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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

[mukto-mona] Dubai rape victim who was jailed for having sex outside of marriage is finally pardoned after global outcry



Dubai rape victim who was jailed for having sex outside of marriage is finally pardoned after global outcry

  • Norwegian Marte Deborah Dalelv was in Dubai on business trip when raped
  • She reported rape to police but was charged for having sex outside marriage 
  • She has now been sentenced to 16 months in prison 
  • Her alleged rapist was sentenced to three months less prison time than her

By ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER


A Norwegian woman at the center of a Dubai rape claim dispute says she has been pardoned and is free to leave the country.

Marte Deborah Dalelv said she was given back her passport Sunday by the public prosecutor's office and that her 16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage has been dropped.

The 24-year-old designer claimed she was raped in March by a co-worker, but she was charged with the sex offense after going to police in Dubai in a case that highlighted the clash between the city's Western-friendly atmosphere and its Islamic-based legal codes.

Relief: Marte Deborah Dalelv said she was given back her passport Sunday by the public prosecutor's office and that her 16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage has been dropped

Relief: Marte Deborah Dalelv said she was given back her passport on Sunday by the public prosecutor's office and that her 16-month sentence for having sex outside marriage has been dropped

Free at last: Ms Dalelv and her lawyer Mahmoud Azab Abu Gardea arrive at the Norwegian Seamen's Center in Dubai today
Afe Elin Bjerke

Pictured left Marte can be seen arriving at the Norwegian Seamen's Center in Dubai with her laywer, and right, she can be seen sharing a moment with ambassador to the UAE, Afe Elin Bjerke 

Norwegian Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, arrives at the Norwegian Seaman's Club in Dubai
Norwegian Seamen's Center in Dubai

The designer has been staying at the center ever since she was sentenced last week. She can be seen left smiling after the decision to pardon her was made, and right,  hugging a friend

Marte


Marte Deborah Dalelv

At the center she posed up for a picture (left) in front of portrait of Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, late ruler of Dubai before leaving with her lawyer, right

Her sentencing last week stirred outrage in the West.

Speaking this weekend of her ordeal, the Norwegian claimed during an interview about the assault police asked her: 'Are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?'

They took her passport away and she was convicted and sentenced on charges of having unlawful sex, making a false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol.

Her alleged rapist was sentenced to three months less prison time than she got.

Norwegian businesswoman Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, has been sentenced to 16 months in prison for extramarital sex after she reported being raped

Norwegian businesswoman Marte Deborah Dalelv, 24, was sentenced to 16 months in prison for extramarital sex after she reported being raped

Ms Dalelv said the attack happened after she had been out at a bar with her colleagues and friends. 

She told CNN that she had a male co-worker to escort her to her room as the hotel was 'large and confusing' and she did not want to be wandering aloe as she had been drinking. 

She said she realised the room was not hers, and after initially objecting when he pulled her inside by her handbag, she agreed to go in 'to calm the situation down'.

Her next memory, she says, is waking up on her front while he was raping her. 

When the hotel wake-up call knocked on the door, she dressed and went down to reception to call police.

 

Up to a dozen make officers arrived and took statements from Ms Dalelv and her alleged attacker. 

When she arrived at Bur Dubai police station, she said police asked her of events to officers, 'Are you sure you called the police because you just didn't like it?' 

She replied: '"Well of course I didn't like it." That is when I knew, I don't think they are going to believe me at all.'

She was then examined and tested for alcohol and locked in a prison cell for four days without explanation. 

Eventually she was able to contact her parents on the third day and ask them to contact the Norwegian Embassy who arranged her release. 

She claims she was advised to claim that the rape was in fact voluntary in order for the issue to 'go away'. 

But she was then charged with making a false statement.

Scroll down for video

Waiting game: Marte Deborah Dalelv, pictured in Dubai, faces an uncertain future as Norway doesn't have an extradition treaty with Dubai

Waiting game: Marte Deborah Dalelv, pictured in Dubai, faces an uncertain future as Norway doesn't have an extradition treaty with Dubai

Ms Dalelv claims she was fired from her position with Al Mana Interiors - which is owned by Janet Jackson's husband, Wissam Al Mana -  during the ordeal.

A spokesman for the Qatari billionaire's company, Al Mana Interiors, strongly denied the claims from Marte Deborah Dalelv, saying instead its representatives were 'by her side' throughout the 'ordeal' and that the firm was forced to let her go after she 'declined to have positive and constructive discussions about her employment status.'

Dalelv was sentenced to one year and four months in jail but as Norway has no extradition treaty with Dubai, her future is uncertain.

Dalelv claims she was fired from her position with Al Mana Interiors - which is owned by Janet Jackson's husband, Wissam Al Mana - during the ordeal

Dalelv claims she was fired from her position with Al Mana Interiors - which is owned by Janet Jackson's husband, Wissam Al Mana - during the ordeal

Dark side: Having been detained in Dubai since the assault in March, the woman has now been found guilty of sex outside marriage, drinking alcohol without a licence and perjury and was jailed for 16 months

Dark side: Having been detained in Dubai since the assault in March, Ms Dalelv has now been found guilty of sex outside marriage, drinking alcohol without a licence and perjury and was jailed for 16 months

Janet Jackson married the Qatari billionaire in a secret ceremony last year. The pair have been together for three years after meeting in 2010.

The young Norwegian woman's horror story is not unique.

Earlier this year Australian Alicia Gali, 27, spoke of how she was thrown in a Dubai jail for eight months after she reported a rape.

Gali was working at hotel chain Starwood when her drink was spiked in the staff bar.

She awoke to find that three colleagues had raped her, but when she went to a hospital for help, they turned her over to the police and she was charged with illicit sex outside marriage.

Under UAE law, rapists can only be convicted if either the perpetrator confesses or if four adult Muslim males witness the crime.

Under the Sharia-influenced laws, sex before marriage is completely forbidden and an unmarried couple holding hands in public can be jailed.

Foreigners jailed in Dubai are deported immediately after completing their sentences.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2373253/Dubai-pardons-rape-case-Victim-Marte-Deborah-Dalelv-jailed-having-sex-outside-marriage-finally-pardoned.html




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[mukto-mona] Modern Day Witch Hunts In India



  1. Witch-hunt still a reality in OrissaJharkhand --Videos India:IBNLive ...

    Jan 25, 2011
    More than 200 women are killed every year inIndia after being branded as witches.
Modern Day Witch Hunts In India


Source: Orato

Quiet Please: Witch Hunt in Session

There are, to this day, very serious witch hunts in India that have produced great fear, violence, and destruction in the villages, mirroring in many ways the great witch hunts of Europe and the Massachusetts Bay Colony centuries ago. India is the single-most populous democracy in the world, home to well over a billion people, and a growing industrial power, yet this rampant witch craze is hardly broadcast to the world. Since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, the country has seen its share of religious, economic, social, and terrorism-related problems. The eastern and northeastern regions struggle the worst, and it is no coincidence that those areas are the main home to the witch hunts. With a remarkable gap between the rich and poor, just as it was in Europe, common people must compete for their most basic rights of survival. Most regions in India operate under extreme patriarchal structures and the easiest scapegoats for all their misfortunes are women. In recent years, thousands of women have been killed as a result of witchcraft accusations and many more have been tortured or exiled.

Some Numbers

According to the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC), over 2,500 women have been killed in India over witchcraft accusations from 1990 to 2006; however, it is an issue that is muffled and has not been dealt with appropriately. In 2004 and 2005, over 670 were murdered for being witches, so the problem is clearly not diminishing. A major difference in these cases from the European and American witch craze is that it is not the Church or Government that is officially sanctioning the murders of these innocent people. Instead, angry mobs and locally-respected village leaders take the action upon themselves, but they are rarely convicted and usually face light sentences of months in prison as a penalty for committing murder. Local police deal with such cases as a simple law and order problem, if at all, and fail to recognize the situation as a particularly serious or special concern (IBN Live 2005).

Putting Names to the Numbers

There are less similarities between these witch hunts and the infamous 1692 Salem witch trials than the European craze, but there are a few strikingly common traits. Analysis of individual cases would show the ridiculousness of the accusations, but this is no laughing matter. As an outsider, it would be easy to make a mockery out of the claims, as they have no physical merit; the silliness of the nature of the events may actually be the gloomiest part. They are so obviously and atrociously absurd, yet innocent people fall victim to them everyday. In the case of Budhaniya Majhi, for example, she had been dragged naked through the night and the next day was the spectacle of a public meeting, comprised mostly of men. Her entire body was badly swelled and covered with welts and lashes from her beatings when the "village headman," who acted as the judge, asked, "Do you have proof that this woman is a witch?" A man answered that his father had fallen ill and died shortly after consuming food Majhi had given him. He added, "When my father died, a black cat crossed the threshold of our house. It was black magic that killed my father," (Sutradhar 2006). Dr. Arpita Sutradhar explains that she happened to come across the gatherings but was in no position to help the poor woman; doing so would have only made the situation worse, just like in the Salem craze. She says,

"Nobody was allowed to offer her or her baby any kind of assistance, not even food or water. As a single woman and outsider, If I had tried to defend Budhaniya in front of the gathering, she would have been killed for using her powers to have 'foreigners' rescue her."

In another case we see the same hopeless cries of innocence that are not unlike those of Rebecca Nurse and others1. Druti Mahanta, 80 years old, tried to defend herself by saying, "I kept on pleading, even swearing, in the name of God, that I'm not a witch, but he did not listen to me and kept on attacking me. I'm very scared. What is my crime?" Her neighbor, Ganda Munda, answers the question: "She is a witch and is constantly making my son fall ill by her magical power. If she is not killed, then she will kill my entire family," (IBN Live 2005). By looking at only two cases, one can see the common threads of accusations that, impossible to refute and hopeless cries of women, even the use of a black cat as a familiar.

1Among the accused during the Salem Witch Trials

It is noteworthy that India has only very recently been freed from the clutches of England and is now exhibiting the same techniques as Europe for hunting witches. Unlike New England but very much like Europe, these hunts are taking place over an extended period of time. It is not one dark blemish on an otherwise clean history; it is an epidemic and an everyday fact of life. Women are even tortured and killed in the European fashion and it has become less shocking and more routine. For example, in July 2003, Somri Hansda (60, widow) and Vahamay Kiskoo (40) werepronounced witches by a meeting of 250 villagers and were then beaten and burned to ashes by a mob of 60. Over the fever and headache of one villager (Anant Tuddu), these women joined the ranks of thousands before them and burned for allegedly practicing witchcraft (Dungdung 2009).

Why?

The causes of the witch hunts in the eastern states of India are almost identical to the European witch craze, and revolve aroundpatriarchygreed, and fear. Gladson Dungdung, in her article "Hunting Witch or Hunting Women?," says the "greed for property and depriving women of traditional property rights is a sidelined fact. Illiteracy, poor educational levels and superstitious beliefs are reasons fit enough to be icing on the cake." Belief in ghosts and spirits and the lack of sufficient health care act as catalysts and leave people vulnerable to resorting to scapegoating for their problems. Dungdung goes on to say the root cause is the patriarchal system and

"to establish the authority of men, they suppress women who resist the system. Men use weapons like witch-hunting to get rid of women they fear."

FLAC claims that superstition is not the root of many of these accusations, but rather "socio-economic factors: land-grabbing,property disputes, personal rivalry and resistance to sexual advances" (infochange.org). For example, a woman who inherits land from her deceased husband is asked to relinquish the land by her husband's family, or other men if the family is not around; however, "if she resists, they approach the Ojhas [traditional village doctors] and bribe them to brand her a witch" (inforchange.org).

The Malleus Maleficarum - commonly referred to as the "Hammer of Witches"
The Malleus Maleficarum - commonly referred to as the "Hammer of Witches"

Dangerous Mythology

In line with the Christian dichotomy that teaches that woman was the downfall of man, eastern India has its own myth to imply the same.

As the story goes, two women were unhappy about their treatment by men. They tricked the men into drinking country made liquor and then disguised themselves as the men in order to meet with Maran Buru, a powerful spirit who unknowingly granted the women the power to eat men. Thus, the women became witches. The next day, when the two men came to Maran Buru, he realized he had been tricked. He then made the men "experts in the art of witch hunting," (Dungdung 2009).

This myth could be considered a perfect combination of Genesis andThe Malleus Maleficarum. It teaches that women are deceitful, conjure spirits, and worthy of persecution based on sex alone.

Too Many Women Remain Powerless

The witch hunts in eastern India have been raging for several decades and unfortunately, there is no reason to believe they will be ending in the near future. There exists a disturbing silence in these cases, even from the immediate families of the victims, and that may be a significant contributor to the lack of media attention. Dr. Arpita Sutradhar says,

"Too many women remain powerless, vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft, leveled so that unscrupulous people can take over land and settle scores and family rivalries" (2006).

There will always be pathetic people who take advantage of the weak at any cost, but hopefully enough people will find the scruples to have a voice and put an end to this senseless genocide of women.

Works Cited

Dungdung, Gladson. "Hunting Witches of Hunting Women?" Jarkhand Mirror: The Voice of

the Indigenous People of Jharkhand Dishum, 25 July 2009. Web. Accessed 25 May 2011.

"Witch-hunt still a reality in Orissa, Jharkhand." IBN Live. Video:

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/141433/witchhunt-still-a-reality-in-orissa-jharkhand.html

http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/141433/witchhunt-still-a-reality-in-orissa-jharkhand.html

n.d. Web. Accessed 25 May 2011.

"Stop the witch-hunt." infochange.org/women, n.d. Web. Accessed 25 May 2011.

Sutradhar, Dr. Arpita. "Rural India Targets Women in Witch Hunts: 2,500 'Witches' Murdered in 15 Year, Others Exiled." Orato.com, 27 May 2006. Web. Accessed 25 May 2011.

This Hub was last updated on May 20, 2012

http://cjnaiduk.hubpages.com/hub/witchhuntindia

  1. Modern Day Witch Hunts In India - CJ Naiduk - HubPages

    May 20, 2012 - Many think witch hunts are a thing so far in the past, and so unique and ... "Witch-hunt still a reality in Orissa, Jharkhand." IBN Live. Video: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/141433/witchhunt-still-a-reality-in-orissa-jharkhand.html, n.d. Web. ... No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked.

Witch Burnings Continue Worldwide

http://jonathanturley.org/2008/05/31/witch-burnings-continue-worldwide/

  1. [PDF]

    brief - Cornell University Law School

    development.12 The targets of witch~hunts are often widows or other ... M See Arpita Sutradhar, Rural India largets Women in Witch Hunts, ORATO .... own. he ojha, a spirit healer or witchdoctor, in a community may sometimes accept bribes.




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[mukto-mona] 10 Bangladeshi women with their children crossed land border, BSF apprehended, police arrested, all were sent to prison by the court. Order of Home Ministry violated





---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kirity Roy <kirityroy@gmail.com>
Date: 23 July 2013 21:21
Subject: 10 Bangladeshi women with their children crossed land border, BSF apprehended, police arrested, all were sent to prison by the court. Order of Home Ministry violated
To: NHRC <covdnhrc@nic.in>, ionhrc@nic.in
Cc: Chief Minister West Bengal <cm@wb.gov.in>, Chief Secretary Gov of WB <chiefsec@wb.gov.in>, Secretary Home Dept Gov of WB <sechome@wb.gov.in>, "N MUKHERJEE DG & IGP, West Bengal Police." <dgpwestbengal@gmail.com>, OHCHR <urgent-action@ohchr.org>, "(UN) Prof. Manfred Nowak" <Sr-torture@ohchr.org>, Violence Against Women OHCHR <vaw@ohchr.org>, "Member NHRC Mr. Satyabrata Pal" <satyabrata49@hotmail.com>, jrlawnhrc <jrlawnhrc@nic.in>, supremecourt@nic.in, "Judicial Secretary Govt. of WB" <judsecy@wb.nic.in>, Home Ministry <hm@nic.in>


23 July 2013

 

To

The Chairman

National Human Rights Commission

Faridkot House

Copernicus Marg

New Delhi

 

 

Respected Sir

 

I want to draw your attention on an incident of arrest, detention and subsequent judicial remand of Bangladeshi women and children. In this context, I want to bring into your notice regarding the office memorandum No. 14051/14/2011-F.VI of Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division) Government of India Dated 1st May, 2012. In this memorandum it has been clearly stated that "(IV) it is seen that in general, the foreign victims of human trafficking are found without valid passport or visa. If, after investigation, the woman or child is found to be a victim, she should not be prosecuted under the Foreigners Act. If the investigation reveals that she did not come to India or did not indulge in crime out of her own free will, the State Government / UT Administration may not file a charge sheet against the victim. If the charge sheet has already been filed under the Foreigners Act and other relevant laws of the land, steps may be taken to withdraw the case from prosecution so far as the victim is concerned. Immediate action may be taken to furnish the details of such victims to the Ministry of External Affairs (Consular Division), Patiala House, New Delhi so as to ensure that the person concerned is repatriated to the country of her origin through diplomatic channels" and (v) During the interim period, pending repatriation, the victim may be taken care of in an appropriate children's home, or "Ujjawala" home or appropriate shelter home either of the State Government concerned or of any NGO aided by the Government of India / State Government.'

 

But in this referred case, the under mentioned women and their minor children while entered Indian territory without holding the valid documents were intercepted by the Border Security Force personnel and later handed over to Swarupagar police station; 24 Parganas (north). Then the trying magistrate sent them to the Dumdum Central Correctional Home in reference to Swarupnagar PS Case No. 423 of dated 28.06.2013 under sections 14(a) and 14 (c) of Foreigners Act. The persons having no distant connection and involvement with trafficking, rather they were entered in search of better pasture inside Indian territories. Their male counterparts, who reached Indian territories along with them, were also accused of the said case and few of them also being accused in Swarupnagar PS Case No. 426 dated 28.6.13 under 14 (f) of Foreigners Act and were sent to Basirhat Sub Divisional Correctional Home (prison).

 

Name and other detail of the persons:-

 

1.  Ms. Puma @ Panna Khatun, aged about 35 years, wife of Mr. Ibrahim Sekh of village- Doni Mashidie, PS- Dishohi, District- Khulna, Bangladesh. The woman was with a child on her lap

2.  Ms. Supriya Begum, aged about 40 yaers, wife of Mr. Imran Khan@ Ebrahim, village- Gazirhat, PS- Kulia, District- Satkheera, Bangladesh,  The woman was with a child on her lap

3.  Ms. Amina Khatun, aged about 18 years, daughter of Mr. Ibrahim Sekh, of village- Doni Mashidie, PS- Dishohi, District- Khulna, Bangladesh

4.  Ms. Taslima Begum, aged about 46 years, wife of Mr. Raju Naskar of village- Amtala, PS Nawapara, District- Jessore, Bangladesh

5.  Ms. Mukti Sekh, aged about 30 years, daughter of Mr. Mosta Sekh, village- Amtala, PS- Nawpara, District- Jessore, Bangladesh

6.  Ms. Sultana Sekh, aged about 30 years, wife of Mr. pintu Sekh of village- Parali, PS- Kulia, District- Narail, Bangladesh

7.  Ms. Musamat Mini, aged about 19 years, wife of Mr. Ali Sekh of village- Barasat, PS- Terokhadu, District- Khulna, Bangladesh

8.  Ms. Mini Khatun, aged about 29 years, Mr. Khokon Molla of village- Madhay Parghan, PS- Kulia, District- Narail, Bangladesh. The woman was with two children on her lap

9.  Ms. Lili Mola, aged about 26 years, wife of Mr. Ebrahim Molla of village – Lakhmipur, PS- Kulia, District- Narail. The woman was with a child on her lap

10.              Ms. Hasina Sekh, aged about 35 years, wife of Mr. Rasikul Sekh of village- Munshibag, PS- Kulia, District – Narail

 

In this connection, I demand an early intervention from your Commission and release and relocation of the women with their children in accordance to the office memorandum No. 14051/14/2011-F.VI of Ministry of Home Affairs (Foreigners Division) Government of India Dated 1st May, 2012 and appropriate proceedings against the involved BSF, police personnel and lower judicial officer; who violated the guidelines.  

        

Sincerely Yours

 

 

 

(Kirity Roy)

Secretary


--
Kirity Roy
Secretary
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha
(MASUM)
&
National Convenor (PACTI)
Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity
40A, Barabagan Lane (4th Floor)
Balaji Place
Shibtala
Srirampur
Hooghly
PIN- 712203
Tele-Fax - +91-33-26220843
Phone- +91-33-26220844 / 0845
e. mail : kirityroy@gmail.com
Web: www.masum.org.in




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[mukto-mona] Indian Nationalism or Hindu Nationalism ISP IV July 2013




Hindu Nationalism versus Indian Nationalism
 
Ram Puniyani
 
The debate around Hindu Nationalism and Indian Nationalism is not a new one. During colonial period, when the rising freedom movement was articulating the concept and values of Indian nationalism, the section of Hindus, keeping aloof from freedom movement asserted the concept of Hindu Nationalism. The debate has resurfaced again due to the one who is trying to project himself as the Prime-Ministerial candidate of BJP-NDA, Narendra Modi. In an interview recently (July 2013) said very 'simply' that he was born a Hindu, he is a nationalist, so he is a Hindu Nationalist! His Party President Rajnath Singh also buttressed the point and took it further to say that Muslims are Muslim nationalists, Christians are Christian Nationalists. So one has a variety of nationalisms to choose from!
 
Modi's putting 2+2 together and claiming to be a Nationalist and a Hindu and so a Hindu nationalist is like putting the wool in others eyes. Hindu nationalism is a politics and a category with a specific meaning and agenda. This is the part of the ideology and practice of Modi's parent organizations, BJP-RSS. During colonial period the rising classes of industrialists, businessmen, workers and educated classes came together and formed different organizations, Madras Mahajan Sabha, Pune Sarvajanik Sabha, Bombay Association etc.. These organizations felt for the need for an over arching political organization so went in to form Indian National Congress in 1885. The declining sections of society, Muslim and Hindu landlords and kings also decided to came together to oppose the all inclusive politics of Congress, which in due course became the major vehicle of the values of freedom movement. These declining sections were feeling threatened due to the social changes. To hide their social decline they projected as if their religion is in danger. They also did not like the standing up to the colonial masters by Congress, which had started putting forward the demands for different rising social groups and thereby for India. Congress saw this country as 'India is a Nation in the making'.
 
As per declining sections of landlords and kings; standing up to, not bowing in front of the ruler is against the teachings of 'our' religion so what is needed according to them is to promote the loyalty to the British. They, Hindu and Muslim feudal elements, came together and formed United India Patriotic Association in 1888. The lead was taken by Nawab of Dhaka and Raja of Kashi. Later due to British machinations the Muslim elite from this association separated and formed Muslim league in 1906, while in parallel to this the Hindu elite first formed Punjab Hindu Sabha in 1909 and then Hindu Mahasabha in 1915. These communal formations argued for Muslim Nationalism and Hindu nationalism. Hindu nationalists also developed the political ideology of Hindutva, articulated particularly by Savarkar in 1923 in his book 'Hindutva or Who is a Hindu?' This was an enviable situation for British as such groups would weaken the rising national movement. On one side they quietly supported the Muslim League and parallel to this they handled Hindu Mahasabha with velvet gloves.
 
Taking a cue from the ideology of Hindutva, RSS came up in 1925, with the path of Hindu Nationalism and goal of Hindu Nation. The values of rising classes embodied in the persona of Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar, Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and many others mainly revolved around Indian Nationalism, built around the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The ideology of Muslim League selectively drew from some Muslim traditions to assert the caste and gender hierarchy of feudal society. While Hindu Mahasabha and RSS had tomes like Manusmriti to talk about similar graded hierarchies of caste and gender. Muslim and Hindu communalists were not part of freedom movement as freedom movement was all inclusive and aimed at secular democratic values. Muslim and Hindu communalists drew from glories of respective Kings of the past and kept aloof from anti British struggle, some exceptions are always there to show the evidence of their participation in the freedom struggle.
 
Gandhi's attempt to draw the masses in to anti British struggle was the major point due to which the Constitutionalists like Jinnah; traditionalists of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha further drifted away and consolidated themselves after 1920s. The trajectory of Hindu Nationalism from the decade of 1920 becomes very clear, to be on the side of British to oppose the Muslim Nationalists. Same applies to Muslim League, as it regarded Congress as a Hindu party. The Freedom of the country and tragic partition led to Muslim Leaguers going to Pakistan while leaving sufficient backlog to sustain Muslim communalism here. Hindu Nationalists in the form of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS gradually started asserting themselves, beginning with murder of Mahatma Gandhi, who surely was amongst the best of the Hindus of that century and probably of many a centuries put together. Hindu Nationalists formed first Jan Sangh and later present BJP. The major issue taken up by these nationalists was opposition to cooperative farming, public sector and undertook a program called 'Indianization of Muslims'.
 
The identity related issues have been the staple diet for religious nationalist tendencies. 'Cow as our mother', Ram Temple Ram Setu, Abolition of article 370 and Uniform civil code has been the foundation around which emotive hysterical movements have been built. While they keep bringing to our notice as to under whose rule more riots have taken place, one forgets that the root of communal violence lies in 'Hate other' ideology spread by communal streams. And most of the communal violence led to coming to power of communal party. Its major offshoot is polarization of communities along religious lines. Modi's claim the democracy leads to polarization is misplaced wrong as in democratic politics the polarization is along social issues, like Republican-Democrat in America. Polarization around social policies-political issues is part of the process of democracy. The polarization brought about by the politics of Hindu nationalism or Muslim nationalism is around identity of religions. This is not comparable to the processes in US or UK. The polarization along religious lines is against the spirit of democracy, against Indian Constitutions'. Major pillar of democracy is Fraternity, cutting across identities of religion caste and region.
 
 
Modi himself, a dedicated RSS swayamsevak has been steeped in the ideology of Hindu nationalism. He glosses over the fact that the large masses of Indian people, Hindus never called and do not call themselves Hindu nationalists. Gandhi was not a Hindu nationalist despite being a Hindu in the moral and social sense. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was not a Muslim nationalist, despite being a devout Muslim, being a Muslim scholar of highest caliber. During freedom movement also most of the people of all religions' identified with Indian Nationalism and not with religious nationalism as being projected by Modi and company. Even today people of different religions identify with Indian nationalism and not with religious Nationalism on the lines of Modi and his ilk.
 
Hindu nationalism will require a Ram Temple; Indian nationalism requires schools, universities and factories for employing the youth. Hindu nationalism is exclusive and divisive, Indian Nationalism is inclusive; rooted in the issues of this world, and not the identity related ones.  Unfortunately Hindu nationalists have been raising the pitch around identity issues undermining the issues of the poor and marginalized. The Indian Nationalism, the product of our freedom movement is being challenged by the Hindu nationalism in India, Buddhist Nationalism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka and is a major threat to the process of democratization in those countries, Muslim  Nationalism has wrecked havoc in Pakistan, and many other places.
 
This is the dark tunnel of History, where such invocations of religion in the arena of politics take a semi respectful place, as being witnessed in many parts of the World and more so over in India. One hopes the distinction between religious nationalism and Indian nationalism will not be lost focus of!
 
 
Hindu nationalism, does not subscribe to the affirmative action, so the term appeasement of minorities has been floated. For Hindu nationalists, the proactive supportive action for vulnerable religious minorities is a strict no, while for democratic nationalism, this is the norm. One has to see the clever ploy of the Prime Minister aspirant, to call himself a Hindu nationalist. This is one more attempt to indulge in dividing the Indian society along religious lines.   
 
--
Response only to
ram.puniyani@gmail.com

www.pluralindia.com



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