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-23 23:09:13 ) | | No Moditva in Maharashtra | No Moditva in Maharashtra
Author: Deepak Lokande Date: 21 Jan 2008
Illustration/ Sameer Pawar
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the latest toast, the favourite politician for many industrialists. The non-corrupt, no-nonsense, transparent administrator, who runs his state like a CEO, is how they see him.
He was told to tell Mumbai how he won Gujarat and in effect, the Bharatiya Janata Party would like us to believe, that’s how they plan to run Maharashtra if they come to power. But will they?
Let’s look how Modi got it right in Gujarat, and see if it can be duplicated in Maharashtra.
There’s no denying the fact that Modi got phenomenal backing in the wake of violence unleashed against Muslims. My Gujarati friends told me they (Gujaratis) wanted to do it for long ‘teach the Muslims a lesson’, and Modi gave them the courage to do it. How the Gujarat government protected many of those behind the Godhra riots is well documented.
But, such support doesn’t last long. The Shiv Sena-BJP have seen it in Maharashtra, where they rode to power in 1995, on the back of the 1992-93 riots. The alliance government swept the 1996 Lok Sabha elections, but the honeymoon was over by 1998, when they were defeated fair and square in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections in the state. In 1999, again, the saffron alliance couldn’t defeat a split Congress and a nascent Nationalist Congress Party. Despite the poor performance by the Congress-NCP government (1999-2004), the Sena-BJP couldn’t win again in 2004.
So, how did Modi do the trick? He made his Hindu vote-bank to believe that Ramrajya was back under him. Three years ago, when I visited Gujarat, I found the state was weaker than Maharashtra.
Loadshedd ing was rampant in Gujarat, too. Roads were not that good and the only Expressway in the state was barely 60 km and had only four lanes. Most foreign direct investment had gone to the special economic zones which are essentially capital intensive and offer a low capital-employment ratio, bringing little revenue to the state, thanks to tax holidays.
But, bureaucrats supported the CM to the hilt, and the wheels in the government moved faster than elsewhere. To say there is no corruption in Gujarat is false. I’ll quote pickle king Lakhubhai Pathak, who claimed he had bribed the then prime minister, the late P V Narsimha Rao. His only grouse was that Rao did not keep his promise in lieu of the bribe. In Gujarat, I’m told, the promises are kept and lubricants required to move the wheels are less.
Now, let’s look at Maharashtra. The bureaucrats have lost interest in the system. Farmers are committing suicide, power projects are not coming in and Mumbai the goldmine is being squeezed by politicians, who have turned into builders to milk redevelopment in the city.
What we need in the state is active bureaucracy, not a Narendra Modi. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-23 23:02:17 ) | | Insaaf Hoga, aaj Raj karo, kal saza katogay Modi | Mumbai court convict 11 Gujarat riot accused
MUMBAI (ICNS): In a major judicial victory for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots, a Mumbai special judge sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment in the Bilkis Bano rape and murder case. The case was shifted out of Gujarat to the city and handed over to the CBI by the Supreme Court, after activists raised doubts about the impartiality of the trial in Gujarat.
Special Judge UD Salvi convicted the accused under various counts of murder, rape, raping a pregnant woman, rioting with deadly weapons, causing disappearance of evidence, unlawful assembly and conspiracy.
Bilkis and her family were attacked by a mob on March 3, 2002 in Dahod district of Gujarat. Four children, including Bilkis’ three-year-old daughter, and four women were killed, and six went missing as the marauding crowd attacked brutally in the Muslim group. Bilkis, then five months pregnant, was gang raped.
A police constable among the accused was also sentenced to three-years in jail for framing false records, and refusing to lodge an FIR on Bilkis’ request. Seven of the accused were acquitted.
The judge did not entertain the request of the prosecution for death penalty for those who were charged with raping Bilkis. The judge said death penalty would be awarded in only the rarest of the rare cases.
In New Delhi, Bilkis, who has fought without any compromise for justice, appealed to the CBI and Gujarat state government to file an appeal against the acquittal of the seven. Addressing a press conference here, Bilkis said her family was still scarred of living in Gujarat and was shuttling between shelters. Bilkis said there were many other Muslim women who too suffered like her, and they must also get justice. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-23 22:59:32 ) | | Bal Thackery | NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 (Mumbai)
In an article in the party mouthpiece Saamna, Sena chief Bal Thackeray has a taken on BJP's poster boy, Narendra Modi.
Thackeray said that the Gujarat Chief Minister came to power because of the 2002 Godhra riots.
Thackeray said, ''Modi was benefited by Godhra and the Guajrat riots. It is because of these that he came to power, people of Gujarat began to feel that he is their saviour.''
''Muslims are scared of him. But when power goes to our head, you can't say how a person will behave,'' he added.
Indicating that the Hindu voters in Maharashtra would not take take to Modi's brand of politics, Thackeray wrote that people in Maharashtra are smart and will not accept anybody so easily.
This criticism comes just days after the Shiv Sena objected to a Bharat Ratna for Atal Bihari Vajapayee.
Meanwhile, the BJP reacted cautiously to the Sena supremo's criticism of Modi.
''We will stay behind the Shiv Sena. There is no question of us going ahead. The BJP and the Shiv Sena will together fight the elections and win in the Assembly and the Lok Sabha polls,'' said Gopinath Munde, Leader, BJP. | |
| | FAISHAL GHASURA (Palanpur, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-18 07:43:35 ) | | QUERY ABOUT ELECTION | | MORE IDEAS | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-11 01:37:16 ) | | gangraped in Uttar Pradesh | Dalit gangraped in Uttar Pradesh
Express News ServicePosted online: Monday, January 07, 2008 at 0000 hrs Print Email
KANPUR:: On New Year eve, 32-year-old Ratna (name changed), a Dalit, was allegedly gangraped by her neighbour Surendra Kumar and three others in Ravidaspuram locality under Barra police station. The Barra police, however, registered a case of loot and manhandling and arrested Surendra on Saturday. The others are still absconding. Ratna said that the incident took place when she was alone at her house. She alleged that Surendra, in an inebriated condition, had barged into her house with his friends. They raped her and escaped with cash. “Initially, my family did not want to lodge a complaint but I decided to register a case,” she said. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-11 01:29:31 ) | | Who are Dalits? | Who are Dalits?
Caste system
One of the more confusing mysteries of India is her caste system. The caste system, which exists already for more than 3000 years, seems to have been developed by the Brahmins (priests) in order to maintain their superiority. Eventually, the caste system became formalised into 4 distinct classes (Varnas).
At the top are the Brahmins, the priests and arbiters of what is right and wrong in matters of religion and society. Next come the Kshatriyas, who are soldiers and administrators. The Vaisyas are the artisan and commercial class, and finally, the Sudras are the farmers and the peasant class. These four castes are said to have come from Brahma's mouth (Brahmin), arms (Kshatriyas), thighs (Vaisyas) and feet (Sudras).
Beneath the four main castes is a fifth group, the Scheduled Caste. They literally have no caste. They are the untouchables, the Dalits, which means oppressed, downtrodden and exploited social group.
The Dalits
A Dalit is not considered to be part of the human society, but something, which is beyond that. The Dalits perform the most menial and degrading jobs. Sometimes Dalits perform important jobs, but this is mostly not socially recognised. Dalits are seen as polluting for higher caste people. If a higher caste Hindu is touched by an untouchable or even had a Dalit's shadow across them, they consider themselves to be polluted and have to go through a rigorous series of rituals to be cleansed.
In India there are approximately 240 million Dalits. This means that nearly 25% of the population is Dalit. It also means that in a country, where everybody is supposed to have equal rights and opportunities, 1 out of 5 persons is condemned to be untouchable.
In general one can say that being a Brahmin means that you are more privileged. This can imply having a good education and, accordingly, a more powerful position in the society. Being born as a Dalit you will be less off and because of less education you will have a less good job. In daily life it has a lot of consequences of being a Dalit.
Dalits are poor, deprived and socially backward. Poor means that they do not have access to enough food, health care, housing and/or clothing (which means that their physiological and safety needs are not fulfilled). They also do not have access to education and employment. With deprived we would like to underline the injustice they face in every days life. Officially, everybody in India has the same rights and duties, but the practice is different. Social backwardness, lack of access to food, education and health care keeps them in bondage of the upper castes.
Nevertheless, in the recent past the Dalit society has also thrown up powerful leaders, like Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He was on of the most powerful personalities to stand for the rights of Dalits. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-10 20:41:21 ) | | Dalit's eyes pierced for eloping with upper caste | Dalit's eyes pierced for eloping with upper caste girl
Nanded (Maharashtra), Agencies:
A Dalit youth had his eyes pierced for eloping with his upper-caste girlfriend whose relatives also beat up the boy and his friend in Sategaon village near here last week.
The Nanded district police have arrested six of the girl’s 12 relatives allegedly involved in the assault under the Atrocities on Scheduled Castes (Prevention) Act and are on the lookout for others, sources said.
In an apparent attempt to keep the crime under wraps, the relatives of the 15-year old girl, Premala Jadhav, admitted the Dalit youth Chandrakant Gaikwad and his friend Milind Jondhale in two hospitals in Nanded. They also warned Gaikwad’s parents against approaching the police, sources said.
Chandrakant and Milind told the police that Premala’s relatives caught them in Milind’s house in Khamareddy in Andhra Pradesh, where the three had fled last Saturday, and brought them to Sategaon in a jeep.
The assaulters had gagged Chandrakant and Milind while beating them all through the night of January 5 and piercing their eyes, said the police sources.
“When we fainted from severe thrashing, they sprinkled water on our faces to bring us back to consciousness and beat us up again,” the sources quoted Chandrakant and Milind as saying. “We have made the arrests on the basis of the two young men’s statements and started interrogating the accused in what looks like a clear case of atrocity falling under the ambit of the Act,” Superintendent of Police Ravindra Singhal said.
Singhal said, while it is true that Chandrakant has sustained injuries in both his eyes and Milind in one, the version that their eyes were pierced is not true. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-09 03:37:30 ) | | Kenya: People affected by violence Indians first, | http://www.merinews.com/c atFull.jsp?articleID=1290 90
Posted by: hello_abc on January 06, 2008 10:03:22 PM (26 Reads)
Summary :
There is an upsurge of ethnic violence against Indians in Kenya but at such a time instead of mobilising support from all Indians towards the beleaguered Indians in Kenya, the media is emphasising that they are Gujaratis first and Indians later. The point that vexes me is how can people of Indian origin, settled in Kenya for decades and generations, be called Gujaratis? Agreed we are still stuck with regionalism within the country and an Assamese would not see eye to eye with a Hindibhashi (Hindi speaking individual); that a Tamil and Kannadiga would find some reason to exchange blows and a Marathi would not be glad if he had to marry his child into Uttar Pradesh; yet when it comes to ethnicity, we are Indians first. Aren’t we? Especially if we are outside our country, thousands of miles away in a foreign land, will the foreigner there identify us as Indian or Gujarati or Marathi or Punjabi? Did the Indians in Kenya visit the Indian embassy in Nairobi or the Gujarati, Bengali and Assamese embassies?
Full Text :
‘GUJARATIS ON tenterhooks’, ‘Save Gujaratis’, ‘Gujaratiyon par nishana’. These are the headlines television channels and newspapers carry. But surprisingly, these headlines do not refer to the inhabitants of the western state of Gujarat in India but to the inhabitants of the African country of Kenya; to those Indians who probably have their roots in Gujarat but are settled in Kenya for the past fifty, sixty years or even more.
The Indian community plays a significant role in the economy of Kenya because of its successful business ventures. Recently they have been subjected to violence; there have been attacks on their property and businesses. This is because they are close to the ruling party, National Unity headed by President Mwai Kibaki. Kibaki, who belongs to the Kikuyu tribe; the tribe is the main business community of Kenya. The fact that Indians in Kenya have strong ties with the Kikuyu tribe because of their business interests has disconcerted the opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The ODM is comprised of members belonging to the other tribe of Kenya—Luo. The ODM has been responsible for ethnic violence against Indians for the past three or four days. This intensification of violence has already claimed around 300 lives, though no Indian is reported to have been killed.
In Kisumu, the epicentre of the violence, Indians have taken shelter in the Swaminarayan temple. But the rioting has now spread to places like Mombassa, Nakuru, Eldoret and capital Nairobi where there are Indians in significant numbers. The shocked Indians are forced to flee to neighbouring countries like Uganda and Tanzania. The Indian embassy at Nairobi is providing emergency visas to people who want to come to India. Reporting this, the headline of a major newspaper says in bold, “Gujaratis, prepare to flee Kenya, get Indian visas”.
The point that vexes me is how can people of Indian origin, settled in Kenya for decades and generations, be called Gujaratis? Agreed we are still stuck with regionalism within the country and an Assamese would not see eye to eye with a Hindibhashi (Hindi speaking individual); that a Tamil and Kannadiga would find some reason to exchange blows and a Marathi would not be glad if he had to marry his child into Uttar Pradesh; yet when it comes to ethnicity, we are Indians first. Aren’t we?
Especially if we are outside our country, thousands of miles away in a foreign land, will the foreigner there identify us as Indian or Gujarati or Marathi or Punjabi? Did the Indians in Kenya visit the Indian embassy in Nairobi or the Gujarati, Bengali and Assamese embassies? When we leave for foreign shores we leave with an Indian passport. When we arrive at any airport anywhere in the world, we are only Indians. The headline clearly mentions that the so-called Gujaratis needed Indian visas to come to India. This means that for quite some time they have been Kenyan citizens. So do they call them Kenyan Gujaratis there? Do they have Gujarati passports to show to the Indian embassy? Is it not obvious that we cease to be Gujaratis, Marathis and Punjabis once we leave the country and are only Indians? Why is the media hell-bent on driving home the point that the traumatised in Kenya are specifically Gujaratis? Does it really matter which Indian state, town or district they belong to? They are Indians and it is the responsibility of the government of India to take appropriate measures for their safety in Kenya.
Either the media is too ignorant and needs to get its facts straight or it has one more frivolous reason for Modi-bashing, which has sadly become a fashion statement of late. Now that he has convincingly regained power, they need something to project him in bad light. How else does one explain the surprise visit of the media to Modi and shamelessly asking him about the plight of the Gujaratis in Kenya? Don’t they understand that Modi’s responsibilities are towards all the people living on the land of Gujarat in India and not towards every Gujarati in Nairobi, London and New Jersey?
There are Indians living in every part of the world. If ever they are in any kind of trouble because of their ethnicity, then it’s the responsibility of each and every Indian to do his bit to support them. The Indians in Kenya have been sticking together in this time of crisis. They have not divided themselves into Gujaratis and others. Then why is the media doing so? Take a moment to think and ask yourself whether you agree or disagree. Stop playing on regionalism. Don’t encourage it. Call yourself, especially beyond our shores, a true Indian only. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-08 05:59:14 ) | | hum laye hain toofaan sey kashti nikal key | paase sabhii ulaT gae dushman kii chaal ke
akshar sabhii palaT gae bhaarat ke bhaal ke
ma.njil pe aayaa mulk har balaa ko Taal ke
sadiyo.n ke baad phir u.De bAdal gulaal ke
ham laae hai.n tuufaan se kashtii nikaal ke
is desh ko rakhanaa mere bachcho.n sambhaal ke
tum hii bhavishhy ho mere bhaarat vishaal ke
is desh ko rakhanaa mere bachcho.n sambhaal ke
1) dekho kahii.n barabaad nA hoe ye bagiichaa
isako hR^iday ke khuun se baapuu ne hai sii.nchaa
rakkhaa hai ye chiraaG shahiido.n ne baal ke, is desh ko...
2) duniyaa ke daa.nv pe.nch se rakhanaa nA vaastaa
ma.njil tumhaarii dUr hai lambaa hai raastaa
bhaTakaa nA de koii tumhe.n dhokhe me.n Daal ke, is desh ko...
3) aiTam bamo.n ke jor pe ai.nThii hai ye duniyaa
baaruud ke ik Dher pe baiThii hai ye duniyaa
tum har kadam uThaanaa zaraa dekha bhaal ke, is desh ko...
4) aaraam kii tum bhuul bhulayyaa me.n nA bhuulo
sapano.n ke hi.nDolo.n pe magan hoke nA jhuulo
ab vaqt aa gayaa hai mere ha.Nsate hue phuulo.n
uTho chhalaa.Ng maar ke aakaash ko chhuu lo
tum gaa.D do gagan pe tira.ngaa uchhaal ke, is desh ko...
% | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-08 05:57:11 ) | | Jaagriti good movie | aao bachcho.n tumhe.n dikhaae.n jhaa.Nkii hi.ndustaan kii
is miTTii se tilak karo ye dharatii hai balidaan kii
va.nde maataram ...
uttar me.n rakhavaalii karataa parvataraaj viraaT hai
dakshiN me.n charaNo.n ko dhotaa saagar kaa samraaT hai
jamunaa jii ke taT ko dekho ga.ngaa kaa ye ghaaT hai
baaT-baaT pe haaT-haaT me.n yahaa.N niraalaa ThaaTh hai
dekho ye tasviire.n apane gaurav kii abhimaan kii,
is miTTii se ...
ye hai apanaa raajapuutaanaa naaz ise talavaaro.n pe
isane saaraa jiivan kaaTaa barachhii tiir kaTaaro.n pe
ye prataap kaa vatan palaa hai aazaadii ke naaro.n pe
kuud pa.Dii thii yahaa.N hazaaro.n pad{}miniyaa.N a.ngaaro.n pe
bol rahii hai kaN kaN se kurabaanii raajasthaan kii
dekho mulk maraaTho.n kaa ye yahaa.N shivaajii Dolaa thaa
muGalo.n kii taakat ko jisane talavaaro.n pe tolaa thaa
har paavat pe aag lagii thii har patthar ek sholaa thaa
bolii har-har mahaadev kii bachchaa-bachchaa bolaa thaa
yahaa.N shivaajii ne rakhii thii laaj hamaarii shaan kii
is miTTii se ...
jaliyaa.N vaalaa baag ye dekho yahaa.N chalii thii goliyaa.N
ye mat puuchho kisane khelii yahaa.N khuun kii holiyaa.N
ek taraf ba.nduuke.n dan dan ek taraf thii Toliyaa.N
maranevaale bol rahe the inaqalaab kii boliyaa.N
yahaa.N lagaa dii bahano.n ne bhii baajii apanii jaan kii
is miTTii se ...
ye dekho ba.ngaal yahaa.N kaa har chappaa hariyaalaa hai
yahaa.N kaa bachchaa-bachchaa apane desh pe maranevaalaa hai
Dhaalaa hai isako bijalii ne bhuuchaalo.n ne paalaa hai
muTThii me.n tuufaan ba.ndhaa hai aur praaN me.n jvaalaa hai
janmabhuumi hai yahii hamaare viir subhaashh mahaan kii
is miTTii se ... | |
| | Outraged (Mumbai, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-07 03:23:01 ) | | Language | Please read as "person named "Yogesh" and "Sunell" DID NOT BRING themselves to such a low level"
Sorry about that Yogesh and Sunell, if you were reading this | |
| | Outraged (Mumbai, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-07 03:18:43 ) | | Language | | I was reading some of the comments from Gujarat elections, and one particular seat I saw a lot of comments. I looked at that and found that one particular person was using such a horrified language, that I felt like abandoning this site and wished that I could really confront him. It was Sabarmati election, and this person used cursed language. I believe that if Jeetega Kaun has some way of blocking horrible language like what I read, written by "Rakesh", it will serve a better purpose. Cultured people do not write such things. I am glad that the person named "Yogesh" and Sunell" bring themselves to such a low level like Rakesh. I must congratulate them from restraining themselves. If somebody uses cursed language to make his point, people do get turned off from them. There is a say that when you do not have any solid or valid argument use "Bakavaas" and foul language to shut up people, I believe that this in turn shows that what a low level of "Sabhyata" this man Rakesh has, and what kind of children he is going to raise, if he has any, and what kind of woman will get married to him to raise his type of children and so on. I understand everybody is not same, but showing that you can use technology, and another language to show your bad mouth and thoughts is very disgusting. Jeetega Kaun is a new site and I wish that you will control such writing. I enjoyed a lot of discussion and it is good to have different opinions and debates. Let us keep it the good way going on. Good Luck | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 03:17:07 ) | | Orissa Riots | Opp blames BJD-BJP for communal riots
BHUBANESWAR: Opposition political parties stepped up pressure on the ruling BJD-BJP combine holding it responsible for the communal riots in Kandhamal district. The AICC today demanded a probe into the incidents of Church burning and Christmas eve violence unleashed upon miniorities of Kandhamal district in Orissa. The Naveen Patnaik government has failed to protect the minorities and it exhibited callousness charged AICC leader in-charge for Orissa Mr Ajay Maken. In a statement issued from Delhi, Maken said there were enough indications for the government to proactively undertake steps to maintain law and order and communal harmony amongst the people, instead the government exhibited its characteristic unmindful ness. He informed that the AICC was keeping a close watch on the situation in the state and was in constant touch with the local party leadership.
The Orissa Pradesh Congress Committee would also undertake an inquiry into the incident and submit a report within three days of lifting of curfew in the area, he added. The Left parties and NCP charged the state government of failing to protect the minorities. In fact the police administration has collapsed and remained a mute spectator to the riots, they alleged. Taking a dig at the state government, they said it could not protect its own Minister whose house was attacked yesterday. Meanwhile newly-formed political party Samruddha Orissa today cast doubts on the ruling alliance of the state for the Kandhmal group clash incident, as the event took place just after the saffron party won Gujarat assembly election. If not checked timely, the ‘communal poison’ will spread everywhere, it warned. Mr. Gorachand Barik, vice president of the party said Kandhamal district had witnessed many clashes political, cast-based and communal. He urged upon political parties to help restore communal harmony in the area and to restrain from trying to take political mileage from the incident.
Kandhamal riots The Hindu Jagaran Samukhya today blamed the police administration, a NGO and a MP belonging to the minority community for the riots in Kandhamal district.The police administration remained silent and failed to enforce laws relating to conversions in the district which are promoted by the MP and the NGO, they charged at a press conference held here today. The Samukhya demanded a public apology from the Christian community for the attack on Swami Laxmananda Saraswati. They also wanted the police to immediately arrest all those who were involved in the attack.The Samukhya also alleged that temples had been attacked at three places of Kandhamal district yesterday. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 03:15:17 ) | | Malaysia | Malaysian Indians and Indian Muslims
A group of about 2000 agitated Indians, mostly originating from Tamil Nadu, speaking Tamil as their mother tongue, came out on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, declaring to be proceeding to British Embassy, to present a memorandum, demanding trillions of US dollars, as compensation from the British, for having deprived them an honorable living in their own native country, forcing them to a life of gross exploitation and leaving them unprotected, when they gave independence to Malaysia. Malaysian police reacted like any law and order authority and fired tear gas shells into the crowd that had not been given the clearance to hold such huge gathering or march to a diplomatic mission of a foreign country. The mob was targeted by water cannons that proved ineffective. The police later started arresting the agitators. The demand on British now turned protest against Malaysian government for having discriminating laws that gave preferential treatment to Bhoomiputra (sons of the soil, the Muslim Malays who form a majority in the country).
A Reuters report adds:
"The sheer size of the protest, called by a Hindu rights group, represents a political challenge for the government as it heads toward possible early elections in the next few months.
Ethnic Indians from around the country swarmed into Kuala Lumpur for the rally, despite a virtual lock-down of the capital over the previous three days and warnings from police and the government that people should not take part.
"Malaysian Indians have never gathered in such large numbers in this way...," said organiser P. Uthaya Kumar, of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).
"They are frustrated and have no job opportunities in the government or the private sector. They are not given business licences or places in university," he said, adding that Indians were also incensed by some recent demolitions of Hindu temples.
While in India, members of Parliament demanded government to intercede with Malaysian government to get justice for the plight of Malaysians of Indian origin, who have now declared themselves as Hindu rightists, there was a degree of reluctance on the part of Manmohan Singh government to appear to be interfering in the internal affairs of a friendly neighboring country. The hesitation is all the more justified, as India has been rocked by their own people from the Muslim community, who had suffered a Marxist crackdown where people were killed, women were raped and abducted, farmland was confiscated and occupied by Communist party goons, while the West Bengal Chief Minister shamefacedly justified the gross atrocities by its party cadre as a payment in the same kind, referring to opposition routing of their cadre from Nandigram some months ago. A subsequent Muslim group of a couple of thousands of protesting Muslims, blocked traffic on the street of the capital city of Kolkata and police had to resort to tear gas, lathi charges and mass arrests. Some Muslim groups have added the case of one Taslima Nasrin, a declared Muslim, who had been writing very derogatorily against Islamic sharia and the Holy Prophet and for which she was run out of her own country, Bangladesh and whom Indian government had given shelter in the country, as per Muslims, to deliberately spite them.
Observers both in India and the wider world cannot help comparing the situation of the two minorities in two democratic countries, Malaysia and India, where the government stood in the dock for openly discriminating against a substantial minority of their own citizen.
The first distinction that crops up is that while Malaysian Indians are not the original inhabitants of the country, Indian Muslims are from the same racial and ethnic groups as their compatriots. Indian Muslims have not arrived from outside.
At best, an overwhelming majority of them are converted from their earlier religious dispensations. The discrimination against them is on the basis of their religion and at one level, race too, as they are not from the higher caste Hindus, who are effectively ruling the nation for the past sixty years, after the British left in August 1947.
The second distinction between the two minorities, the Malaysian Indians and Indian Muslims is that of religion. Both minorities have different religion than the religion of the majority community. While Malaysian Indians are Hindus with a miniscule Muslim presence, Indian Muslims follow Islam. The religious difference is totally reversed in the case of two countries. Hinduism is the religion of the majority in India, and the minority in Malaysia, while Islam is the religion of minority in India and of the majority in Malaysia.
The third point of distinction is that while Malaysian Indians form 7% of the population and number 1.5 millions, Indian Muslims form 15% of the population and number about 150 million.
The fourth distinction is that there is no record of organised physical attacks on Malaysian Indian either during British rule or after Malaysia became an independent nation. Communal riots in Malaysia were between Malays and Chinese, the other prominent minority group, or 'working class' conflagrations. Malay majority and Indian minority never clashed directly in any so-called communal riots.
In contrast, Indian Muslims have suffered thousands of communal riots, where Hindu mobs and Hindu police killed hundreds and thousands of Indian Muslims, looted and burned their properties and rendered them destitute without any compensation for the atrocities suffered.
In a typical face-off with law and order authorities, while Malaysian authorities have not fired any shots, Indian police would have and had resorted to pointblank firing in the crowd. The count of Muslims dead by police firing would run into hundreds of thousands over the period of last 60 years.
There is no record of any Muslim country officially registering its protest with Indian authorities over atrocities inflicted on their fellow religionists. Pakistan did voice protest but keeping on the right side of the non-interference principle, it appears to have never lodged any protest over Indian Muslim killed in riots, even the Gujarat riots, which by common consent is being treated as genocidal and state sponsored pogrom.
In contrast, Indian government is now reported to have taken up the matter at official level with the Malaysian government. If the report is correct; then India will expose itself to official protests from other Muslim countries over its past record of Muslim massacres and any future communal attacks.
Indian Muslims as a group had never threatened or joined any foreign terrorist or militant groups to seek redress of their grievances with their Hindu compatriots or their government. Even the Muslim-baiter US President Bush had publicly admitted and registered his amazement that Indian Muslims never joined his bęte noire, the Al Qaida.
Malaysia Hindus have threatened to join hands with armed militant group LTTE to wage their struggle in Malaysia.
The world would be ever watchful of how the two similar situations develop in future in Malaysia and India, and how the governments of both countries, each, deal with their minorities and with each other and with other interested countries. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 02:50:28 ) | | How to start a communal riot | Saturday, August 25, 2007
How to start a communal riot
I am Sad. Shattered.
But I am glad that the terrorist are fools and have a complete lack of understanding of the fabric which holds India together. You cannot start a communal unrest in India by planting bombs in Mandirs and Masjids. Actually, you cannot start a riot with a bomb.
To start a riot you need is a Barbri Masjid or a Godhara where "common folks" go out of control. To get the common folks out of control you need some politician.
The corollary to this theorem is that you cannot have riots without a politician.
The second corollary is that terrorist cannot start a communal riot!
posted by Prime Minsiter of India (a.k.a Pradhan Mantri) @ Saturday, August 25, 2007 | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 02:48:58 ) | | Exile to Eden | Exile to Eden
Filed under: Communal Riots, Gujrat, India, Indian Express, Rural education, Uncategorized — cjkurrien @ 1:46 pm
The Indian Express
A year after they were shifted to a school in Maharashtra, children of the Gujarat riots learn to live with their violent past
The sun sinks into the choppy Arabian Sea, ushering in twilight over the Konkan coastline. A mile off a quiet beach in Raigad, Maharashtra, on the fringes of a village called Borli, forty girls swing into action: slicing apples and sweet limes, setting out steel plates on wooden tables and stirring plastic buckets brimming with rose water.
When dinner is served and all the girls are seated, the hostel matron’s husband, Mohammed Hussain, holds up his watch, pauses for a few moments and gives the word: “Eat.” A group of 77 boys, led by their warden, Kazi Habibuddin, follow the same routine in their lodge, located 300 feet from the female hostel. A sonorous voice resonates from the local mosque, breaking the dense rural silence.
This iftaar ceremony is far from ordinary: the young borders are victims of the communal violence that ravaged Gujarat last February. Most of their houses were looted, doused with kerosene and set alight; some witnessed deadly attacks on their relatives; a handful bore burn scars.
For nine months the children were housed in squalid relief camps near Ahmedabad. Then a year ago, Mumbai surgeon AR Undre, relocated a group of seventy children to his school in Borli, about five hours south of Mumbai. And a month later, another 50 were moved to the institution.
Every child bears a tale of tragedy, but the younger ones seem least affected. “I’m not sad anymore,” says bubbly Alfaraz, 10, who lost eight members of her family in the riots. She adds, “My elder sisters take care of me now,” alluding to the hostel’s social dynamic, where the elder boarders watch over the younger ones—plaiting hair, ironing clothes and administering mild discipline.
“When they first came here, the girls used to be like crows—always grabbing things,’’ says warden Fatima Sultan, who runs the female hostel. “Stealing was rampant and I had to keep the kitchen locked.” Today, Sultan says if she leaves a bowl of fruit on the dining table it wont be touched. The children’s dignity has been restored.
Yet there was a lengthy period of adjustment before the group settled down. Vicious fights broke out over trivialities and there was a constant air of listlessness. “They had hard, blank stares fixed on their faces when they came; look at them today,” says Sultana, gesturing towards a group of sprightly girls wholly absorbed by a translucent crazy ball in the hostel garden.
A similar mood exists in the boys’ lodge, a mansion-size, unpainted structure, which overlooks the village’s sandy playground. Every afternoon after school, most of the male boarders hurry back home to ensure they get a bat, not a ball. Others choose to remain indoors—reading, resting in bed, and letting loose over spirited games of “Snakes and Ladders.”
The boys appear healthy, cheerful and friendly. Disagreements rarely turn violent. “Trust and intimacy has developed between them,” says warden Habibuddin.
So have these young victims of a stained national legacy reconciled themselves with the violent past? The signs after a year are largely positive. But the memories of the ordeal are still vivid.
Each child recalls the three days of siege in painstaking detail. “Of course I feel bad,” says twelve-year-old Mehboob, whose grandfather was torched alive in the toilet and who saw a woman’s hand being sliced off. “We were eating breakfast and they started stoning the mosque near the house. They had the police with them. We had to flee on foot and hide in an abandoned Hindu bungalow.”
And for ever-smiling Shabnam, the riot images are too chilling to be erased. “I was about to be killed, but was rushed away in a rickshaw,” says the twelve-year-old who witnessed a pregnant women being carved up and burnt. Some children have displayed remarkable maturity and say they’ve come to terms with the event. “I used to be angry but I’m not anymore,” says earnest Azharuddin, 14, who hid as mobs set fire to his mother’s sister, her husband and two children. “I do get scared and have flashbacks, but I’m glad to be studying here with a chance to make something of my life,” he adds.
There wasn’t much protest when the children were shifted to the Borli school last November. Yet one issue loomed large over the move: barring a handful, most in the group had studied in Gujarati and didn’t have a good grasp of English—the medium of instruction in their new school.
“Its been a tough year,” says the school’s principal Abbas Surve, “Some of them are doing well, but it remains a huge challenge. While teaching mathematics, instructors have to explain the meaning of basic words like “triangle” because there’s no Hindi equivalent.” The fallout: ten-year-old Imran spends yet another year in the second standard.
About 50 English-speaking volunteers from four continents including a few Indian metros have visited Borli over the last year to spend time with the children. Their English has improved over the last year—even though much of the learning is by rote. “They’re enthusiastic about speaking the language because they understand its importance,” says English teacher Umashanker Devade. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 02:44:02 ) | | Why do riots occur? | Why do riots occur?
Few communal riots are accidental. Most are planned or are preceded by communal propaganda. The Indian state's record on riot prevention has been no better than its record on riot control.
A.G. NOORANI
Riots and Pogroms, Edited by Paul R. Brass; Macmillan Press, Ł15.99, Pages 262.
THEORIES about the occurrence of riots abound even as their frequency increases. It is instructive to consider some of them, brought together in a volume edited by the scholar Paul R. Brass. His magisterial introduction sets the tone. He points out, insightfully, that, in their search for causes, the contesting interpretations of a riot among competing groups, academics, journalists and politicians themselves can reveal attitudes which underlie the violence itself.
His thesis bears quotation in extenso: "If it is accepted that Russians attack Jews because Jews exploit them and because Jews set themselves apart, then measures need to be taken to prevent 'Jewish exploitation' and to either promote their assimilation or separate them completely from contact with Russians by keeping them in the Pale of Settlement. Conversely, if the black ghetto violence is interpreted as justified rage against discrimination in white society, then policies and resources must be devoted to eliminating discrimination. If a riot is seen to arise out of justified mass resentment against a minority's exploitation of the majority or out of its alleged disloyalty to or betrayal of the country as in the case of Muslims in India, then measures to curb the minority's rights or demands and to put its members in their place will be the preferred response. Alternatively, if Hindu-Muslim riots are seen as a consequence of provocation of a harassed minority by militant Hindu nationalists, then measures to protect the minority and constrain militant Hindu groups are in order."
While "Russian intellectuals" tried to explain away the 1871 pogrom in terms of Jewish "exploitation" and "religious intolerance", thus providing the authorities a convenient excuse to blame Jews for their own misfortunes, white liberals saw the riots of the 1960s in the U.S. as a "legitimate response to discrimination, even as insurrections or rebellions against white domination and exploitation." On the other hand, black activists developed "a riot-ideology" which provided the justification for their revolt against the oppression of blacks in America. It was "the rage of the oppressed."
However, he adds that "the very process of interpretation contributes to the failure to prosecute the perpetrators of violence even when their identities are well known... known killers and looters and their patrons whose pictures may even have appeared in the newspapers or their acts filmed in videos go free."
A riot can also be staged to send across a political message to the adversary and to the state. Reading this volume, one is struck by the fact that extensive as the literature on riots in India is, it is not particularly rich in depth of analysis. Riots occur in waves, Brass records, and in the wake of a "psychological atmosphere". Yet, after the trauma of Partition, riots decreased in frequency. The graph began to rise only after the Jabalpur riots in 1961. Had the rise in the fortunes of the Jan Sangh and the RSS nothing to do with it?
While a riot is "a violent disturbance of the peace by an assembly or body of persons," a pogrom is "an organised massacre". We have had at least two pogroms since Independence. One was against the Sikhs in Delhi in the wake of the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. The other was in Mumbai in the aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, in December 1992 and January 1993.
The volume has able essays on the 1905 pogrom against Jews in Czarist Russia, the pogrom against them in Nazi Germany in 1938, and organised political violence at Jerusalem's Temple Mount in 1929 and 1990. For the Indian reader, interest will naturally centre on the three essays on riots in India.
The writings of Peter van der Veer, Professor of Comparative Religion at the University of Amsterdam, on the Indian situation have deservedly won high praise. His essay is the piece-de-resistance of the volume. It is entitled "Riots and Rituals: The Construction of Violence and Public Space in Hindu Nationalism." He writes: "Riots in India I have witnessed or read about were more often than not well-planned and had well-defined targets and rules. In some cases you know exactly when and where to expect them to begin and end, as if they were rituals" (emphasis added, throughout). Both rituals and riots play significant roles in the construction of social identities.
Witness the traditional ritual provocations - slaughter of cows in public, music before mosques, and processions shouting provocative slogans while marching through the "adversary's" localities. Few are accidental. Most are planned or are preceded by inflammatory communal propaganda. The Indian state's record on riot prevention has been no better than its record on riot control.
Van der Veer's studies on Ayodhya are well known. It bears recalling that "it was only through tax-free land grants that the ascetics could settle in Ayodhya and start to build temples. For example, Safdar Jang (r. 1739-54) gave land to Abhayaramdas, abbot of the Nirwadi Akhara, for building Hanumangarhi, which is now the most important temple in Ayodhya. The removal of the Nawabi administration first from Ayodhya to Faizabad and then to Lucknow is often interpreted as the liberation of a Hindu sacred place from Muslim oppression in Hindu historical writing. Clearly, the contrary is the case, since Ayodhya rose as a Hindu pilgrimage centre in direct relation with the expansion of the Nawabi realm and with direct support from the Nawabi court."
He draws attention to an interesting fact. The failure of Murli Manohar Joshi's Ekta Yatra, early in 1992, was one of the factors that led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "to focus, its attention again on the Ayodhya issue," leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid. "Although BJP leader Lal Kishan Advani, who was present at this occasion, immediately tried to distance himself from the act of demolition, there can be little doubt that the entire event had been well planned in advance. At the same time there can be no doubt that the paramilitary forces, present at the site, could have prevented the demolition."
Gyaneshwar and Jayati Chaturvedi, both of St. John's College, Agra, are the only Indian contributors with their essay on the riots in Agra in 1990 and their non-occurrence in 1992, in 1990 because the Hindutva forces were out to gain ascendency. By 1992 they had consolidated their position in the city and the State. Agra was not rocked by riots in December 1992.
Some of their comments are, to say the least, odd. The English language press is roundly attacked not only for "its serious inability to comprehend the meaning and power of the Hindutva resurgence but also its almost total alienation from popular sentiment in reporting the demolition of the 'disputed structure'. Even western mediapersons are often amazed at the hiatus between the ground reality and the reporting/ prognoses of the English language press." The solitary authority cited in support of the proposition is Mark Tully's No Full Stops in India.
Journals are censured for reporting derelictions of duty by the police, a "crime" of which Vander Veers is probably also guilty. "That bit of slick reporting, though true, did not take into account the dangerous portents inherent in the situation. Nor did it attempt to analyse the causes of that ennui. A mere indictment was enough for the conscience-keepers. The fact of the matter is that, be it the beat constable in a riot situation, the DM (District Magistrate) Faizabad or SSP (Senior Superintendent of Police) Faizabad, an increasing number of Hindu agents of the interventionist state are finding it more and more difficult to stifle what they see as their own conscience and render unquestioning obedience to the dictates of an increasingly alien state." Is that an explanation or an excuse or a defence?
The communal bias of Uttar Pradesh's Provincial Armed Constabulary is admitted only to be qualified by citations of trivia in its defence. The former Union Home Secretary Madhav Godbole felt himself under no such obligation when criticising it in his memoirs Unfinished Innings. Rajiv Gandhi's decisions on the Shah Bano case and the Shilanyas are mentioned, not so his cynical order to open the locks on the gates of the Masjid in February 1986, which revived the bitter dispute.
A few cameos explain their approach. Readers will have little difficulty in identifying the provenance of the idiom: Nehru took to Western values lock, stock, and barrel and used the entire power of his charismatic personality to legitimise the Western world-view, so much so that large sections of the Hindu community internalised the Nehruvian perception to the point where 'Hindu tradition' became synonymous with obscurantism and communalism, if not worse...
"The Hindu and the Hindu community present the pathetic spectacle of a people living an apologetic life in its own land, unsure of its own identity, and uprooted from its traditions. According to the new militant Hindu discourse, the Congress denied them the right to interpret their history."
And what is one to make of the assertion that "Nationalist (sic.) Muslims in India have acknowledged the country as their place of birth and their only home." The writers clearly imply that the outlook is not shared by the rest of the community. (Muslims are divided into three categories: nationalist, communal and Marxist Muslims). "It was the Muslim leadership who, by their determined opposition to the BJP-VHP, had transformed an obscure mosque into a highly volatile issue."
To sum up: "This study seeks to suggest that the Nehruvian model of socialism, secularism, and democracy is on the brink of collapse due to its alien origins and superimposition on the mass folk culture of the land.
Further, it suggests that, unless modified substantially in view of the dominant culture patterns, the Nehruvian values would soon risk total collapse in the face of an emerging, authentically indigenous Bharatiya culture symbolised by the force of Hindutva.. In the final analysis, this paper holds that political nationalism and Hindu cultural nationalism are compatible and that the latter deserves to be freed of the odious notions associated with it in the last 45 years of Congress domination." These are not conclusions from any cogent analysis on the basis of data. They are pure ipse dixit in a contribution that stands out like a sore thumb in a volume of erudite essays.
In total contrast is Virginia Van Dyke's essay on the Delhi riots of 1984. They were not "ordered" by the State but were rather "organised for the government by forces which the government itself had created." Politicians had taken care to patronise lumpen forces. Her detailed and documented resume concludes: "The speed with which these riots were organised following the assassination leads to two inescapable conclusions: they were prearranged and preplanned and an institutional riot structure was already in place, a pre-existing 'technology of terror'." Was the situation in Mumbai in December 1992 basically different? More to the point, has the infrastructure for group violence been dismantled, whether in Mumbai or elsewhere? | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-06 02:42:23 ) | | Apportioning The Blame Of communial riots | Apportioning The Blame Of
Communal Riots
By Ram Puniyani
02 May, 2004
Issues In Secular Politics
During the current elections (April-May 2004) many a Muslim leaders, or self proclaimed representatives of the community, like Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, came out with Fatwas to vote for BJP, to give it a chance. The argument was that during BJP regime only Gujarat riots have taken place while during Congress regimes thousands of riots have taken place.
Riots, communal violence have become a sad reality of India’s life. There are many an observations pertaining to the riots. The major one being that after every riot BJP in particular becomes stronger in that area. Also that the majority of the victims of riots in India are Muslims. The data from1961 to 1992, shows that during these four decades 80 percent of victims of communal violence have been Muslims. During the 1984 Delhi riots nearly 4000 Sikhs were done to death. In a similar vein another minority; Christians
saw the ghastly burning of Pastor Graham Stains along with his two minor sons.
Who is to be blamed for these riots? In case of 1984 anti Sikh riots the role of Congress was most abominable. In addition to overt role of Congress one
has to see the role of RSS also in this tragedy. In one of the articles in a Hindi Monthly, Pratipaksha, Nanaji Deshmukh a veteran of RSS wrote around that
time that there is a threat to the National unity, due to Sikh extremism, and so Rajiv Gandhi should be supported to the hilt. Needless to say it was Rajiv
Gandhi who blurted during these riots that when a big tree falls the ground shakes. The role of RSS during 1984 riots is anybody’s guess. It was around this time that Bajarang dal, the storm troopers of RSS was formed. The rise of Sikh militancy, rise of Bhindranwale, attack on Golden temple, operation blue star and murder of Indira Gandhi preceded the anti Sikh violence. The anti Sikh tragedy had different dynamics than the two other minorities (Muslims,
Christians) who have also been under the chopping block.
The Muslims and Christians have been targeted for slightly different reasons. The anti Christian violence has also not assumed the form of riot as such. While we talk of riot the major phenomenon which comes to mind is the so-called Hindu Muslim riot. From pre-partition times, this name stuck to such
skirmishes, which went to assume more and more horrendous proportions over a period of time. There are calls for bandh, calls for direct action or at
times an event is given the twist to project as if the community is under the threat of an attack so there is a need to take up arms.
This becomes possible to begin with due to the massive hatred spread against the ‘other’ community. In pre partition times Muslim League indulged in spreading anti Hindu poison and Hindu Mahadsabha-RSS indulged in
spreading anti Muslim venom. These sentiments of hatred against the ‘other’ community are the fertile soil in which particular events can be given a
communal twist, or calls for attacks in a veiled language can be given. So many an events can take place in the society but unless the inherent hatred
for the other community is there they cannot be translated into violent episodes.
After the partition process, those from amongst the hate spewing machines, Muslim communalism got deflated, Hindu Mahasabha got eclipsed and RSS
proliferated as the time passed by. It went on from strength to strength, and from organization to organization, manned by the Hate embodiments, the RSS swayamsevaks, whose core ideology is based on the Hate ‘other’. By now there are over 150 RSS progenies doing the job at various levels apart from those swayamsevaks who have infiltrated in media, education and bureaucracy.
Grounded on Hate, certain incidents are twisted to give it a provocative interpretation, a call for action to attack the other community. Sociologist
Dipanakar Gupta in one of his recent articles in a popular newspaper outlined the role of ethno-preneur in giving such a twist to the events. This soldier of
communal politics is on the look out for the chance to convert a Human tragedy into a ladder for his political enhancement, into enhancement of his
communal agenda, into converting it into a riot. In recent past two such ethno-preneurs can easily be discerned. The first one amongst these is Mr.
Balasaheb Thackeray, who gave an open call to Hindus to ‘deal’ with the rising attacks on them. The detailed analysis of the events of Mumbai riots shows that the scattered isolated, unrelated events of murder of Mathdi workers and the burning of Bane family was projected as the onslaught by Muslims on Hindus. And so the call that Hindus should become aggressive. The call was duly backed up by regular instructions. And than one sees over 900 dead bodies. One witnesses property worth 10000 crores going up the
smoke. Most of this is well chronicled and investigated in Shirkrishna Commission report. On the dead bodies of the riot victim’s Hindu community got its first Soul Emperor (Hindu Hriday Samrat), none other than Balasaheb Thackeray, who was the ethno-preneur
A train is burnt in Godhra. One is not sure how and why it has happened. it needs to be investigated and the guilty need punished. Here another ethno-preneur is lurking in the wings. Without wasting time he declares that this is the act of International terrorism, in association with the much-hated Pakistani ISI and their ‘natural associates’ the local Muslims. He instructs all those concerned in controlling the riot, to sit back and relax. Those given these instructions take the cue and duly assist the ‘process of revenge of Godhra’. Two thousand lives down the gutters of fire, twenty thousand worth property down the drain, another Hindu Soul Emperor emerges, Narendra Modi.
Prior to this many a riots had taken place. In most of the investigations of the riots, Madon (Bhivandi), Ahamdabad (Jagmohan) Kanyakumari (Vythathil)
Bhagalpur, Meerut and others the inquiry commissions did come to the conclusion that the role of ethno- preneur is generally played by some scattered RSS organization, especially put together for the purpose
but drawing from the existing organization already being conducted by a swayamsevak. Congress was ruling. Within Congress and within administration there are elements that have been communalized. Congress did not deal with riots in an effective manner, many a times it just looked the other way around, when the carnage was in progress. Guilty either got promoted (Thackeray, Modi) at worst and remains unpunished at
best.
To look at riots just as to under whose regime they took place is to overlook the bigger reality. The truth of riots involves multiple factors and each of
this contributes at a different level. Pastor Stains burning took place under a particular regime, looking at that alone does not give us the full picture. We
have to see as to who is spreading the anti Christian venom in villages and Adivasi areas, which organization or individual is instigating others to
join in such inhuman acts a so on. Anti Muslim riots took place aplenty under Congress regime. We have to see who has been spreading hatred against this
community, who is instrumental in spreading the myths about them, which by now have become a social common sense. These myths spread systematically by different progeny of RSS, and this is the ground on which the events are taken up by ethno preneuers and converted into the riots, which benefit their political agenda.
Shahi imam and others’ observation that more riots took place under Congress regime is a very superficial and distorted way at looking at things. It does not help us in apportioning the blame of riots properly. We have to delve deep in order to understand the nature of these political formations to come to
conclusions, especially which are going to have a far-reaching effect on our political future. In that sense the worst of Congress crimes come nowhere close to the machinations of RSS which operate at multiple layers and which is making the life of minorities miserable in this country. It is this, which is a big obstacle to the efforts to get the justice for the weak sections of society.
The RSS like formations, and their progeny are in a different league altogether. Since they do not hold to the values of democracy, affirmative actions and human rights, they should not be compared with potentially democratic organizations, which under the grass root pressure can become better tailored for democratic polity.
--------------------- ------------------------- ----
"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essense of inhumanity.
.......George Bernard Shaw | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-05 03:53:38 ) | | Communal forces trying to make Orissa their next l | Communal forces trying to make Orissa their next lab: Yechuri
ADVERTISEMENT
PTI, Thursday, January 03, 2008:
Bhubaneshwar: The CPI(M) on Thursday alleged that "communal forces" were trying to make Orissa their next laboratory for spreading communalism and asked the state government to "nip them in the bud".
"Encouraged after Gujarat elections, the communal forces are targeting Orissa to make it their laboratory", CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechuri told reporters here after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
He said the party had already cautioned the chief minister regarding the "conspiracy" brewing in the backyard.
Yechuri pointed out that Orissa had witnessed a major communal disturbance after a gap of eight years.
"Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons were burnt to death by the same forces", he said.
Yechuri, who along with CPI national council member Annie Raja, MP Van Lal Zawma and Catholic Bishop's Conference of India (CBCI) spokesman Rev Babu Joseph met the chief minister, said they would cancel their proposed visit to the riot-hit Kandhamal district as per request made by Patnaik.
"The chief minister told me that he has no problem and I am allowed to visit Kandhamal. But this may create problem for the government which has decided not to allow any religious and political leaders to tour the affected areas", Yechuri said.
He said that Patnaik had assured Left MPs that they might visit the area after some days.
Replying to a question, Yechuri said "since judicial inquiry is time-bound and the state government has allowed visit of the NHRC's team to the affected areas, we will not press for a CBI probe". | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-05 01:01:06 ) | | Equality is just a myth and dream that everyone dr | Equality is just a myth and dream that everyone dreams.
for example a Dalit dreams to be a PM one day, but the upper caste wont let that happen. He or she has to be where they are and will be for there for ever. Just take the example of Eklavya and Arjuna. The Eklavya class people will be the ones who will have to sacrifice their best (thumbs) for the elite upper class. If form the days of Mahabharat (Grand Bharat) these prejudices have been there, then what will be the fate of today. The today of the dalit is as good as it was yesterday. The upper castes simply cannot sit, dine and worship together hence the other religions are luring them of something the hindus have failed to do so. In the eyes of a upper class Hindu a Dalit is a Bhangi (sandaas saaf karney wala) Bhala aisey kaisey hoga. Ab agar wo Christians baney aur apna status badaha liya to Christians ki kahan galati. VHP, BJP sey guzarish hai ki wo pehley Daliton ko galey laga lo, unkey betiyaan ko apney bahu banalo phir dekho……Ram rajya kya hota.
This will never happen and that’s a gurantee.
Bhed bhav apney dilon mein sey nikal do phir dekho Hindustan ko. Ek azimushaan desh kehalvaeyga, aur hum sab unnati karengey. Har ek khush. Ey Hindu, Dalit Musalmaan and all ka peecha choro aur desh ko aagey lao.
Think simple | |
| | Nimit Patel (Anand, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-04 20:03:11 ) | | U STOP COPY PASTE AND USE YR MIND | WE ARE HERE ONLY, AND SEEING YR COPY PASTE ARTICLE. THANKS FOR ONE THING, WE NEED NOT TO READ ALL WEBSITE AS U ARE DOING COPY PASTE OF ALL ARTICLE IN SAME PAGE ONLY..
IMPORTANT THING IS , IF U WANT RESPECT FIRST U NEED TO GIVE RESPECT, THIS IS THE RULE OF WORLD.. AND U KNOW THIS... FIRST STOP DESCRIMINATION BASED ON CAST AND STOP RESERVATION QUOTA SYSTEM, U WILL SEE ALL WLL BE TREAT AS EQUAL AND PEOPLE WILL BE SAFE SOCIALLY,
AS FAR AS CONCERN WITH TERRORIST, THE ONLY SOLUTION IS COUNTER ATTACK, MAKE A CELL OF 20000 COMMANDO AND ALSO MAKE INTELIGENCE AND RAW HIGH STRENGTH, TELL THEM TO MAKE REPORT FOR ANTI SOCIAL ELIMENTS AND TELL COMMANDO TO FINISH IT..
BUT NO, WHEN SOHRABUDDIN KILLED PEOPLE STARTED HINDU MUSLIM, WHEN TULSI KILLED WHO WAS HIS FRIEND.. NO BODY STARTED LIKE THIS..
WITH THIS ATTITUDE.. HOW CAN U TELL SO MUCH THINGS... | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-03 23:10:28 ) | | kahan ho | | lagta hai soch mein padh gaye | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-03 00:40:07 ) | | Understand each other | We always want to be secure in this world. No I say we as we are human beings. Regardless of caste creed or social status we want to be secure so that
1. We can roam free from Kashmir to Kanyakumari without fear.
2. Nap outside of our homes under a tree in one of those hot afternoons without fear of being harmed in any way,
3. Our children can go to school without being harmed, and to be treated good as if they were everyones responsibility.
4. Practice any religion and be treated equally by everyone from different faiths.
5. Our brothers treat your sisters as if they were your own and vice versa.
6. That we respect your religion and you respect ours.
7. For such a target we all need to be Humans first and practice humanity and make sure we know the universal saying. “what goes up comes down with gravity”.
8. What injustices are being done on one particular type of society today, that society may in turn grow and turn against your generation to come. Cyclic reaction.
We need to live in harmony and if we don not then we will live in constant fear. Aaj tum jeetogey, kal kaun jeetega, no body knows. Hence we need to understand one another and live and let live. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-03 00:23:34 ) | | Black Christmas | Black Christmas
PRAFULLA DAS
Communal violence mars the peace in Kandhamal district of Orissa around Christmas time.
The police guarding a church at Darigibadi in Phulbani district, on December 26.
On December 24, when the world was preparing to celebrate Christmas, the Kui-speaking tribal people of Orissa’s Kandhamal district were getting ready for a 36-hour bandh beginning the next morning. But even as preparations were on, the bomb of hatred that had been ticking for long went off, ripping the communal fabric of the district.
Trouble apparently began when a section of Hindus opposed the preparations for Christmas. Following this, a group of Christians allegedly attacked Swami Lakshmananda, a local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, who was on his way to perform a yagna in the Brahmanigaon area of the district. Activists of the VHP retaliated by setting ablaze churches and other Christian institutions, and houses belonging to members of the community. The VHP also called for a four-hour, State-wide bandh the next day in protest against the attack on its leader. The bandh coincided with the one that was called by the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti.
The Kui Samaj has been agitating against the alleged granting of Scheduled Tribe (S.T.) status to Dalits in the district, which has a sizable Christian population. The vast majority of the Dalits in Kandhamal are Christian whereas only a small section of the tribal population has embraced Christianity. The divide between the tribal people and the Dalits has widened in recent years with the VHP repeatedly contending that religious conversion was at the root of the trouble in the central Orissa district.
As the agitating tribal people felled trees on all roads leading to the district on December 24 night to enforce their bandh beginning from the next day, VHP activists put their organisation’s stamp on the Kui Samaj agitation and went about vandalising churches and prayer houses.
Prayers were not held in any church in Kandhamal on Christmas day. One person was killed and over 30 people were injured in the clashes between the two communities.
Caught unawares, the administration imposed a curfew on Phulbani, the district headquarters, and three other towns – Brahmanigaon, Baliguda and Daringibadi. Prohibitory orders were enforced in the remaining areas of the district. In Bhubaneswar, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik appealed to the people of Kandhamal to maintain peace and harmony.
It was only on December 26 that the State government took up the matter seriously and deployed additional forces in different parts of the district. The situation, however, did not show any improvement as the police could not enter most of the areas because of roadblocks put up by Kui Samaj members.
When Kandhamal was burning, on December 26, leaders of the ruling Biju Janata Dal were busy at a massive rally in the State capital, Bhubaneswar, on the occasion of the 10th foundation day of the party. At the rally, Naveen Patnaik, who is also the BJD president, reiterated his party’s resolve to realise the dream of his father, the late Biju Patnaik, of building a prosperous Orissa.
Patnaik, however, took time off and reviewed the Kandhamal situation at the State Secretariat twice that day. The government said three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force had been called in from other places in the State to restore peace in Kandhamal.
As Kandhamal remained cut off from the rest of the world for the fourth day on December 27, the Chief Minister flew to Phulbani and held a review meeting, which was attended by Director General of Police Gopal Chandra Nanda and top officials of the police and the administration.
On his return, Patnaik told reporters in Bhubaneswar that the situation in the district had normalised to a great extent. Admitting that churches and prayer houses had been damaged or burnt down in the district, he said more than two dozen people were arrested and action was being initiated against the offenders. In reference to the tribal agitation, Patnaik said that his government would look into the grievances and take necessary steps to resolve the issue.
Patnaik, however, appeared to be unaware of the fresh violence that was occurring around the same time in Kandhamal. By evening, reports started pouring in that at least a dozen more churches and prayer houses had been burnt during the day. Besides, three persons were reportedly killed in police firing when an armed mob, said to be VHP supporters, attacked the Brahmanigaon police station. A mob attacked the police station after the police personnel tried to prevent them from attacking members of the Christian community. A senior officer was injured in the police station attack. Fresh trouble began in Brahmanigaon after the body of a child was recovered from the locality earlier in the day.
KAMAL SINGH/PTI
An All India Christian Council demonstration in New Delhi on December 27 demanding that the safety of Christians in Orissa be ensured.
Confirming the death of three persons in police firing, a top official said that the police had opened fire in self-defence. Confronted with reports of the damaging and burning down of more than 40 churches and prayer houses by December 27 evening, he said the exact details were not available. It was difficult for the administration to keep track of incidents taking place in remote hilly areas, he explained.
Police stations were also attacked at Phiringia and Tikabali and many police vehicles were burnt by mobs. It was difficult to assess as to whether the attackers were Sangh Parivar members or Kui tribal people, an official observed.
On December 27, a delegation led by Raphael Cheenath, Archbishop of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, met the Chief Minister and submitted a memorandum stating that Christians were not safe in Kandhamal. The representatives of the community, who claimed that at least 50 churches had been damaged over the previous four days, also demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the incidents. The VHP alleged that Hindu places of worship were also attacked in some places.
As violence continued in Kandhamal, the Opposition parties and other organisations criticised the government for its failure to maintain law and order. They also blamed Patnaik for being soft on the Sangh Parivar because the Bharatiya Janata Party was a partner in the two-party coalition government.
Four days after Kandhamal smouldered, Patnaik went on a damage-control exercise. He ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence in Kandhamal on December 28. He, however, clarified that only one person had been killed in police firing the previous day and not three persons as had been reported in the media. Only one body had been recovered, he added.
Soon after Patnaik ordered the judicial inquiry, Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera, who hails from the violence-hit district, resigned from his post. The government also appointed a new District Collector for Kandhamal.
The dropping of Behera from the Cabinet was one of the demands put forward by the Kui tribal people. Behera belongs to the Dalit community. The Kuis have also been demanding the appointment of a direct Indian Administrative Service officer as Collector instead of an officer who was promoted to the cadre. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-03 00:02:44 ) | | BJP deplores violence in Orissa | BJP deplores violence in Orissa
New Delhi (PTI): With saffron outfits accused of attacking churches and other Christian establishments in Orissa, the BJP was on Thursday in a tight spot over the issue as it guardedly condemned violence in the state where it shares power.
While the party deplored violence in general, it refused to specifically criticise its sister outfit Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which has been blamed for the attacks in the last two days.
"We always condemn violence. We condemn violence on both sides. We never support violence," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar merely said when asked for the party's reaction on Orissa incidents.
He said the Kui community in Orissa had been on a confrontation course with the Church over conversion for long and some violent incidents took place in the last couple of days.
"The BJP-BJD government will conduct an independent inquiry into the incident and peace will soon return to the troubled regions," he added.
Though the party shied away from outrightly condemning the Orissa attacks, it went ballistic against the CPI(M) as usual on the Nandigram violence describing it as state- sponsored terrorism | |
| | ghar ni dhoraji (India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-02 23:47:20 ) | | su vat che prdhano nathi malta | | modi saheb su kanti amrutya ne prdhan bavo cho? to pachi karsan dula e pan bnavo nahtar bhimo phone kari ne kahese to su karso, sathe sathe jayrajsih jadeja ne pan koi bord no director bnavi deso kem ke te bjp ne vafadar che j | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-02 21:02:33 ) | | Fresh violence hits Orissa | | Fresh violence hits Orissa | Bhubaneswar, dhns:
The day-time curfew, however, remained relaxed in the district headquarters town of Phulbani.
Orissa’s troubled Kandhamal district witnessed fresh violence on the eve of New Year on Monday night forcing the authorities to conduct a police flag march in Phiringia block of the district, besides re-imposing day-time curfew in four most sensitive areas.
The day-time curfew, however, remained relaxed in the district headquarters town of Phulbani. According to a report reaching here, tension prevailed in the Phiringia block on Monday night when groups of people clashed and pelted stones at each other in four villages of the block. Several houses were also set on fire. Additional forces have been deployed in the entire block.
Paramilitary forces launched a combing operation in different parts of the district on Tuesday to nab the anti-socials and seize unlicensed arms. The police have so far rounded up 80 people in connection with the communal violence in the district. Forty cases have been registered against them.
The district administration also organized peace committee meetings in different riot hit areas on Tuesday. However, the meetings have not been successful in restoring total peace yet.
Meanwhile, the All India Christian Council on Tuesday rejected the state government’s claim that only three people had so far died in communal violence in Kandhamal.
“The death figure will be much more,” council leaders John Dayal and Ibrahim Mathai told a press conference.
Several people are still missing, they maintained, adding that 72 churches had been destroyed and damaged in the violence in Kandhamal district. Besides, five convents and six hostels were also attacked and damaged during the riots.
The Council leaders also rejected the Orissa government’s decision to go for a judicial probe into the Kandhamal incident by a retired High Court judge and demanded that the inquiry be conducted either by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge.
“We want an independent probe to let the truth come out in the open,” they observed.
Film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, who arrived here on Tuesday on invitation from the Christian Council, expressed his concern over the Kandhamal incident and urged both the state government and the Centre to act urgently to restore peace and communal harmony in the riot-hit district.“Unfortunately, the urgency is missing”, he lamented.
In this context, he said that the even the Union home minister was unaware of the Kandhamal situation even after 24 hours of the violence. He warned that the country would face disastrous consequences if people would forget respecting each other as well as each other’s faith and religion.
PROTECT CHRISTIANS: NHRC
New Delhi, dhns: Expressing concern about the reported attacks on members of Christian community in Orissa, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday directed the state government to provide protection to the minority community and also asked for a detailed enquiry report on the death and loss of property caused by the attacks. The commission has also decided to send its own investigation team to Kandhamal district of Orissa to get a first hand information on the violence there and also to restore the confidence of the members of the minority community in the area.
The Commission’s move comes after a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) met the chairperson, Justice S Rajendra Babu, here on Monday and submitted a memorandum requesting him to safeguard the rights of Christians and their institutions.
The memorandum also drew the commission’s attention to the attacks on Christians and their institutions in Kandhamal district on December 24 and 25, 2007 and alleged that these attacks seemed to be a planned effort to disturb communal peace. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-02 03:40:01 ) | | insaaf chahiye | In India, it is often said that work is worship and for Haribhau Varman, getting his job as a state bus driver has been little short of a miracle.
Thanks to this job my son will get an education. It's our way out
Haribhau Varman, bus driver
Haribhau is employed through the Indian government's reservation scheme for socially disadvantaged classes.
Thanks to that scheme, he was able to apply for this job, which pays him $40 (Ł20) a month.
That is not much even by Indian standards - drivers and office boys in Mumbai or Delhi can make three times as much.
But it is a living he is proud of, and one that has allowed him to break out of India's centuries old caste system.
Lower caste
Finding a job is not easy for men like Haribhau, even in modern India.
He belongs to one of India's tribal communities, deemed lower caste for thousands of years by the ancient Hindu caste system.
Discrimination against the lowest castes has existed in India since time immemorial.
Although officially it was banned by the Protection of Civil Rights Act of 1976, in many parts of India it is still practiced.
In its least harmful form, it is a system in which your birth determines the kind of job you are allowed to do.
But in its most vicious incarnation, it was an opportunity for those in positions of power to exploit millions of lower caste Hindus who were brainwashed into thinking that escaping from their station in life was impossible.
I don't know how to do anything else because I haven't been taught to do anything else. This is the only way I know how to feed my family
Malu Vakh, wheat shredder
Economic growth is now changing that fact into fiction. Opportunities for men like Haribhau are growing slowly but surely.
"My ancestors were labourers - that's our caste," Haribhau says.
"Now thanks to this job my son will get an education. It's our way out."
But not everyone is so fortunate.
Forty-year-old Malu Vakh is from Haribhau's community and lives in the same village that Haribhau used to hail from before he got his new job.
He is around the same age as his fellow tribesman but he looks much older.
Stuck at the bottom of a historically hierarchical caste system, his life is filled with days of back-breaking work under the searing hot Maharashtran sun.
His skin is leathered from standing outdoors all day and his clothes have the musty reek of cattle.
That is because Malu earns his living by shredding scraps of unusable wheat to feed to farm animals. This is the only job he knows.
He lives in a thatched shack with his six daughters, his wife and three cows.
"No one else will do this job because it's dirty. Living with animals, bathing them, feeding them - it's considered unclean and against Hindu propriety," he says.
"But I don't know how to do anything else because I haven't been taught to do anything else. This is the only way I know how to feed my family."
'Unclean' jobs
It is estimated that the majority of India's population hail from socially disadvantaged classes, living in basic villages strewn across the country.
Mayawati campaigns for lower caste rights
They are generally employed in jobs or vocations that have long been considered unclean by Hindu priests - jobs that entail them working with animals, rodents, or worse - excrement.
Getting the kind of work that would help them get out of this life seems an unattainable dream, but now politicians are taking up their cause.
Fiery lower caste leader Mayawati from Uttar Pradesh is gathering support for a controversial new plan to reserve jobs for India's oppressed in the private sector.
In November of 2007 at a gathering of thousands in Mumbai, she told her followers that India must create opportunities for all of its citizens.
"India needs to have a society that's equal", Mayawati boomed to her audience of eager listeners.
"We shall not enrich the rich and affluent, but serve to bring a smile to the poorest of the poor in the remotest corners of India."
Mayawati wants Indian industry to follow the government's practice of reserving jobs for the lower castes.
She wants big corporations such as Infosys, the Tata Group and Reliance to put aside 30% of the jobs available in their firms for Indians from socially disadvantaged backgrounds.
Specialised training
Indian industry is reluctant to have its hiring policies dictated by the government, but some companies are taking action through training.
At Infosys's Bangalore campus, hundreds of socially disadvantaged students are trained in the technology business and are equipped with the skills they will need to get jobs in the future.
In collaboration with the Bangalore-based International Institute of Information Technology, Infosys provides training for lower-caste students who have not managed to get a job in the industry.
The training lasts seven months and does not guarantee a job with Infosys in the future, but it is designed to give them the requisite confidence and knowledge they need to get ahead in the corporate world.
"What you need is specialised training to give these students the additional input," says Mohandas Pai at Infosys.
"What we have given these students from the socially disadvantaged backgrounds is an opportunity to get jobs on merit."
"They study hard, we teach them the basics, and then they come out of this course and get jobs in the private sector on their own. Their whole lives have changed as a result - they look at themselves and their future differently."
Lower caste parents hope there will be better jobs for their children
It is in the hopes of attaining such a future, that Malu Vakh saves whatever money he can to send his 10-year-old daughter Darshana to a basic elementary school in his village.
The young girl is quiet, shy and pensive.
When asked about her ambitions for the future, she smiles and says she wants to be a doctor or an engineer - dreams that Indian children from all walks of life have inherited from their parents as symbols of success and status.
She and her friends are encouraged to speak English: the language of opportunity.
Their knowledge of it is rudimentary at best - but it is something.
Breaking out of India's centuries-old caste system will only be possible for the next generation of Indians if they are given a proper education.
Only then will all of India's children be able to benefit from the country's economic boom.
India Business Report is broadcast repeatedly every Sunday on BBC World. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2008-01-02 03:36:25 ) | | sach to kadwwa hi hota na | bhala ab ka likhe, likhney ko hai hi kya, merey sey ziyada to BBC, CNN aur Tehalka likhta hai.
Sachey ka bola bala, zhutey ka moo kala | |
| | akhil jain (Rajkot, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-31 12:34:50 ) | | illness | moreover, who knows...this person might be the same one as chirag or darren who were making so much of noise till the results were declared...now they have emerged again...probably under this garb......losers ki yehi nishani hai...chhup chhup kar kaam karte hain....moreover this person's name is certainly not zindadil...it is something else.
And even if it is , i would suggest one thing...he must change it to "ZIDDI"dil....bahut ziddi aadmi hai!!
Attn: Akhil Jain, Nimit Patel and others
Personal assaults of any form are not appreciated or allowed at JeetegaKaun.
Please restrict your posts to non-personal views otherwise, they will be edited/deleted.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
JeetegaKaun Forums Moderator | |
| | akhil jain (Rajkot, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-31 12:28:53 ) | | illness | arey nimit.....
why dont u understand....yeh zindadil beemar hai....uski baaton par respond mat karo.....is liye kuchh soch nahi pa raha....isliye sirf copy paste kar raha hai..... | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-31 04:58:48 ) | | India under fire over Christian rights | World: South Asia
India under fire over Christian rights
Attacks on Christians prompted a protest demonstration in New Delhi
By Religious Affairs correspondent Jane Little
The US-based Human Rights Watch has accused the Indian Government of failing to prevent violence against Christians, and of exploiting sectarian tensions for political ends.
In a 37-page report, the organisation says that attacks against Christians have increased "significantly" since the Hindu Nationalist BPJ party came to power in 1998.
It accuses right-wing Hindu extremist groups close to the BJP of being responsible for most of the attacks.
The uncompromising report will be welcomed by Christians in India who have consistently accused hardline Hindus of creating a climate of religious hatred in which attacks against minorities go unpunished.
Killings and rapes
Christians are the new scapegoats in India's political battles according to the report's author, Smita Narula, with over a 100 cases of anti-Christian violence according to India's parliament.
Chairman of India's National Commission for Minorities Tahir Mahmood: "During the past two years the situation has aggravated"
They include the killing of priests, the raping of nuns, and the destruction of churches, schools and cemeteries.
While much of the tension has been generated by accusations of forceful conversions to Christianity, the report notes that thousands of Christians have been forced to convert to Hinduism.
It concludes by stating that - as with attacks against Muslims in the early 90s - attacks against Christians are part of a campaign by right-wing Hindu groups to exploit communal clashes for political ends.
Religious hatred
It points the finger at several groups close to the governing BJP, which it says has not only failed to protect minorities but offered tacit justification for the attacks.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who has called for a national debate on conversions, recently said that reducing communal violence was one of the main achievements of his government.
But Christian leaders believe religious hatred lies behind many cases, including the murder in January of an Australian missionary and his sons, and the recent murder of a priest and abduction of a nun.
They are angry that the perpetrators remain at large and some strongly hinted to their congregations that they shoudn't vote for the Hindu nationalists in the current elections. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-31 04:57:03 ) | | Indian churches come under attack | Indian churches come under attack
Mr Saraswati was allegedly attacked by a mob
A curfew has been imposed in parts of the eastern Indian state of Orissa after Hindu hardliners attacked up to a dozen Christian churches, police say.
One person was killed and more than 25 injured in the violence in the Kandhamal area on Tuesday, police said.
Christians said it was sparked by Hindus objecting to a performance they were staging to celebrate Christmas.
But a Hindu group said it began when Christians tried to attack a local Hindu leader on Monday, Christmas Eve.
It said a group of people surrounded the vehicle carrying Swami Laxamananda Saraswati as he was on his way to the area. He was taken to hospital but was not seriously hurt.
Now 'under control'
However it started, the violence appeared to culminate in the attacks on churches on Christmas Day.
Christians were chased out of several churches - in many case just mud huts with thatched roofs - before they were set alight, officials said.
One person was reported killed in the violence, but it was unclear whether that was a Hindu or a Christian.
Hundreds of police were deployed following the violence, which had largely died down by Wednesday, a local government official said.
"The situation is tense but under control," said BB Mishra, a state inspector-general of police.
Orissa, which is mainly Hindu and has a tiny Christian minority, has seen violence between the two communities in the past.
The state has a law obliging people to ask for police permission before changing religion - thought to be a measure aimed at Christian missionaries.
Hindus have accused Christian groups of forcing low-caste people to convert.
Christians say they often convert willingly because of their treatment as outcasts.
Zindadil to Zindadil hai, apni sunao, tum kaisi dil waley ho.
pehley musalmanon ko mara ab christians ko maar rahey ho,
arey khud jiyo aur jeeney do | |
| | Nimit Patel (Anand, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-29 16:26:11 ) | | WHERE WAS VATICAN WHEN USA SOLDIER KILLING PEOPLE | HAY ZINDADIL...
CHANGE YR NAME YAAR , MAKE IT COPYDIL... SECOND WHERE WAS YR VATICAN AND THIS KARAT AND ALL , WHEN USA ARMY WAS KILLING PEOPLE IN IRAQ AND AFGANISTAN...
WHERE WAS THEY WHEN KARGIL HAPPEN, WHERE WAS THEY WHEN THEY KILLED THOUSANDS CIVILIAN IN SOMALIA AND COMBODIA...
SO KEEP QUITE SHOW IS GOING ON...
NIMITT | |
| | jay (Rajkot, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-29 14:41:19 ) | | CHIEF MINISTER | | good elections but if there woulb be more secure in voting system then it woulb be better for all the citizens of gujarat | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 22:23:28 ) | | The Indian Government must act before Vatican | | NAtional Social activist Swami Agnivesh and CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat with members of All India Christian Council during their candle light march, urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure safety of Christians in Orissa, in New Delhi on Thursday. PTI | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 22:19:24 ) | | Judicial probe ordered by the Vatican(now what) | Nimit Patel (after conversion to christianity will become Rev. Nimit Patel :) )
Judicial probe ordered into communal violence in Kandhamal
Bhubaneswar, PTI:
Official sources said the probe was ordered by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who visited the riot-torn area yesterday to take stock of the situation. The government would soon name a judge for conducting the probe...
The Orissa government today ordered a judicial probe into the communal violence in tribal-dominated Kandhamal district which has claimed at least three lives.
Official sources said the probe was ordered by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who visited the riot-torn area yesterday to take stock of the situation.
The government would soon name a judge for conducting the probe and lay down the terms and conditions for the purpose, the sources said.
The order came a day after a Christian delegation, led by Archbishop Raphel Chenath, met Patnaik and demanded a CBI investigation into the violent incidents that rocked the tension-ridden district for the last five days.
The Christian communities, which had also favoured a judicial probe into the violence, had alleged that there was a pre-planned conspiracy behind the arson and rioting.
However, the saffron outfits, including VHP, had claimed that violence was a spontaneous reaction to the attack on their leader Swami Laxmanananda Sarswati.
Arson and violence, which sparked off after a clash between two communities on December 24, had claimed at least three lives and left several religious places damaged. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 21:59:32 ) | | The Vatican will respond and then what? | Indian police shoot three dead
Hindus say Christians attacked one of their leaders Police in the eastern Indian state of Orissa shot and killed at least three people on Thursday in continuing communal violence, officials say. Police opened fire on a large crowd of Hindus after a village police station was set on fire.
The crowd had been complaining about a lack of protection after Christians set fire to several Hindu homes. Christians had retaliated after 19 churches were destroyed in violence that began on Christmas Eve. The disorder in the remote tribal area has continued despite a curfew and the deployment of a large number of state and federal police. Reinforcements The state government has ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence, which has disrupted telephone lines and other communications. An additional 200-strong paramilitary force is being deployed to the area after Orissa's chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, called for more federal help to quell the violence.
Members of the hardline Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) said Christians sparked the violence by attacking one of their leaders, Swami Laxamananda Saraswati, on Monday. Hindu groups also accuse Christian missionaries of forcing tribal people and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity. But Christians deny the claims and accuse the Hindus of objecting to them celebrating Christmas.
The BBC's Tinku Ray in Delhi says the issue of conversions is very sensitive in India, where several states have laws that forbid or make it difficult to convert. Orissa has seen some of the worst attacks on the minority Christian community. | |
| | Nimit Patel (Anand, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 10:50:01 ) | | TO ZINDA DAIL... | NOW I THINK U WILL NOT OPT MY YESTERDAY'S PROPOSAL TO GO PAKISTAN... WHERE NATIONAL LEADER EVEN NOT SAFE...
SO, NOW WHAT U WLL TELL ABOUT TERRORISM AT PAKISTAN WHICH WAS BRAIN CHILD OF USA AND PAKISATAN PEOPLE | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 01:21:29 ) | | Hindus, Christians clash in India | NEW DELHI - Hindu extremists torched nearly a dozen churches and the home of a Christian leader Thursday, defying a curfew imposed to quell three days of religious violence in eastern India. Christians retaliated by setting fire to several homes belonging to Hindus.
Local police have been unsuccessful in halting the attacks and the federal government announced it was sending in a paramilitary force.
About 19 churches, most of them small mud and thatch buildings, have been razed since violence broke out on Christmas Eve when long-standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian community erupted over conversions to Christianity.
Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.
On Thursday, a mob of Hindus burned down the house of Radhakant Nayak, a member of India's upper house of parliament and a Christian leader in the area, Nayak told the CNN-IBN news channel.
Also, 11 churches were ransacked and burned in Kandhamal district of Orissa state, the Press Trust of India quoted unnamed police officials as saying.
Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said several prayer houses were ransacked and some were set on fire, but he did not have the exact number.
Meanwhile, in the village of Brahmangaon, a group of Christians burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for the attack on churches. Angry Hindus then burned down the village police station, complaining of a lack of protection, a local police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a senior government official in the area confirmed there had been "disturbances" in the village, but could not provide details.
One person has been killed and at least 25 people, belonging to both Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected involvement in the violence, Bhol told The Associated Press by phone.
But the arrests and curfew have not stopped the attacks and the federal government said it was sending in a 300-strong paramilitary force.
"We have to get the violence under control," the junior federal home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, told reporters.
India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully.
But throughout India's history, the issue of conversions has provoked violence by hard-line Hindus.
Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.
Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.
There were conflicting reports of what started the violence in the rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi. Each side blamed the other.
The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, who heads an anti-conversion movement.
But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage conversions. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 00:12:41 ) | | Christians targetted by VHP and RSS | | Fresh clashes between Hindus and Christians erupted in Orissa's Kandhamal district on Thursday with reports of several churches being set afire and hundreds of houses belonging to Hindus being torched in retaliation as the central government expressed concern over the escalating violence. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-28 00:11:23 ) | | Justice people Justice | Well i think you are reading. and by the way why not copy amd paste. The things I want to relay are the same and hence why rewrite the same.
And if you are a thinker then think about what I think and give your answers. I want equality and Justice for all communities. | |
| | Nimit Patel (Anand, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-27 16:16:22 ) | | TO ZINDADIL... | HAY NO BODY IS READING YR COPY PASTE MATERIAL ON NET.. AND U ARE TELLING AB CHRISTIAN KI BARI...... SO K WANT TO GO IN PAST... HINDUSTAN WAS PLACE WHERE HINDU WAS LEAVING AND THEN MUGALS COME... SO BUDDY... NOW HISTORY REPEAT IT SELF..
SECOND THING... U PEOPLE ARE BETTER AT PAKISTAN WHERE THEY ARE TREATING INDIAN MUSLIMS LIKE 2ND CITIZEN... THERE U CAN VE ANY SECURITY OR FOOD...
SO WANT TICKET AND VISA FOR THERE???? | |
| | Mukesh (India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-27 15:52:26 ) | | To Zindadil | Do you have a brain of your own or not?
You have been copy pasting the articles only.....
Buddy God has given you brain to think......so think and write your comments....
This is not media..This is to counter media. And forum is to let everybody know the ground realities....
Admins please avoid such a fellow who has been copy pasting the articles instead of giving his own views. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-27 05:00:51 ) | | Modi lying about development: Rahul | Modi lying about development: Rahul
Press Trust of India
Saturday, December 15, 2007 8:05 AM (Vadodara)
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi wrapping up his Gujarat assembly poll campaign with a sharp attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
He accused Modi of lying about the developmental work in the state and asked the voters to "throw out" his government.
Lambasting Modi's "Resurgent Gujarat" campaign, Rahul alleged the Chief Minister had spent over Rs 700 crore on "publicity gimmicks to market his false claims of developments in Gujarat".
"The money spent on publicity could have used for the welfare of the weaker sections," he said.
He was addressing a series of meetings at his roadshows in the city and Limdi in the neighbouring Dahod district of central Gujarat which were hit by post-Godhra riots in 2002.
The Congress leader also charged Modi was making wrong claims of Gujarat topping the list of industries and attracting huge investments in the state.
"Gujarat stands at fifth position as far as industrial development is concerned. The state is behind Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi," Rahul said in his brief speech where an impressive crowd, mostly youths, had gathered to listen him.
In the field of education, Vadodara was once considered as a main education centre not only in the country but also abroad but the standard of education has comedown during BJP rule, the Congress leader charged.
Now Gujarat is behind Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in education, he said. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-27 01:21:32 ) | | Hindus attack churches on Christmas | Hindus attack churches on Christmas By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 57 minutes ago
NEW DELHI - Hindu extremists ransacked and burned eight rural churches in eastern India, marring Christmas celebrations in a corner of the country with a history of violence against Christians, officials said Wednesday. One person was killed in the violence.
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Authorities deployed 450 police and imposed a curfew to quell the violence in the remote district of Orissa state where the churches — most nothing more than mud-and-thatch houses — were attacked, said Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a government official.
Six of the village churches were torched on Christmas day, and two more were attacked Wednesday along with 10 houses belonging to Christians, Mahapatra said.
India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular, a fact India's leaders often point out. They note that religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully. Some have risen to the highest levels of government and business.
But throughout India's history, both communities have faced repeated attacks from hardline Hindus, with violence against Christians often directed at foreign missionaries and converts from Hinduism.
Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. In one of the most brutal incidents, an Australian missionary and his two sons, 8 and 10, where burned to death in their car following a Bible study class in 1999.
Orissa is also the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.
There were conflicting reports of what sparked the Christmas violence, with each side blaming the other. Mahapatra called the violence a "sensitive matter" and refused to discuss how it began.
The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, 80-year-old Laxmanananda Saraswati of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, who leads an anti-conversion movement.
"When they were prevented from attacking him by his followers the Christians hit someone with an ax and one Hindu died," Giriraj Kishore told reporters in New Delhi.
But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began Monday when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage Hindus at the bottom of the religion's rigid caste hierarchy to convert to Christianity. Low-caste Hindus are often a target of missionaries.
An argument over the Christmas show got out of hand and some of the Hindus opened fire on the Christians, wounding three of them, said John Dayal, a spokesman for the Bishops Conference.
The Hindus then went on a rampage Tuesday, Christmas Day, chasing people out of six churches and setting the mud-and-thatch buildings ablaze, he said.
Later, dozens of people from each community clashed, Dayal said. One person was killed, he added, but could not say if the dead man was a Hindu or Christian. Another 25 people were wounded, the Press Trust of India news agency said.
Much of the ill-will in the area, about 840 miles southeast of the national capital, New Delhi, stems from anti-missionary sentiment. Some hardline Hindus are pushing for all missionaries to be expelled while Christians have challenged the conversion law in court, saying it violates India's constitution. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-27 00:07:49 ) | | Someday Modi will pay like the Australian Govt. | Haneef hopes to be compensated
Melbourne, pti:
Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, who was exonerated of terror charges in connection with the failed UK car bombings, has expressed hope that the Australian government would compensate him for the damages caused as he was “wrongly” implicated in the case.“I would be very grateful if they look into this aspect, some of the damages that authorities have done to me previously. I’m very hopeful of this,” he said, replying to a question on whether he would seek compensation from the Australian government.
The Federal Court on Friday upheld a decision to reinstate the work visa of the Indian doctor. Labor Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Haneef was entitled to return to work.
The former Austrailian Govt. was similar to the RSS, VHP, & BJP policies. The people got rid of them and see today "Insaaf" | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 23:53:50 ) | | VHP RSS BJP "trouble in Rajasthan" | One killed in police firing in Rajasthan
Special Correspondent
Trouble over alleged cow slaughter
------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- -----------------
Six policemen hurt in the confrontation
Prohibit ory orders have been enforced in the area
--------------- ------------------------- ------------------------- ---------------
JA IPUR: One person was killed and another seriously injured when police opened fire on a crowd protesting against the alleged slaughter of a cow at Kapasan village in Chittaurgarh district of Rajasthan on Sunday. The crowd of 800 people attacked police on being prevented from storming into a Muslim-dominated locality.
Tension was building up in the area since Friday with the villagers accusing Muslims of sacrificing a missing cow on Id-ul-Zuha. Some of the cow’s remains were reportedly found at a field belonging to a Muslim man, while the carcass was spotted in a well of Sarpanch of Usnar village, Maghulal Jat.
Irate villagers set on fire a shop, a cabin and a motorcycle belonging to Muslims after blocking the Kapasan-Bhadsoda road and also burnt a private bus plying on the route on Saturday. Police dispersed villagers trying to attack Muslim-dominated Raghunathpura by lobbing teargas shells.
Six policemen were injured in the confrontation with the violent crowd.
On a call for bandh issued by Vishwa Hindu Parisahd and Bajrang Dal on Sunday to protest against the alleged cow slaughter, villagers assembled on the main road again and proceeded towards Raghunathpura. They hurled stones on police personnel trying to disperse them.
Police first used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the agitated mob raising provocative slogans and demanding that Muslims be driven out of the village. Police sources said a policeman surrounded by the crowd fired “in self-defence” that left two persons injured.
While one of the injured succumbed on way to the hospital, the other was stated to be in a serious condition and was being treated in a hospital at Sanwaliaji.
Extra police force from Udaipur was deployed in Kapasan to bring the situation under control.
Prohibitory orders have been enforced in the region with the situation still described as tense. On the demand of villagers, police searched some houses in Raghunathpura and claimed to have seized a few weapons. While six persons were arrested on charges of arson, some “suspects” were also detained in Raghunathpura. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 23:29:27 ) | | Gujarat Testifies to Extremists* Arts of killing, | http://www.themessage-inf o.com/gujarat.htm
By SU Rahman, IOL South Asia Bureau
http://www.themessage-i nfo.com/pics/MUSLIMSOFIND IA-.jpg)
AHMEDABAD, April 10 (IslamOnline) - Do you have any
inkling as to what really is happening in Gujarat, an Indian state aflame since February 27? It simply continues to burn. The state of affairs in the state, after touring it for a week, has left one speechless. Words fail to describe what has been done to Muslims there. In short, it is Bosnia re-enacted. When I started out for the state, I was almost sure that this tragic story of blood, death and fire, that has continued till today and will probably continue for a long time to come, will be told by someone else. Travel for a lone Muslim, who also happens to have a beard, could easily be his last journey. I personally came close to death twice during this one week. Thousands of people have been killed during the last one and a half months. Though the government figures have just crossed 800 casualties -- the way things are being hushed up -- the real figures must be very high indeed. People who are working in rehabilitation and relief say that at least 2500 people have been either burnt alive or killed. YA Charkha, an advocate who has been involved in setting up of the relief camp in Godhra, where the fire started in the first place, says that even the figure of "2500" is not final as daily reports of killings pour in from various areas, especially villages. He says that Muslims residing in 400 villages in Panchmahal district under which Godhra falls, have been totally destroyed. Women, young and old alike, have been raped and even then not spared by the rapists most of whom are VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS activists. Don't ask about their men. They were killed in cold blood before capturing their women. Children as old as just two days were knifed or burnt alive. The story of Bilqis Yaqub Patel, 20, from Randhigpur near Godhra, is shattering. When her family started out in search of safety shortly after the Godhra incident, there were thirty people with her. From their village they went to Kudwazal village where they took shelter in the village mosque. Here, her sister Shamim delivered a baby boy, so her mother sent the men away. Now, there were only eight women and eight children in the family. Only her maternal uncle was around. They were then chased away by a mob. In another village, tribal people sheltered them and gave them their own clothes to help them conceal their identities. Tribal people sent two persons to escort them to Chaparwad village. Here, people recognized them and killed Bilqis's uncle. When they were fleeing from the scene, a mob riding in a Tata Sumo vehicle chased them. These devils, who were 24 in all, killed all the children including Bilqis's two-year old son as well as the boy her sister had delivered just two days back. Every woman, young and old, was raped by three devils each and later everyone was killed. They thought Bilqis too had died. She was lying there for two whole days. Now she is in the relief camp at Godhra. She doesn't know who brought her there. When I asked her about her male relatives, she said she has no news about them. It is not that she does not recognize the criminals. She knows them by their names. She told me that all the twenty four people who killed her relatives and raped the women were from her own village and that they used to buy milk from her father's dairy. As tragic as it sounds, hers is no exceptional story, though. There are hundreds of similar incidents. The case of Sharifunnisa or Fatima, who had come to celebrate Eid with her in-laws, was also no different. When rumors started spreading out, Fatima took shelter with her family in the fields outside their village. The sarpanch (village headman) assured them that nothing will happen and took them to his house. Here he brought a mob of 500 people. Eight people were killed there. She too was injured grievously when she tried to protect her husband. People in other camps too recount similar horror tales. Take the story of Fatima Bibi Yusuf Patel, now in Shah Alam Camp in Ahmedabad, or that of Jawed Hasan who is just 12 years old. All his family members were burnt alive in front of him. Everything belonging to Muslims has been destroyed with deathly precision. There are reports as to how a shop among hundreds of identical shops in a shopping complex was meticulously identified and burnt, but not much has been written as to how a shop, belonging to the majority community still stands while all the shops in the same complex have been destroyed. The lone shop in the Paldi area of Ahmedabad is still standing while all others surrounding it from three sides were razed to the ground. This was not a large departmental store with a large building, but a ramshackle tailoring shop. And to add to the mystery, this single shop amidst all the ruin is still functioning as if nothing has happened there. The destruction around this shop doesn't seem to have bothered its owner a bit. It is the story of every nook and corner of the state. Whole housing complexes have been demolished. And curiously, not a single window pane in the adjacent Hindu housing complexes has been touched. Gupta Nagar, Al-Ateeq, Dinoori Park, Soni Ki Chal, Narol Highway and numerous other places tell the same story again and again. Muslim houses have been totally destroyed with not a single household item escaping the fury of fire. Thousands of people have fled their houses and have either moved to safer areas or have been forced to take shelter in relief camps. The fire was so intense that it even peeled the roof and wall plasters. There are several stories about the material being used to burn shops and houses. Some people told me that the material was imported from Israel to quickly dispose of dead bodies after the last year's earthquake and the same is now being used to destroy Muslims. Batuk Vora, a former MLA and social activist in Ahmedabad, said that the material being used for setting things afire is called 'Latex' and was being brought from Hyderabad. I asked a local activist in Vadodra as to how these people are able to selectively destroy Muslim shops without inflicting any damage to the adjacent Hindu shops? He said that they first drill into the intended shop or house and insert this material. The resulting fire does not spill over; it only destroys everything in that particular house or shop. The story of people still living in Muslim localities is no less tragic. With no work for the past six weeks, thousands of people are starving. Farooq Shaikh, who is running Juhapura relief camp, says that people in relief camps may be a bit better off as they are at least getting food, but people outside, whose businesses have been destroyed, have nowhere to go. These people are also regularly tortured by police and paramilitary forces as well threatened day and night by the extremist outfits. People in both camps and Muslim localities keep night vigil for fear of attacks. Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, claims that the riots have been controlled and that these were merely a "reaction" of the Godhra incident. People laugh at such claims. Reenuka Sharma, a People's Union for Civil Liberties activist in Vadodra, told me that everything was very finely planned. She said that riots against Muslims were planned much in advance before the Godhra incident. Details from municipality, telephone and electricity departments were collected long before the Godhra incident in order to identify Muslim businesses. She said the whole plan to destroy Muslims was laid down much in advance and was carried out in three phases. In the first, they targeted Muslim shops and houses in areas where they were not numerically strong. In the second phase, they attacked Muslims in mixed colonies. And now, after cleansing Muslims from mixed colonies, they are trying to destroy Muslims in areas where they form a formidable majority. Sharma added that in areas where there was no violence, local Hindus received bangles, a metaphor for cowardice, together with provocative pamphlets. This is why violence keeps spreading to other areas and still continues. Several Muslim-dominated areas in Ahmedabad and elsewhere in the state are regularly being attacked by large mobs during night. The mobs act under full police protection. Muhammad Nayeem of Juhapura said that when the rioters attacked Al-Ateeq housing colony in Ahmedabad, they were fully protected by the police. Whenever Muslims tried to defend themselves, the police fired at them. Even now, residential houses in Hindu colonies just across these destroyed housing complexes are well protected by the police who are stationed on roofs and on top floors to keep vigil. Police, who did not take any action while Muslims were being burned alive, now daily combs Muslim areas and tortures Muslim youths. On April 5, a total of 75 Muslim youths were arrested by police from Teen Darwaza area in Ahmedabad after a stabbing incident and were tortured so bad that even the refugees suffering death and destruction said they had never witnessed such brutality in their life. It is becoming a normal routine for Muslims in the state.
Mahadev Vidrohi, who heads an Ahmedabad-based NGO,told IslamOnline that action/reaction theory is being fished out by Modi to protect his skin. Virodhi says everything was pre-planned and was organized by the VHP with full Modi support. This was confirmed by Patel Shantilal Purshottamdas, a former deputy minister of commerce at the central government and four times member of Lok Sabha (Parliament). He told IslamOnline that in February, after the Godhra incident, Modi came to the town where he met VHP functionaries at the Circuit House. When they asked him what to do, he told them that you should wear bangles. Patel, who was present at the Circuit House, adds that Modi told the VHP people that nothing would happen if you add one or two zeros in response. Former Gujarat state chief minister and president of state Congress Party said that everything is planned and executed by the VHP and the RSS with full government support. He said that nothing will change till Modi government is removed.
Asked about the state government claims that the riots are planned by the Pakistan military intelligence (ISI) or some other foreign power, he laughed and said that they must themselves be ISI agents since everything is planned by these very people and no foreign power or agency is involved in it. It has been learnt from reliable sources that full-time functionaries of the VHP, Bajrang Dal and the like are on the payroll of leading business houses. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 22:57:59 ) | | Gujarat's Muslim heritage smashed in riots | Gujarat's Muslim heritage smashed in riots
Luke Harding in New Delhi
Guardian
Saturday June 29, 2002
http://www.guardian .co.uk/Archive/Article/0, 4273,4451027,00.html
Two hundred and thirty unique Islamic monuments, including an exquisite 400-year-old mosque, were destroyed or vandalised during the recent anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state of Gujarat, according to a local survey.
Experts say the damage is so extensive that it rivals the better publicised destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan or the wrecking of Tibet's monasteries by the Red Guards.
Several monuments have been reduced to rubble in the course of the riot, in which 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, have died. In other disturbances, Hindu gangs have smashed delicate mosque screens, thrown bricks at Persian inscriptions, and set fire to old Korans. "This has been a systematic attempt to wipe out an entire culture," said Teesta Setalvad of Sapara, a body opposed to communal strife, who compiled the list. One of the monuments razed was the tomb of Vali Gujarati, the grandfather of Urdu poetry and inspiration of many later poets and singers, who died in Ahmedabad, the state's main city, in 1707. In recent years the tomb lay in the middle of a busy main road. On the night of March 1 Hindu gangs with pickaxes smashed it and replaced it with a small brick temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey-god Hanuman.
Two days later the state authorities flattened the spot completely. "I drove over him recently when I went to the airport," Ms Setalvad said yesterday. "The government people used machinery to tar over him in a few hours."
Last weekend the Hindu nationalist state government, which is accused of complicity in the pogroms, stopped a group of intellectuals rebuilding the poet's grave. They lacked permission, police officers said.
Several of Vali's fans have pointed out his own verse almost anticipates his ending:
The city of whose songs I have always sung
Why can I not bear to live in that city now?
The destruction of his tomb has prompted much soul-searching by secular intellectuals, who have been pondering whether Hindu-Muslim relations can ever recover from the worst religious riots in India for 10 years. They point out that the attacks follow a pattern
established in 1992 when Hindu zealots demolished the 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya. Right-wing Hindu scholars have argued that India's Mughal kings knocked down several Hindu temples to build their own imperial mosques and that Hindu gangs
who tear down Muslim shrines are merely "redeeming the past". "By destroying the symbols of a community you destroy the community itself," said Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, of the Jarwaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. The tragedy, secular historians say, is that Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat have a long tradition of tolerance. Arab traders first arrived on the west coast of India in the late 7th century and by the early 10th century there were 10,000 Muslims in Gujarati ports. And like many of India's Muslim rulers, Ahmedabad's 15th-century sultan and founder, Ahmad Shah I, married a rajput (Hindu) princess. His mosques and civic buildings incorporated Islamic and rajput elements and
he employed Hindus in the highest offices of state. Gujarati Muslims are, therefore, among India's longest-established sects, and most of them are descended from converts, not "foreign invaders". Several 16th-century buildings have been pulverised.
They include two 400-year-old mosques, one of them apparently bulldozed in the presence of two ministers in the state government. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 22:37:39 ) | | wish we had more like Nimish | Nimit Patel,
I wish we had many more thinkers like you.
Thanks Buddy | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 22:33:34 ) | | Ab Christians ki bari hai | Fresh violence in Orissa, police station torched
I think it's the turn of the Christians to take a beating from BJP
Phulbani (PTI): Despite heavy deployment of security personnel, fresh violence and arson on wednesday broke out in riot-hit Kandhamal district as a police station was torched and 10 houses were attacked that left 11 people injured.
Miscreants set afire a police station at Phiringia, one of the violence-hit areas in Kandhamal, Director-General of Police Gopal Nanda told PTI.
Fresh violence had broken out in the wee hours in the Brakhama area where miscreants set afire about four houses and indulged in stone-pelting, leaving 11 people injured, police sources said.
About half-a-dozen houses were attacked and residents threatened by unidentified persons in Jaleshpata, they said.
Curfew continued in the four sensitve towns of Baliguda, Daringibadi, Brahmanigaon and Phulbani and there was no report of fresh violence from there, Revenue Divisional Commissioner Satyabrata Sahu said.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped in the entire district, Home Secretary T K Mishra said adding the situation was under control even as sporadic violence took place during the day.
Sahu claimed the situation was gradually improving but did not rule out sporadic violence in villages which remained out of the purview of curfew.
Tension continued to prevail in the tribal-dominated district where churches and convents were attacked and set afire on Tuesday after an assault on VHP leader Laxamanananda Saraswati who led an anti-conversion movement in the area. | |
| | Hiral (Vadodara, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 22:25:44 ) | | To not so ZINDA DIL | Here is a copy paste of my response to Bimal Ghose about 3 weeks ago...I guess, the only commands you know are CTRL+C and CTRL+V
=======
Hiral (Vadodara, India)
27 days ago ( 2007-11-29 03:19:12 )
Response to Bimal Ghose
Q1 : Why has the debt increased ?
A1 : Does a bank give loan to beggars ? No !! It will give loan to only those states, which can repay it it in time..in short...States that have credit !!! And why the loans ? Well simple answer : Development requires Money.
Q2 : Why only 6000 crores of investment ?
A2 : An MOU is signed for an investment over a period of time. Not in one day or one year. e.g., if a nuclear deal is signed, that doesnt mean, India gets Uranium on day 1.
Q3 : Why is Octroi not removed ?
A3 : Octroi is NOW removed. However, it was a major source of revenue, and tax restructuring takes almost a year. So, after VAT introduction, it took a year, to remove OCTROI. Maharashtra is yet to remove OCTROI..
Sorry to say, but you read too much into the English media, without thinking for yourself.
=============== | |
| | Nimit Patel (Anand, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 10:41:26 ) | | TO ZINDADIL... | U WILL FIND MY ANSWER EVERY TIME WHENEVER U WILL TELL SOME THING ON BJP OR HINDU MUSLIM...
FIRST OF ALL U STOP JUST COPY AND PASTE FROM OTHERS ARTICLE...
one thing... what u means for MOU...??? when some one is telling to invest amount,,, in first year only it is not possible... when u build yr house.. u will buy land ... then construction then furniture... all this will tkae two years and yr investment will be downthe line... not a very first day...
second thing u are talking about 97k thousand debt... then understand one thing.. do u know which country had highest debt in the world... from yr knowledge it i can know u dont know it... then listen its USA ... and u know how much debt... that is 13 times of indias GDP... k..
when u are doing investment debt will increase... without investment u cant do any investment...
any what is this muslim muslim... what... if yr M F Hussain draw nude picture of god... then is it ok... why we live him ??? we will make such picture of allah then ??? then what u feel tell me ???
u make nude picture of jesus and show them with pamela anderson.. then see reaction in europe... all this dont u ever think...
and if u feel hindu are terrorist and we are treating muslim like this and that... then udnerstand one thing... muslim are in better control here then in UP and Bihar... why are u not talking anything about daud.. tiger memon.. latif... who are they... we are not treating muslim as second citizen or terrorist..
but u only think when u all coming on minority for any matter like encounter... then what modi or any hindu will do?? one more person was encounter with sohrabuddin and that was tulsi.. he was under him and he also killed... why nobody talk ab him???
u are talking about congress... ??? what they done in last 60 yrs...?? do they give proper education to muslim... u are talking about development...
go in up buhar, mp, orrisa, west bengal, kerala... and see the condition of road and electricity and then see gujarat..
people like u ... making diffrence of hindu and muslim... javed akhtar, amir khan, sabana azmi... for how many muslim they done anything good.. to how many family they provide food and shelter..
go to your people and ask them from hear... do government and NGO ever done good things for them...???
when we are going in market ... we never think this is muslim shop and we should not buy from him... we never think we should no seat in auto which is muslim... never.. why...
if u feel hindu and gujarati are so much brutal... then do u know we are children of ghandhi.. who gave us ASAHKAR ANDOLAN...we stop dealing with muslim?? we stop to call our muslim friend in our ceremoney?? never... i jsut attend marriage of one our msulim friends daughter... do u think all this ..??
never
BECASUE U JUST KNOW TO COPY AND PASTE THE ARTICLE FROM MEDIA... WHICH GIVE THEM MONEY... | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 02:17:05 ) | | Muslims won’t leave Gujarat | ‘Muslims won’t leave Gujarat but won’t live as second-class citizens’
J. S. BANDUKWALA
The BJP victory in a Gujarat is a sad day for not just Muslims but for the whole country. The party rode to power on the strength of Muslim blood and tears.
It is shocking that most Gujarati Hindus have agreed with the Modi-Togadia line of hatred for Muslims. The entire BJP campaign was based on rejecting Muslims as terrorists and Pakistanis.
Five million Gujarati Muslims have practically been marginalised. Ours is a poor community with a high rate of illiteracy. But adversity will make us stronger in the days to come. Muslims are not going to leave Gujarat. Nor will we live as second class-citizens on the charity of the Sangh Parivar.
Just as Hindus remember Somnath and Mohammed of Ghazni, Muslims will always remember Gujarat and Modi. We will never forget this pogrom and we will never allow another pogrom.
Muslims will have to change their very way of life to adjust to the emerging crisis.
Socio-economic transformation is a must if the community is to avoid becoming the new untouchables of India. Each and every Muslim boy and girl must get the best and highest education possible. Our future lies as a business community. The ideal example is that of the Jews in America.
We must know that this means women have to be treated with maximum respect and dignity. Triple talaq must be treated as un-Islamic. The whole foundation of Muslim society should rest on our women, who must model themselves on the lines of Hazrat Khadija and Hazrat Fatima.
While Muslims will always treat BJP as poison, we must be equally wary of all political parties that are aligned with it. For, by their silence, they made it possible for the Gujarat experiment to take place.
Our current worry is a communal polarisation being deliberately provoked in other states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The only remedy lies in eternal vigilance.
The Congress’s stance on secularism is quite weak. They appear embarrassed to mention the name of Gandhi and Nehru. Soft Hindutva is not the answer to hard Hindutva, but I must mention that Sonia Gandhi has her heart in the right place on the secular issue. A greater assertiveness by her will help the country.
I strongly disfavour the Mulayam Singh Yadav brand of secularism. It has become identified with the five-star culture of Amar Singh. This is making a mockery of a very grave national issue.
Islam teaches that Allah is Rab-ul-Aalmin, he is the creator of everyone and everything.
In that sense, all Hindus are our brothers and we must never hate them. Muslims will always be indebted to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who sacrificed his life so that we could live in India as equal citizens with respect and dignity.
We appeal to all people of goodwill and conscience in India and abroad to recognise that the Sangh Parivar is no different from the Taliban of Afghanistan. Please stand with us in this fight between Good and Evil.
Professor J.K. Bandukwala teaches Nuclear Physics at M.S. University. During the Gujarat riots, he was saved from a mob by his Hindu neighbours. But the next day, a bigger mob torched his house and car. Bandukwala then fled to Mumbai, spent time abroad and returned to Vadodara after a few months. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-26 02:05:02 ) | | Bimal Ghose (Randolph, United States) | Bimal Ghose (Randolph, United States)
28 days ago ( 2007-11-27 23:32:30 )
No BJP friend has responded to this question
1 day ago ( 2007-11-26 01:28:05 )
BJP lovers will say some thing on this?
After Narendra Modi's take over on Gujarat state, the state debt increased from 18000 crores to 97000 crores in 5 yrs of Namo's rule, where peoples money gone?
Narendra Modi is claiming that in his rule Rs. 70000 crore's MOU has been sighed but till now only 6000 crores are invested? why?
In the election 2002, Namo has promised to remove Octroi, but till the end of 5 yrs. why octroi was not removed?
Gujarat state has got more than 3500 crores of rupees through VAT and cess on petrolium products, where this much money has been spent?
I would like to request blind BJP lover brothers and sisters to open their eyes and look deeeeeeep in to this points, I think its eye opening facts. | |
| | Kishen Singh (India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-25 07:16:59 ) | | Indian Nationalists v/s Pseudo-Secularists | | Future Indian elections will be between Indian Nationalist Combine v/s Pseudo-Secular/Communist Combine. It will be interesting to see who wins. At least better than being ruled by one party who wanted to stay in power at all costs. Indian Nationalists should win hands down if they bring out a good highly nationalist manifesto which should include the construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. | |
| | JO JITA VOHI SIKANDAR (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-25 07:14:33 ) | | HAD KARDI ANE GHAR ME BETHE RAHE RUPALA OR MODI | | PHLE TO VIJAYYATRA NIKALI THI KI HUM HI JITENGE? OR JB CAUNTING SURU HUI TO BJP KI AAFIS ME AANE KI BHI HIMAT NA KAR SAKE BAD ME SMS KIYA MODI NE KE ME HOO NA CM. OR KESUKAKE KO CHUNAV KE BAD NOTIS BHEJTE HO RUPALA KESUJI NE TO SARI JINDGI BP OR JANSAGH KO DEDI HE AAPKO SARM NHI AAY YA TUM BHI SATA ME HISSA CHATE HO, | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-25 06:34:20 ) | | Time to build an inclusive Gujarat | Time to build an inclusive Gujarat: British NRIs to Modi
London, IANS:
Non-resident Indians in Britain, led by the powerful and wealthy Gujarati business community, want Narendra Modi to heal the scars of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat and help build an inclusive state in his third stint as chief minister.
"With this further term, we hope he will work towards building a inclusive society in Gujarat, working for the development of all sections, not one particular section," said Praveen Amin, a Hindu who heads the National Congress of Gujarati Associations of UK, an umbrella body representing 98 Gujarati organisations.
"After all, Modi as chief minister represents all the religions of Gujarat," he added.
More than 1,000 Muslims were killed in the state in 2002 by Hindu extremists following the torching of a train in the town of Godhra, in which 59 Hindu pilgrims were killed. International human rights groups, holding Modi responsible for the violence, have blocked not only some of his travel abroad but also his access to Western government leaders.
Modi's position is closely intertwined with the activities and interests of British Gujaratis, who are the largest ethnic Indian as well as Hindu community in Britain and number about half a million (there are no official figures of the number of Gujaratis in Britain). They invest heavily in Gujarat and a rising number of them are spending more of their time and money in Gujarat.
Increasingly in a shrinking world, events in India and Britain impact on each other's populations, no more so than Gujaratis.
In interviews with IANS, prominent NRIs said that in addition to the financial and economic stability that Modi has brought in, they want to see religious harmony in the western Indian state - an end to the religious strife and polarisation that has marred the Modi years.
"Let me say one thing to Muslims - it is time to forgive and forget," said Sir Gulam K. Noon, head of multi-million pounds Indian food business empire, Noon Products. "You know, things happen. You can't go on and on about 2002. India's roots of secularism are very deep and all Muslims have a place in India."
"But in the next five years, Modi should build a united community, inject secularism and continue the development of Gujarat," Noon added.
"Modi has the power to be a good administrator - we all know that. I just hope he will learn from history and build community cohesion, so that all Gujaratis can benefit from economic and social stability," said Buddhdev Pandya, a London-based Gujarati community leader and well-known campaigner on immigration issues.
Every Gujarati - both Hindu and Muslim - that IANS spoke to highlighted one particular achievement of Modi: that there had been no violence against Muslims since 2002.
"Obviously all our members are deeply hurt. But many Muslim Gujaratis in Britain take a slightly milder position towards Modi these days," said Shamsuddin Agha, president of the Indian Muslim Federation (IMF) UK. "They acknowledge that Muslims have to live and work in Gujarat and they want to look ahead."
Some 70 percent of the IMF's members are Gujarati-speaking Muslims and many of them, says Agha, realise that "it's no good just being angry."
"Our group has appreciation for his governance. We only hope that in his third coming, Modi will bring justice and punish the people who took part in the 2002 killings," said Agha.
"In the last four or five years there have been no riots against Muslims. There is tension of course, but no riots," he added.
Three British Gujarati-speaking men were among those killed in the 2002 anti-Muslim violence. Mohammad Aswat Nallabhai and cousins Saeed and Shakil Dawood, all from the northern English region of Yorkshire, were killed when their jeep was attacked by Hindu extremists near the town of Himmatnagar.
An Early Day Motion submitted before the British parliament and signed by 46 MPs in May "deplores the decision of the Gujarat authorities not to investigate these horrific crimes properly and uphold justice by convicting those responsible."
But such thoughts are not uppermost among those who count themselves as staunch supporters of Modi in Britain.
"Who doesn't have an opponent when he is a rising star?" said Dr Harish M. Rughani, Executive Chairman of Shri Vallabh Nidhi UK, an organisation that is building a large Hindu temple in the London suburb of Wembley.
"Only a handful of people in Britain oppose Modi. The majority of Gujaratis here are thrilled. It is a fantastic election victory for a man who has brought so much vibrancy to Gujarat," Rughani added.
Shamsuddin Agha is far less effusive, and for at least one very good reason. The IMF, he points out, was launched in the aftermath of another Gujarat riot - the one in 1969 that is thought to have killed some 2,500 people. That another wave of violence could have swept the state in just over three decades is a bitter experience, not for him alone but more so for those who live in Gujarat.
"People who are not political, who are not educated and who are not strong - people who are hardly out of their mosques - these people are very much scared," said Agha. "We hope and pray Modi will change his mind about Muslims." | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-25 03:56:44 ) | | Gujarat Muslims denied voting rights | Sunetra Choudhury
Tuesday, November 27, 2007 (Dhanduka)
http://www. ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv /story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070 034146&ch=11/28/2007%2012 :32:00%20AM
Chief Minister Narendra Modi may have offered Taslima
Nasreen shelter but many Muslim families living in
Gujarat feel anything but welcome.
They lost their homes for wanting to vote. For the
last two months, these people have had nowhere to
live. Home for them used to be Adwal village in
Dhanduka tehsil, where they've lived since 1984.
But when they wanted to get themselves registered as
voters in September, they were thrown out,
unceremoniously.
''They said you'd then build mosques, a graveyard and
your houses. We are not interested in that,'' said
Sadiq, Evicted Resident.
Every time electoral officials came to verify the
names of these 19 families, Adwal residents denied
they ever lived here. Members of the denotified Dafer
tribe, they used to be nomadic but they've long given
up their wandering lifestyle and now crave security.
''Our children have never gone to school. We want
these identity cards so they can go to school and
other things like drivers licenses,'' said Gulab,
Evicted Resident.
For almost 3 decades, these people were able to work
out a symbiotic relationship with the Adwal residents,
of tending to their farms in return for a place to
live. But now democracy has created a rift.
''How can we give them when they only live for few
months. First 10 will live here, then they
will bring more people here,'' said Brij Raj Sinh,
Deputy Sarpanch, Dandhuka.
These people have been living in such poor conditions
and that's why they want voter cards, so that they can
fight to rise above these conditions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'The exclusion of Gujarat's Muslim community is
systemic, state-led'
Harsh Mander, a former IAS officer who resigned in the
wake of the Gujarat 2002 riots, was one of the first
people from outside Gujarat to report on the
bloodshed. Now, as someone actively engaged in
providing succour to the victims of the riots, he
speaks to ANIL VARGHESE on how the genocide has
assumed an economic form.
Posted on 29 November 2007
http://www.tehelk a.com/story_main36.asp?fi lename=Ws081207Gujarat.as p
You have been involved in providing relief to the
victims of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. What is the
situation in the relief camps?
In Gujarat, five years after the riots, there are no
relief camps. They have been disbanded. 2 lakh people
have been displaced; some, because they are homeless,
and others, because they are too frightened to return.
The government refused to set up relief camps.
Initially, the Muslim community mustered personnel and
resources and set up relief camps. The government
decided to go for elections 6 months after the riots
and unfortunately disbanded the camps. The situation
on the ground did not change much. Fear and hate was
still in the air. The victims were not welcome back in
their villages. They had to renegotiate their return.
The people in the villages preferred not to have them
back but if they did return, conditions were laid
down. The conditions included not pursuing legal
justice and that the sound of adhan should not be
heard. Some people, about half of the displaced, have
accepted these conditions and returned to their
villages. Even now they are living in conditions of
extreme fear and hatred. It has almost become a way of
life. People refuse to employ you and trade with you.
Of the other half displaced, some have left the state
altogether. There are others who have moved into
ghettoes. There were still some who had nowhere to go.
They were picked up from the streets and kept in
relief colonies. There are 81 such colonies. The state
government was in complete denial, leaving the
colonies with no resources and facilities. We took up
the matter in the Supreme Court. Also as a special
commissioner of the Supreme Court in the 'Right to
Food' case, I managed to get the state government to
admit to the need for relief for these victims of the
riots. Now these colonies have the basic markers of
relief.
To what extent has the Muslim community been
economically ostracised?
In rural Gujarat, the boycott is more visible. In
urban areas, it is also there but with the anonymity
in the urban context, identities are concealed and and
a systematic boycott is not easy to operationalise.
The spirit of boycott is still there but the practice
is stronger in the villages affected by the violence.
This continues even 5 years after the riots.
Did the conditions, which prevailed in rural Gujarat
prior to 2002 as opposed to the rural areas of the
neighbouring Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh
in areas of education, agriculture and employment,
throw up explanations for the riots?
The conditions, which led to the riots, resulted from
a intensive work by the Sangh Parivar over of a period
of 15-16 years under BJP rule in the state. Hindus and
Muslims have lived together for centuries in India. A
carnage of this magnitude was planned systematically
with the support of the BJP and that of the non State
actors like the Sangh protected by the State. And the
preparations and the manufacture of a polarised
community led to the carnage.
In 2002, the genocide with all the bloodshed drew
widespread condemnation. Has it now taken on an
economic guise?
In some ways it has been observed that 5 years since
the carnage, now, it is as or even more genocidal
because there are no weapons, mobs or bloodshed but
people continue to live in fear. That is the reality
in Gujarat in areas that were affected by the
violence. There is very little remorse and reparation.
I shall, however, underline the fact that this is not
the complete story. There have been extraordinary
individual acts of compassion from the Hindu
community. This is also the reality of Gujarat. There
are individuals who have shown enormous courage in
coming to the rescue of their Muslim neigbours both
during the riots and after.
How would you describe the present state of schools,
workplaces and agriculture in rural Gujarat?
There exists boycott of Muslim agricultural labourers
to the extent that they would employ non Muslim
labourers as far as they are available. They deal with
non Muslim shops, again as far as they are available.
Schools are not segregated yet but a significant
number of children from Muslim families have dropped
out. Parents are frightened to send their children to
school after the carnage. There is also the economic
compulsion. I see the situation in Gujarat after the
carnage as a process by which second-class citizenship
of the Muslims has been achieved. That is what is
terrifying.
Modi has been projecting Gujarat as a ' vibrant'
economy. The government also released the Ernst and
Young Report recently with much fanfare. Is this a
ploy to cover up the fracture that runs through the
state? With the majority community benefiting
exclusively, is Modi paying back his supporters for
their part in marginalising the Muslim community?
There is a huge amount of debate about the extent of
the economic prosperity as to whether the development
has been taking the normal course or this particular
government actually contributed to it in the last 5
years. This is certainly a part of India that seems to
be prospering. Leading industries have lined up there
to legitimise the Modi Government including the Tatas,
Birlas and Ambanis. But many experts dispute the
claims of economic prosperity –how deep it is, how
widespread it is. But for me, that is not the crucial
question. The crucial question really is this. Do a
democratically elected economy and a vibrant economy
really legitimise this fascistic politics and mass
murder? Of course the development here is not
inclusive nor is it anywhere else in the country but
the difference is that the exclusion of the Muslim
community is much more systemic, state-led here.
Is there a space for the corporate leaders to be a
little more responsible especially those operating
from outside Gujarat?
Mr ( Vijaypat) Singhania, now the chairperson of IIM
Ahmedabad, remarked in his last convocation address on
these lines; that we should get our priorities right,
not lose ourselves in the minor issue of the genocide
but focus on the economic growth. I found this
statement extremely dangerous. We have other people
like Anu Aga, Chairperson of Thermax, speaking out on
the situation in Gujarat, explicitly stating that we
cannot speak of economic growth in the context of
economic injustice, fear and hate. I don’t think the
corporate leaders have stood up and countered
adequately the injustice prevalent in Gujarat.
And the bureaucracy in Gujarat. How communalised is it
and how have the civil servants from other states been
taken on board?
With the bureaucracy there has been widespread
complicity, not just in the carnage but also in the
issues surrounding the rehabilitation and
investigation. None of this would have been possible
if the bureaucracy had put its foot down on the
matter. But there are many extraordinary examples of
courage as well from young police officers during the
carnage and the investigations that followed. By and
large the institution has been extremely complicit. I
have this question. Do the bureaucrats and policemen
crawl because they are frightened or because they
share in the project of hate? To me, the way the
communal politics has been played out is the most
dangerous aspect.
RB Sreekumar, the intelligence chief of the Gujarat
police during the riots, remarked in a recent
interview with Tehelka that the IAS and IPS officers
joined in the bandwagon of hate because they were
promised better positions and transfers in exchange.
The fact that the bureaucracy was complicit in
carrying out the carnage is beyond dispute. There
could be three reasons for their complicity. One, they
were so frightened they couldn’t take a stand; second,
they were bribed by seniors and third, they believed
in it. My observation is that sometimes it is bits of
all three but usually it is the third. If this is
actually true, this is truly frightening. | |
| | Zindadil (Baroda, India) | | 2 years ago ( 2007-12-25 03:53:51 ) | | Conviction of Gujarat Riot Culprits | 2006: Indian Muslim Press Statements
For Latest Indian Muslim Press Statements click here
Archive of Indian Muslim Press Statements click here
COUNCIL of INDIAN MUSLIMS (UK) / PRESS RELEASE
Conviction of Gujarat Riot Culprits Will Re-establish the Credibility of the Judiciary
London, 25 February, 2006: London based advocacy group, Council of Indian Muslims — UK (CIM) has welcomed Indian court’s decision sentencing for life nine of the 17 culprits of the infamous Best Bakery case. They had burnt alive 12 Muslims, during the anti Muslim riots in Gujarat in which more than 3,000 Muslims were killed.
Calling the judgement “The beginning of a new era”, CIM’s chairman Mr Munaf Zeena said, “Being the first ever law court judgement of its kind in post independent India, this will serve as a deterrence to all the criminal minded elements in all the communities.
“Not only will it restore the shaken confidence of the minorities, specially the Muslims, it will also re-establish the credibility of Indian judicial system in the world and will project the country at the world scene as the upholder of law and human values.” Zeena said.
“We congratulate the judges for this historical verdict and salute the courage and commitment of human rights activists, especially social worker Teesta Setalwad and National Human Rights Commission because it were their tireless efforts that made these successful convictions possible.” Zeena continued, “We hope that the blood thirsty criminals responsible for mass rapes and mass murders committed in those hellish days in Gujarat will also face justice in a similar fashion.”
COUNCIL of INDIAN MUSLIMS (UK)
66c Cazenove Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 6AA UK Tel: 020 8806 1147 Fax: 020 8806 6859, www.coim.org.uk , Email: info@coim.org.uk
For further information please contact Munaf Zeena on 07956335384 «
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