Original Message -----
From: ghanshyam shah
To: Ambrish ; Anjana Desai ; Archana choksi
Cc: Ashok Parikh ; Ashok Pawar ; bhavin parmar ; BHikhu Vyas ; darshan desai ; Darshini Mahadevia
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:44 AM
Subject: Case against Ashish nandy
From: ghanshyam shah
To: Ambrish ; Anjana Desai ; Archana choksi
Cc: Ashok Parikh ; Ashok Pawar ; bhavin parmar ; BHikhu Vyas ; darshan desai ; Darshini Mahadevia
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 5:44 AM
Subject: Case against Ashish nandy
Dear friend,
Prof. Ashis Nandy wrote an article "Blame the Middle Classes" after the Gujarat elections. He gave his analysis of the election outcome. One agrees with him or not is a different issue. But some one has filed a criminal case for writing this article under IPC Section 153 (A) and (B), with the permission of Government of Gujarat. Shockingly the head of the Gujarat Branch of the National Council of Civil Liberties has filed the case. Large number of scholars from various parts of India and the world has strongly protested against the case. Their statement is given below.
I feel that we from Gujarat should join the protest in very large number to show our concern for civil liberties and also show that there are quite a large number of persons in Gujarat who believe and respect different points of view. WE strongly oppose to the charges levied against Ashish Nandy; and demand withdrawal of the charges against Prof. Nandy. We live in Gujarat and believe in freedom of expressions.
If you agree with me please send your consent to the statement. It will be nice if you get signatures of your likeminded friends.
Warm regards,
Ghanshyam
STATEMENT BY ACADEMICS AND ACTIVISTS ON THE
HARASSMENT OF ASHIS NANDY AND A DEMAND FOR
WITHDRAWAL OF SPURIOUS CHARGES LEVIED AGAINST HIM
HARASSMENT OF ASHIS NANDY AND A DEMAND FOR
WITHDRAWAL OF SPURIOUS CHARGES LEVIED AGAINST HIM
[Released on 16 June 2008]
We write to protest in the strongest possible
terms against the charges of criminal offence
levied against Ashis Nandy, a political
psychologist, sociologist and an internationally
renowned public intellectual of the highest
caliber. This is the latest case of harassment
of intellectuals, journalists, artists, and
public figures by antidemocratic forces that
claim to speak on behalf of Hindu values
sometimes and patriotism at other times,
especially in Gujarat, but who have little
understanding of either. What is pernicious in
this case is that the charge of criminal offence
against Nandy levied under Section 153 (A) and
(B) for his newspaper article 'Blame the Middle
Classes' , was brought by the head of the
Gujarat Branch of the National Council of Civil
Liberties. The State Government of Gujarat by
giving its permission for filing the case has
shown its own complicity in the case.
terms against the charges of criminal offence
levied against Ashis Nandy, a political
psychologist, sociologist and an internationally
renowned public intellectual of the highest
caliber. This is the latest case of harassment
of intellectuals, journalists, artists, and
public figures by antidemocratic forces that
claim to speak on behalf of Hindu values
sometimes and patriotism at other times,
especially in Gujarat, but who have little
understanding of either. What is pernicious in
this case is that the charge of criminal offence
against Nandy levied under Section 153 (A) and
(B) for his newspaper article 'Blame the Middle
Classes' , was brought by the head of the
Gujarat Branch of the National Council of Civil
Liberties. The State Government of Gujarat by
giving its permission for filing the case has
shown its own complicity in the case.
It seems part of the strategy of the most
intolerant sections of Indian society today to
make a cynical use the language of civil
liberties to achieve ends that are the opposite
of what the aspirations to civil liberties and
the struggles over them represent. The harassment
of well-known intellectuals and artists hides we
fear, the daily intimidation being faced by
members of minorities and especially the Muslims
in Gujarat. We demand that all the charges
against Professor Nandy be immediately dropped.
We understand that there is a great deal of
anxiety in Gujarat today about its lost honour.
It might help to remind ourselves that this
honour or 'asmita' will not be gained by acts of
violence and intimidation but by recovering or
discovering the humanity of each other. Gujarat
can and will regain its own destiny by
remembering the politics of nonviolence, as one
of its sons by the name of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi once taught the nation and the world.
intolerant sections of Indian society today to
make a cynical use the language of civil
liberties to achieve ends that are the opposite
of what the aspirations to civil liberties and
the struggles over them represent. The harassment
of well-known intellectuals and artists hides we
fear, the daily intimidation being faced by
members of minorities and especially the Muslims
in Gujarat. We demand that all the charges
against Professor Nandy be immediately dropped.
We understand that there is a great deal of
anxiety in Gujarat today about its lost honour.
It might help to remind ourselves that this
honour or 'asmita' will not be gained by acts of
violence and intimidation but by recovering or
discovering the humanity of each other. Gujarat
can and will regain its own destiny by
remembering the politics of nonviolence, as one
of its sons by the name of Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi once taught the nation and the world.
The Article
LEADER ARTICLE: Blame The Middle Class
8 Jan 2008, 0000 hrs IST, Ashis Nandy
8 Jan 2008, 0000 hrs IST, Ashis Nandy
Now that the dust has settled over the Gujarat elections, we can afford to defy the pundits and admit that, even if Narendra Modi had lost the last elections, it would not have made much difference to the culture of Gujarat politics. Modi had already done his job. Most of the state's urban middle class would have remained mired in its inane versions of communalism and parochialism and the VHP and the Bajrang Dal would have continued to set the tone of state politics. Forty years of dedicated propaganda does pay dividends, electorally and socially.
The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so conspicuously by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both V D Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning cultural deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution and the state apparatus has adjusted to the change.
The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective leader. Nor does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past and a large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The national leadership of the party does not have the courage to confront Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984.
The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor presence it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics arouses derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few valiant old-timers, Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations of his Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the Hindu nationalist agenda.
Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in their home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly met by voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply aid but insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, adopt veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions to the wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India as this generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of Rajiv Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy.
The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not helped matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive solace from their religions and, when under attack, they cling more passionately to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism have simultaneously broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of figures like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — persons who can give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless and make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews accessible to the people.
Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our times is that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with developmental despotism and the censorship, surveillance and thought control that go with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and collapse of social ethics.
Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, out of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of remorse and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class.
Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the media and education, which have become hate factories in recent times. And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, bloodthirsty, and irresponsible.
The writer is a political psychologist.
The Hindus and the Muslims of the state — once bonded so conspicuously by language, culture and commerce — have met the demands of both V D Savarkar and M A Jinnah. They now face each other as two hostile nations. The handful of Gujarati social and political activists who resist the trend are seen not as dissenters but as treacherous troublemakers who should be silenced by any means, including surveillance, censorship and direct violence. As a result, Gujarati cities, particularly its educational institutions are turning cultural deserts. Gujarat has already disowned the Indian Constitution and the state apparatus has adjusted to the change.
The Congress, the main opposition party, has no effective leader. Nor does it represent any threat to the mainstream politics of Gujarat. The days of grass-roots leaders like Jhinabhai Darji are past and a large section of the party now consists of Hindu nationalists. The national leadership of the party does not have the courage to confront Modi over 2002, given its abominable record of 1984.
The Left is virtually non-existent in Gujarat. Whatever minor presence it once had among intellectuals and trade unionists is now a vague memory. The state has disowned Gandhi, too; Gandhian politics arouses derision in middle-class Gujarat. Except for a few valiant old-timers, Gandhians have made peace with their conscience by withdrawing from the public domain. Gandhi himself has been given a saintly, Hindu nationalist status and shelved. Even the Gujarati translations of his Complete Works have been stealthily distorted to conform to the Hindu nationalist agenda.
Gujarati Muslims too are "adjusting" to their new station. Denied justice and proper compensation, and as second-class citizens in their home state, they have to depend on voluntary efforts and donor agencies. The state's refusal to provide relief has been partly met by voluntary groups having fundamentalist sympathies. They supply aid but insist that the beneficiaries give up Gujarati and take to Urdu, adopt veil, and send their children to madrassas. Events like the desecration of Wali Gujarati's grave have pushed one of India's culturally richest, most diverse, vernacular Islamic traditions to the wall. Future generations will as gratefully acknowledge the sangh parivar's contribution to the growth of radical Islam in India as this generation remembers with gratitude the handsome contribution of Rajiv Gandhi and his cohorts to Sikh militancy.
The secularist dogma of many fighting the sangh parivar has not helped matters. Even those who have benefited from secular lawyers and activists relate to secular ideologies instrumentally. They neither understand them nor respect them. The victims still derive solace from their religions and, when under attack, they cling more passionately to faith. Indeed, shallow ideologies of secularism have simultaneously broken the back of Gandhism and discouraged the emergence of figures like Ali Shariatis, Desmond Tutus and the Dalai Lama — persons who can give suffering a new voice audible to the poor and the powerless and make a creative intervention possible from within worldviews accessible to the people.
Finally, Gujarat's spectacular development has underwritten the de-civilising process. One of the worst-kept secrets of our times is that dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail. Post-World War II Asia too has had its love affair with developmental despotism and the censorship, surveillance and thought control that go with it. The East Asian tigers have all been maneaters most of the time. Gujarat has now chosen to join the pack. Development in the state now justifies amorality, abridgement of freedom, and collapse of social ethics.
Is there life after Modi? Is it possible to look beyond the 35 years of rioting that began in 1969 and ended in 2002? Prima facie, the answer is "no". We can only wait for a new generation that will, out of sheer self-interest and tiredness, learn to live with each other. In the meanwhile, we have to wait patiently but not passively to keep values alive, hoping that at some point will come a modicum of remorse and a search for atonement and that ultimately Gujarati traditions will triumph over the culture of the state's urban middle class.
Recovering Gujarat from its urban middle class will not be easy. The class has found in militant religious nationalism a new self- respect and a new virtual identity as a martial community, the way Bengali babus, Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Muslims at different times have sought salvation in violence. In Gujarat this class has smelt blood, for it does not have to do the killings but can plan, finance and coordinate them with impunity. The actual killers are the lowest of the low, mostly tribals and Dalits. The middle class controls the media and education, which have become hate factories in recent times. And they receive spirited support from most non-resident Indians who, at a safe distance from India, can afford to be more nationalist, bloodthirsty, and irresponsible.
The writer is a political psychologist.
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