Bohras fall at the feet of Narendra Modi too

[ghulam muhammed]

[ghulam muhammed]

[ghulam muhammed]

Attempt to Undermine Secularism: Testing Waters !

Words Socialism and Secularism missing in BJP Govt. ads

by Ram Puniyani

Words are not mere words; they do indicate our values and the basis of our association when it comes to the books like Constitution of India. Recently the controversy was created by dropping the words Secular and Socialist from Indian Constitution’s preamble in the advertisement released by the Modi Government on the eve of Republic day. When it was questioned how come these words are missing, which are part of the preamble, BJP leaders jumped to say that this is the ‘original’ Constitutions’ preface. Ravi Shanker Prasad, the union minister retorted that Nehru and Ambedkar, were no less secular, still these words were not put in the Constitution in 1950. At that time Nehru was Prime Minister and Ambedkar was the Chief of the drafting committee. BJP’s political ally Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut stated that these words should be deleted for good as we are neither socialist nor secular. His mentor, late Bal Thackeray had time and again said that this is a Hindu nation. There was good opposition to this retrograde move all around. In the face of strong resistance to this step of the Government, finally Arun Jaitly went on to say that from now on the prevalent Constitution’s preamble, with words secularism and socialism, alone will be used.


It is true that the words Socialist and Secular were not there in the original Constitution which was implemented in 1950. The values of Socialism, equitable distribution of wealth, social control on resources were the spirit of the policies for a long time. When the word Socialism was introduced it was felt that it was the right approach to our economic policies, and that’s how the current ruling party, BJP also used the word Gandhian Socialism as its ideology in 1980.


With Modi Government coming to power, its policies are a signal that Corporate will have unabashed control over social resources. Also the signals are that policies which were meant to act as protective clauses for the weak and marginalized will be done away with. So with the new dispensation the word Socialism is a big embarrassment. Whatever little control state tended to exercise in economic domain is now over after this Government has come to power. Just to recall that the industrial giants were the major funders of Modi campaign.


As for as secularism is concerned it had been the inherent spirit of Indian Constriction, as the articles 25 and 26 elaborate the secular nature of the state. The whole Constitution is seeped with secular values. The addition of these words in the preamble during the dreaded emergency regime was mostly due to the fact that the authoritarian regime wanted to get some legitimacy for itself, so these two words might have been added. These words did not negate the spirit of our Constitution but as such are a value addition to what we had.


So why this subtle move to delete these words from the advertisement? Shiv Sena spokesperson said even if this might have happened by mistake, let’s make it permanent. The core point is that BJP and its ally Shiv Sena are uncomfortable with the secularism as a guiding principle of our nation, our state, as their political agenda is totally opposed to upholding pluralism, diversity and protection of minority rights in our country. Right from the beginning they have upheld Hindutva i.e. Hindu nationalism as their ideology in contrast to secularism-Indian nationalism. Times and again as the opportunity comes they articulate it and depending on their electoral political strength they try to implement a course towards Hindu nation. Due to their recent electoral success they feel more emboldened to express this openly.


Now with majority in the parliament for BJP, this move can be seen as an attempt to test the waters to see as to how far the BJP government can go ahead with their agenda of Hindu nationalism. As the matters stand, seeing the protests and campaigns against BJP’s move, they have finally decided to use only the preamble with words Secular and Socialist. This attempt of removal of this word secular cannot be seen in isolation. This was running in parallel with all-round enfoldment of agenda of RSS combine. There is an assertive talk by RSS that, we are all Hindus, this is a Hindu nation. At the same time other voices operate at different level and ask for bringing in Gita as the national book. Within BJP itself there are supplementary forces that denigrated religious minorities by calling them Haram jade, and glorify the killer of Mahatma Gandhi as a patriot. At yet another level, the communal combine is out to intensify the polarization of society along religious lines, so burning of a Church here, the incident or throwing corpse of a pig in a holy place, the campaigns of Ghar Vapasi, and targeting of youth in the name of love jihad are painfully present on the plate of communal politics.


The fathers of Indian Constitution brought in the core values of India’s freedom movement. The ones, who are currently demanding a deletion or debate to on these words are the ones’ who are opposed to Indian Nationalism and want to march towards Hindu nationalism. They also don’t identify with India’s freedom movement. The battle is not merely around this or that word, its battle between upholding the spirit of Indian freedom movement versus nationalism in the name of religion.

[NoorAli-M]

Modi bows to obama


http://www.dailyo.in/laugh/five-things- ... /1707.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Indian government video omits Obama’s warning on religious tolerance

The Indian government released a gauzy promotional video Wednesday about President Barack Obama’s recent trip to New Delhi.

There was just one thing missing: the president’s closing remarks about religious violence

In the video, released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the narrator declares, “In his last engagement, President Obama charmed the Indians with his electrifying speech highlighting important issues like women’s empowerment and education.” The video cuts to two clips from the speech — one of the U.S. president saying “namaste” and another of him quoting a Bollywood pickup line that was originally uttered by a Muslim actor.

The video fails to mention Obama’s admonition that “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith — so long as it’s not splintered along any lines — and is unified as one nation.”

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/o ... 14729.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Asghar Ali Engineer Memorial Lecture

Anniversary of- Chavi-Wall Newspaper Bhuvaneshwar, Jan 29 2015

India Democracy at the Crossroads under Current Political Dispensation

by Ram Puniyani

I begin this lecture paying tribute to my very dear friend, Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, with whom I had the rare privilege of working with for close to two decades. Dr. Engineer was a unique scholar-activist, totally committed to the dream and vision of a humane society that honours the values of diversity and where human rights for all are the defining point.

In this regard, he may have been among the first persons who realized the dangers of divisive communal politics. It was he who set the trend seeking the causal factors behind communal violence, doing his own meticulous investigation after such riots. He contributed massively to reforms that took place in the Bohra community, on the issues of secularism and finally, in the interpretation of Islam. We need to learn a lot from him in order to strive for a society that values peace, amity and compassion.

Where are we standing today? What are the major threats to Indian democracy, today, even more menacing with the coming of the Modi Government?

The factors contributing to his victory have been several. The unstinted support given to him by India’s corporate; the fanatical zeal of the RSS and its lakhs of volunteers; the role of a corporate controlled media; the false projection of the ‘Gujarat model of development’; the polarization of society along religious lines; and last, but not the least, the discrediting of the Congress through the campaigns launched by Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and Arvind Kejriwal that culminated in the formation of AAP party.

The promise of "Achhe Din" – Good Times – has vanished into thin air. Despite the steep fall in the prices of crude oil in the World, the overall ‘cost of living’ continues to going up. The promise that all the black money stacked abroad will be brought back within six months or so and that we would be surprised to see 15 lakh deposited in our accounts, has been forgotten. The pattern of (good?) governance is only visible in the centralization of power around one person, Modi. Gradually the cabinet system of governance is giving way to one man’s autocratic ways, with secretaries of Government departments reporting directly to the PM.

On the domestic front obstacles are being created with the funding of NGOs, Greenpeace being the major victim. The welfare schemes begun by the previous Government have come under the chopping block. The corporate world that richly funded Modi’s campaign, smiles all the way to their coffers, given the ‘no holds barred’ permissions for reckless industrialization that bypass all environmental, social and economic controls. There has been a great amount of pomp and show on display, and around this much hype created around the persona of the new prime minister.

The losers in all of this have been the weaker sections of society. The ‘labour reforms’ brought in by this government will do away with whatever little protective clauses are there for them. The land acquisition by industrialists is being made easy at the cost of those who own the lands. The other social welfare schemes needed for the poor, the right to food and
health are under the threat of being done away with too.

The intimidation of religious minorities has been stepped up. One central minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti was emboldened enough to call all non-Hindus as "haramzade", illegitimate. Another saffron robed BJP leader went on to glorify Nathuram Godse for his ‘patriotism’ while also advising Hindu women to produce more children. Godse, the murderer of Mahatma Gandhi has now been glorified by Hindutva elements, emboldened as they have been by the current government. Christmas Day was declared as ‘Good Governance Day’ in a move to undermine this festival. Demands are made that the Gita, the Hindu holy book be made the ‘national book’ of India. Attacks on churches and mosques have been taking place at regular intervals. The statements that we are Hindus and this is a Hindu Rashtra have become more and more assertive.

Through all this Narendra Modi maintains a studious silence, being as all this is, an integral part of the agenda of the BJP and its parent organization, the RSS. Their basic goal is to take the country towards the narrow concept of Hindu nationalism, a sectarian nationalism not different from either Muslim extremism or Christian fundamentalism.

In this context, it helps to recall that the streams of ‘religious nationalism’ in India came up as a reaction to the rise of Indian nationalism, when the feudal lords and kings came together to form the United India Patriotic Association (UIPA) in 1888, later joined by elites from the middle class and the upper castes. From the UIPA, on one side emerged the Muslim League and on the other, the Hindu Mahasabha, both positing a religious nationalism.

Taking up the goal of a Hindu nation formulated by the Hindu Mahasabha’s Savarkar, the RSS was formed in 1925 and began indoctrinating in the ideology that India was a ‘Hindu’ nation, where Christians and Muslims were foreigners. This was in sharp contrast to the inclusive notions of nationalism articulated by other leaders from Mahatma Gandhi to Bhagat
Singh to Dr. Ambedkar.

What must be remembered is that the communal organizations kept themselves aloof from the freedom movement and chose instead to spread hatred, bringing communal violence to the fore. Such violence only increased in intensity and we collectively suffered a massive tragedy in the form of partitioning the country that saw suffering of severe proportion on both sides, mass migration and unprecedented violence.

It helps to keep in mind that the colonial British policy of ‘divide and rule’ was ably assisted by communal organizations on both sides of the fence. It was an RSS-indoctrinated "pracharak", a preacher, Nathuram Godse who murdered Mahatma Gandhi – the first major attack of Hindu nationalism on a broader Indian nationalism.

While the RSS on the one hand ignored the freedom movement, on the other hand it its swayamsevaks in the narrow ideology of Hindu nationalism, and it was these volunteers, in turn, who infiltrated the police, bureaucracy and other components of state machinery. They also spawned subordinate organizations – the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and Bajrang Dal; women relatives of RSS supporters formed the Rashtra Sevika Samiti under the guidance of RSS.

And right through this, the RSS harped on issues of ‘identity’ – like the one related to ‘cow protection’; intimidating religious minorities with the ‘Indianization of Muslims’ campaign, hinting Muslims were not Indian.

By the time the 80s broke, the Hindutva battalion’s word of mouth propaganda, aided by sections of the media and the re-writing of history in our school books, led to ‘social common sense’ with Muslims presented in negative light. This presence was enhanced along even narrower lines when they shamelessly demolished the Babri Masjid, rolling the Rath Yatra of Advani and leaving violence in its wake.

This only ensured the violence would intensify. The so-called ‘identity’ was now projected as the "only". This deepened the polarization along religious lines, leading to the massive violence in Mumbai, Surat, and Bhopal in 1992-93, culminating in the now infamous Gujarat violence in 2002.

It was not only Muslims being targeted. From the late 80s, the other minority community, Christians, were also brought into the vortex of communal violence, projected as indulging in ‘conversions’. This divisive violence in Adivasi areas led to the brutal killing of Pastor Graham Stains along with his two innocent sons in 1999, and later to the horrific killings in Kandhamal in 2008.

All this is nothing more than what was articulated by the major RSS ideologue, M.S. Golwalkar, who claimed that India was a Hindu Rashtra from times immemorial, that religious minorities should live at the mercy of majority or be totally denied their rights as citizens.

The year 2015 marks the second time that BJP is in the seat of power. When it ruled in 1998, with a coalition NDA, the BJP as a party did not have simple majority, so its agenda was low key. It was not quite though. It communalized the school text books, ‘saffronized’ education, and gave importance to faith based subjects like Astrology and *Paurohitya*, the
training of Hindu priests. It also tested the waters to change the Constitution and formed the ‘Constitution Review Committee’.

With the BJP now having a simple majority, their agenda unfolds in an uninhibited manner. They have wrought changes in all national bodies, people with their communal mindset now occupying positions of importance. One Prof. K. Sudarshan Rao, head of the Indian Council of Historical Research, while a nonentity among professional historians, holds that the caste system was beneficial and presents the complex mythology of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the two great epics, as lived history. Sanskrit is being promoted despite the fact that it was never a language of masses.

While the promotion of a scientific temper is the guiding principle of our Constitution, this government now promotes an orthodox, obscurantist ideology as being central to the arena of science. We are now told that ancient India had all the technology in aviation science and plastic surgery – all intended to show primacy over current developments in science
and technology. India has contributed much by way of the works of Charat, Sushrut and Aryabhat but to claim ancient Indian science more advanced is merely to assert ‘we are the best’, a path in tune with the retrograde direction of the Hindutva brigade.

A democracy has to ensure that the values of liberty, equality and fraternity are paramount. With the Modi Government’s Hindutva agenda, they have now attempted to tamper with the Constitution by removing the words ‘Secularism’ and ‘Socialism’. The total bypassing of the concerns of the minorities and those is a grave danger to the very values which were at the core of India’s freedom movement. We are now at that crucial juncture of history where the very existence of the Indian Constitution is at stake.

We need to wake up in right earnest and face this threat. What is required is a multi pronged movement based on the rights and concerns of Dalits, women, workers, Adivasis and minorities in particular. We need to form alliances and platforms to coordinate our campaigns for the defence of our democratic rights. All those standing for democracy and secularism need to come together in solidarity. We have to hold hands and march together to protect our democracy. We need to work towards isolation of communal forces by pushing for alliance of non communal political formations. Sectarian politics, Hindu Nationalism, is akin to that of fascist and fundamentalist regimes, having some features of one and some features of the other.

In such a dispensation, the democratic space stands to lose. Symptoms of this are visible in the banning of some books and introduction of others, like penned by RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra.

It is therefore more important than ever before that the space in the social, print and TV media be reclaimed. We must resolve to work seriously to promote diversity, pluralism and those liberal values which go with our human and democratic values.

[ghulam muhammed]

Unusual scenes from PM Modi rally: Empty chairs and sleeping BJP leaders in South Delhi

PM Modi may be full of fire, but his party leaders seem to have given up the fight for Delhi. While the PM speaks, the front row of leaders is busy 'meditating', which we all know is code-word for sleep.



http://www.firstpost.com/india/unusual- ... 80311.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Modi’s Dangerous Silence

What will it take for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India’s religious minorities? Attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted no response from the man elected to represent and to protect all of India’s citizens. Nor has he addressed the mass conversion to Hinduism of Christians and Muslims who have been coerced or promised money. Mr. Modi’s continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right.

Recently, a number of Christian churches in India have been burned and ransacked.

There is also concern about the mass conversions. Last December, about 200 Muslims were converted to Hinduism in Agra.

Pravin Togadia of the V.H.P. says his organization’s goal is a country that is 100 percent Hindu. The only way to achieve that is to deny religious minorities their faith.

The V.H.P. is reportedly planning a mass conversion of 3,000 Muslims in Ayodhya this month. The destruction of the Babri Mosque there in 1992 by Hindu militants touched off riots between Hindus and Muslims across India that left more than 2,000 people dead. The V.H.P. knows it is playing with fire.

Mr. Modi has promised an ambitious agenda for India’s development. But, as President Obama observed in a speech in New Delhi last month: “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith.” Mr. Modi needs to break his deafening silence on religious intolerance.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/02/07/op ... 4&referrer

[ghulam muhammed]

The Expected rhetoric by BJP after Delhi Polls :-

Jeetenge to Modi Modi / Haarenge to Bedi Bedi!

[ghulam muhammed]

After Delhi poll rout, Amit Shah son’s wedding turns into solemn affair

The musicians were told to play it down, the firecrackers were kept aside, and the guests were asked to keep it quiet.

Around 1,000 km away from the BJP HQ in New Delhi, the real impact of Tuesday’s rout was playing out at the YMCA Club in Ahmedabad — during the wedding of BJP chief Amit Shah’s son. What was expected to be a spectacular affair with a “grand musical entry” for the groom from the nearby Mahakali temple was instead a subdued afternoon — even Prime Minister Narendra Modi was absent.

It’s been a bizarre journey for Shah, from the engagement ceremony of Jay to Rishika on July 13, 2014, days after he became BJP president, to this day when his party ended up with just three seats to AAP’s 67 out of 70 in the national capital.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... mn-affair/

[ghulam muhammed]

Observers suggest crushing Delhi election defeat was a referendum on Indian prime minister

On Tuesday, four years later, the party, whose name translates as the Common Man’s Party, trounced the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi elections, winning 67 of 70 seats.

Bharatiya Janata Party, which bagged 31 seats in the November 2013 Delhi election, was reduced to only the remaining three seats. The Congress party, which had ruled Delhi for the past 15 years, did not get a single representative elected.

Tuesday’s historic mandate sent shockwaves throughout the country with some calling it a political tsunami; it was a verdict more spectacular than Modi’s general election victory in May 2014, in which the BJP won 282 seats out of 545.

“No party in Indian elections has ever won this huge landslide victory. It comes to over 95 percent,” Juzar Bandukwala, a retired professor and civil right activist, told Anadolu Agency

Bandukwala said that the electoral mandate represents Indian voters' deep concerns on three issues: crony capitalism, the stridency of right-wing Hindu nationalist groups and Modi’s behaviour during U.S. President Obama’s India trip, when he wore an ostentatious suit with his name stitched on it, which reportedly cost over $15,000.

“Modi government is ran by few big corporates, who have benefited immensely in these eight months of his prime ministership. That is dangerous. The [Hindu nationalist group] RSS fringe has crossed all limits of decency. Muslims are obviously very disturbed. But most Hindus are also uneasy as it violates the essentials of Hinduism.”

“The landslide victory is a referendum on Modi. Everything flows from that. The aura of invincibility surrounding Modi and BJP president Amit Shah has been demolished.”

“Modi addressed four public meeting in the city. He ordered 25 federal ministers and 120 federal lawmakers to campaign. At one stage there were about 200,000 BJP and RSS workers campaigning in Delhi. This was huge attack and it failed totally,” Bandukwala said.

“They were sold the dream of a resurgent India and a free economy. But the right-wing groups attached with the BJP want Hindu women to have four children. This chasm will sharpen and widen in coming months as the BJP can’t stay away with its DNA.”

http://www.aa.com.tr/en/s/463599--was-d ... an-pm-modi

[ghulam muhammed]

Iam in USA and do some social work in Gujarat. When Mr. Modi/BJP came into power in Gujarat, opportunists and bad elements bandwagon the party, grabbed powerful positions, and became rich. Many started harassing poor minorities. Under their dubious zeal in name of progress they demolished graves without even giving the dead a decent reburial elsewhere. In my town Dahod, Gujarat, on the bank of local Pond (Chhab-talav, talab) there existed several graves; they were demolished acrimoniously. Recently they dug out local Muslim Qabarstan (graveyard) for a new road for serving cheaply bought lands by influential people. When complained to Municipal chief, he said why we should care for dead when we need progress. We had to go to Gujarat high court for a stay order. Still, frequent new attempts are made grabbing the graveyard land. Local herdsman tribe dries their cow dung cakes on Muslim graves. Nobody listens to dead person's relatives’ complaints. Interestingly enough, when expansion and road building happens, planners are extra carful avoiding encroaching on roadside small and big temples, dharamshalas, or any Hindu religious entity.

Just after 2002 riots, Ahmedabad Municipality demolished ancient built beautiful Tomb (Roza) of first Urdu poet, Vali Gujarati, and paved a road over it. The poet deserved a decent reburial. Such arrogance of Mr. Modi and BJP was ripe for punishment. Kejriwal was just a logical outcome.

Asghar Vasanwala.

[ghulam muhammed]

Teesta Setalvad: A Witch-Hunt to Silence Dissent

Newsclick Interviewed Teesta Seetalvad on the case filed against her by the Gujarat Police and the high court judgment denial of anticipatory bail, which later was stayed by Supreme Court. Teesta termed it as a witch-hunt by the Gujarat government because of her struggle to bring to book the perpetrators of the 2002 Gujarat Riots. She feels that the Modi government at the centre, and the Gujarat government is hounding her because of the continuing court cases and the large number of convictions that have resulted from such cases.

See, the targeted attack began from 2004 onwards, ever since the Citizen for Justice and Peace, the organization that I represent consistently gave legal aid to the survivors of 2002 and did not simply stop at documentation.

The first was the charge by the star witness in the Best Bakery case, Zahira Sheikh, who had accused me of kidnapping and all sorts of charges at which point I requested the Supreme Court and I applied to the Supreme Court for an independent investigation. The Supreme Court appointed a high level registrar general enquiry that exonerated me and my organization completely and unfortunately Sheikh had to undergo one year simple imprisonment because of the purgatory she committed, lying on oath. So that was one, in connection with that incident there was an FIR which was finally quashed by the High Court.

After that, and in all subsequent cases, a former employee of CJP has been used as a pong by the powerful in Gujarat and now at the Centre to simply consistently attack us, trying to malign us, fortunately that’s not succeeded and also to derail us from our activity of giving consistent legal aid. I would like to explain is that for the first time in the history of the independent India, the cases related to mass communal violence, we have had judicial remedy to the extent of 117 powerful accused have been convicted to life time imprisonment, this has never happened before and this has all thanks to the CJP, its legal team in Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai and I am the front face of the organization and my colleague Javed Anand is also a trustee.

The reason for targeting us in this vindictive and sickening way with fault suits, is simply to demoralize the victims, to distract from our work and to send a message for the future that nobody in future should come to the legal help of victims of communal violence, and that is the conspiracy behind the charges and we are absolutely pained and shocked to the extent of fault suit that the prosecution armed with powerful lawyers like Jeth Malani etc have gone to mislead the honorable Gujarat High Court. It is absolutely shocking.

The other charges against me relating to tutoring of witnesses, filing false affidavits, digging up mass graves in Panderwada and all these were the instance of our former employee who is now working in cahoots with the powerful in Gujarat and Delhi at the Centre. I must emphasize that trial court judgment, special courts appointed by the Supreme Court that went for the Sardarpura case, where 33 people were killed, Naroda Patiya case where 124 people according to us and 96 people according to the charge sheet were killed, both trial judges have said there was no question of tutoring.

So the judgments have come out in our favour and still the persistence and the viciousness of the attack by the Gujarat state, the RSS minded and the VHP minded lawyers in Gujarat who appear for the state and now the centre are consistently targeting me and my organization. Not only there is a danger for this kind of attack, there is a danger of physical attack. Fortunately we are a 65 year old democracy, so there are some democratic institutions and therefore we have applied to the Supreme Court saying, “protect us”. I repeat, we are not against an independent investigation, we are not against transparency. We gave 1500 pages of original account documenting issue to disprove every one of the malicious charges and we were shocked to see that the 63 page judgment of the Gujarat high court only takes into consideration what the IO and Jeth Malani said and disregards all the evidence we have put forward. I mean we are shocked with the injustice of the judgment.

This entire campaign is meant to cripple us financially, our accounts have been frozen for over an year without notice being given to us and we are living in a democracy with standards of transparency. It is shocking that criminals are being let off by courts. Policemen who have committed crimes and citizens like us who have worked for the justice of poor are being targeted like this.

Please remember that the Gujarat Crime Branch and the Gujarat Police have been prosecuted against by CJP in the Zakhia Jafri case in which we are aiding and abetting Mrs. Jafri where the powerful have been accused and charge sheeted including the man who sits as prime minister, the man who is Commissioner of Ahmadabad Police today, the Joint Police Commissioner of the Crime Branch. All of them have been named in that complaint. So that is why there is this vendetta against us because we are seeking to show through the justice process even today that what happened in 2002 in 14 of the 25 districts of Gujarat was not a spontaneous outburst but calibrated, calculated and preplanned conspiracy. Bringing the bodies of the Godhra victims to Ahmadabad. ShivanandJha, the todays Police Commissioner of Ahmadabad was the man who allowed the parading of the bodies in a bloody funeral procession so that the angers were raised, passions were fuelled and blood was led on the streets of Ahmadabad.

READ MORE :-

http://newsclick.in/india/teesta-setalv ... ce-dissent

[ghulam muhammed]

At auction for Modi’s ‘10-lakh’ suit, the highest bidder is a man once raided by income tax officials

Komal Kant Sharma has offered Rs 1.4 crore for the infamous suit.

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi wore an extravagant monogrammed suit while hosting US President Barack Obama, it has been blamed for everything from embarrassing the nation to causing the Bharatiya Janata Party’s loss in the Delhi assembly election.

Now, yet another controversy is brewing around the suit, which has been on auction in Surat’s Science Museum since Wednesday.

As it turns out, the biggest bid for the suit thus far has come from Komal Kant Sharma, a man under the Income Tax scanner at least a while back for possession of black money. He has offered Rs 1.4 crore for the threads.

During the raid, officials reportedly seized Rs 2.1 crore in cash and gold and Rs 3.9 crore worth of silver jewellery from all three companies. They also recovered documents that suggested people associated with the companies had stored unaccounted money in real estate projects in Bhavnagar.

Business friends

The monogrammed suit has grabbed attention from the word go. It was given to Modi by NRI businessman Rameshkumar Bhikabhai Virani on the occasion of his son’s wedding. But this was revealed only as the indignation over the suit and its cost swelled. To contain the outrage, Virani said that his son would not have dared to spend as much Rs 10 lakh on it. However, he declined to reveal how much it actually cost.

Rs 10 lakh is nothing compared to the bids the suit has attracted.

At least some of the generous offers have come from Modi’s friends and admirers, who are rallying to ensure that his suit remains the highest-priced item in the Surat auction.

Take Mukesh Patel, a diamond trader from Surat who made a bid of Rs 1.39 crore minutes before Sharma placed his bid of Rs 1.41 crore. In 2012, Modi and Patel attended the marriage of Rameshkumar Virani’s nephew in Surat. A gossip columnist at the Indian Express reported that Modi and Patel spent an entire hour together in a private discussion. Modi then attended Patel’s vaastu ceremony in Surat.

Then there are the admirers.

One is Rajesh Maheshwari, the Surat businessman who bid Rs 1.25 crore for the suit on Wednesday. Maheshwari is the founder of a Global Modi Fan Club. The club has 5,000 members who all agreed to contribute Rs 50,000 each to the cause of acquiring the pinstriped suit.

Another is Rajesh Juneja, owner of Preet Fashion in Surat, who bid Rs 1.21 crore. In an interview with the Economic Times, Juneja described Modi as his role model: “I have seen him working tirelessly during Surat floods a few years back. It is this love for him that brought me here today.”

Also at the auction at Surat’s Science Museum are 455 other gifts Modi has received in his tenure as prime minister. None of them have received anywhere near as much interest as the suit. The proceeds of the auction will go to the government’s Clean Ganga campaign.

http://scroll.in/article/707999/At-auct ... -officials

[ghulam muhammed]

Inside Story Of Modi’s Suit Sale

Celebrities can raise stakes to sell suits but a feather-light fabric often betrays a deadly design

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pacesetter pinstripe suit may have fetched palpitation-inducing Rs 4.31crore – and it might help cleanse the sinfully polluted River Ganges, as is projected. But, those who watched the exercise undertaken to the drumbeats and cymbal sounds over three days in Surat -- the commercial capital of Gujarat --know for sure it was a fixed match.

The suit that cost the BJP the Delhi gaddi, and Modi his sheen was put under the hammer in a desperate bid to reclaim the remnants of a tattered ego. Put up along with 400 other gifts received by Modi after taking over as PM, the suit remained the focal point of attraction.

In the fray were textile magnates and diamond merchants and even a school teacher. Was it a mere coincidence that many of these who went around with cheque in hand had figured in income-tax raids and records? “I have been absolved,” said one under media questioning, while the other claimed no misdemeanor was proven.

Nursery school teacher Rajesh Maheshwari who offered Rs 1.25 crore claimed to have stitched the bid through a collection of Rs 50,000 from 250 people! The coming events were being talked about in media persons’ ‘whatsApp’ groups in Gujarat much in advance. That a Rs 5-crore target had been fixed in deference to instructions ‘from above’ was known. Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar carried a pictorial report by its Surat correspondent showing undated but signed cheques with amounts filled in, collected in advance by district administration officials.

Correspondents covering the event spoke of CR Patil, the Surat-based BJP MP from Navsari, lurking in the background. A once penalised policeman, Patil had worked his way first to former Union textiles minister Kashiram Rana and then into the good books of Modi. His are the unseen hands that move mountains in Surat, the diamond capital of India, where limited year postings in the constabulary go for over Rs 25 lakh.

If the suit auction in Surat formed the core of an image salvage operation, the spanner in the works came from an officer of the Coast Guard picked up by the press in the same city. The officer claimed to have ordered that a Pakistani fishing vessel be blown up in the sea, debunking a government claim that it was a terror mission gone awry, whose target was the Gujarat coast on the eve of the Pravasiya Bhartiya Diwas and Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summit held in Gandhinagar.

Perception management is a key component of any brand building exercise. The truth of the fishing vessel explosion notwithstanding, old ghosts continue to haunt politics and politicos. The bulk of the alleged fake encounters in Gujarat took place to neutralize fidayeen terror outfits attempting to assassinate the then Gujarat chief minister. Almost all of them took place around the time Modi was facing a political challenge or crisis of sorts. The pattern persists even in the vessel affair. As a crisis erupted in Bihar and the BJP moved to fish in troubled waters, another distracting development unfolded in Delhi. It was the Modi government’s action against high profile corporate espionage. Another perception management operation at work? Likely.

The correctives have become necessary after the Delhi debacle. This one is seen by some as an attempt at neutralizing the overly corporate-friendly image the Modi government has vis-a-vis the Ambanis, the Adanis and the like. The two action-packed events had media riveted, taking the spotlight away from other, pressing issues.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Ins ... ale/293502

[ghulam muhammed]

Misplaced Priorities

A 500 crore Mahatama Mandir, a 2000 crore Patel statue, a 65,000 crore bullet train, a bill for compulsory voting that the new Gujarat CM wants to to put on hold...

It would be better if those in power address grassroot issues rather than spend time building money guzzling memorials to themselves. The Mahatma Mandir in Gujarat—a convention hall built in the name of Gandhi— costs over Rs 500 crores and the Statue of Sardar Patel, twice the size of the statue of liberty, now planned, will incur an expenditure of over Rs 2000 crores. Modi wants history to remember him for such projects. The fact, however, is that toilets are the need of the hour not bullet trains costing over Rs 65,000 crores to build just to travel from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. which costs less than a thousand rupees by high speed Duranto today!

http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Mis ... ies/292764

[SBM]

According to Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which analyzed the report, there are three "pairs" of transactions that have the same cheque or demand draft number. For instance, company A to Z Online Services, giving its address as Tech Park on Tower E, Airport Road, Yerwada in Pune, has cheque or DD number "957" while donating Rs 84 lakh. This matches the cheque or DD number used by Jumana Goolam Vahanvati who donated Rs 20 lakh to BJP. Vahanvati's address is listed as 21, Buckley Court, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Colaba in Mumbai.

[ghulam muhammed]

Amnesty International criticises Modi govt’s rights record

In its Annual Report 2015, Amnesty has highlighted poll-related violence in May, communal clashes and failure of consultation on corporate projects as key concerns.

Human rights group Amnesty International on Wednesday criticised the Narendra Modi-led government, saying under the new regime India had witnessed a rise in communal violence and its Land Acquisition Ordinance has put thousands of Indians at “risk” of forcible eviction.

In its Annual Report 2015, released here, Amnesty highlighted poll-related violence in the lead-up to the May 2014 General Elections, communal clashes and failure of consultation on corporate projects as key concerns.

The report highlighted that “the authorities continued to violate people’s rights to privacy and freedom of expression. There was a rise in communal violence in Uttar Pradesh and some other states and corruption, caste-based discrimination and caste violence remained pervasive.”

In reference to communal violence, it noted that, “A string of communally charged incidents in Uttar Pradesh prior to elections led to an increase in tensions between Hindu and Muslim communities...Politicians were accused of and in some cases criminally charged with making provocative speeches.”

”...In December, Hindu groups were accused of forcibly converting several Muslims and Christians to Hinduism,” the report said.

The rights body also went on to single out the Land Acquisition Ordinance for criticism as it described the move as a new “risk” to thousands of Indians.

“In December, the government passed a temporary law which removed requirements related to seeking the consent of affected communities and assessing social impact when state authorities acquired land for certain projects,” it said.

“Thousands of people remained at risk of being forcibly evicted from their homes and lands for large infrastructure projects. Particularly vulnerable were Adivasi communities living near new and expanding mines and dams,” it added.

While the group recognised “progressive legal reform”, it was critical of India’s “overburdened and under-funded criminal justice system“.

Amnesty pointed out two court orders as important “gains” for India in 2014, including a Bhopal court’s decision in November to demand that its criminal summons against the Dow Chemical Company be re-issued and a “landmark judgment” by the Supreme Court in April granting legal recognition to transgender people.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/internatio ... epage=true

[ghulam muhammed]

PMO blocks access to information on ministers’ assets

NEW DELHI: In a blow to transparency, the PMO has decided to block public access to the wealth declarations made by ministers. The details of assets and liabilities of the union council of ministers has been available online since 2010. However, the details are now password protected and can only be accessed by the authorized personnel.

In fact information on assets and liabilities of the present council of ministers was available till recently. According to the website pmindia.gov.in, the information was last updated on February 11, 2015 when the user name and password protection might have been introduced.

National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI) member Anjali Bhardwaj said, "We are convinced that the PM does not want to be transparent and give people information.'' She said a bigger concern was that there would be no one to complain to. "The chief information commissioner happens to be the adjudicator for the PMO. In the absence of a CIC (the post has remained vacant since August 2014) we cannot even file a complaint against the government,'' she added.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 388885.cms

[ghulam muhammed]

Government has increased Union Budget for Minority Affairs by 0.1%

Finance Minister has protected the minorities by increasing a peanut in the minority budget that is mere Rs 4.1 crore to the last year’s budget of Rs 3,734 crores that reflects the Modi government’s pathetic concern for minority communities.

In this backdrop, Minorities should ‘thanks to the Modi Government’s benevolence for protecting the Ministry of Minority Affairs and not winding it up.

Nevertheless question may arise why compared to revised budget 2014-15, the Modi Government has reduced the Merit cum Means scholarship amount by 1% and the Pre Matric Scholarship by 3%? Do the minorities need not to continue improving their educational betterment by these scholarship programmes?

http://muslimmirror.com/eng/government- ... rs-by-0-1/

[ghulam muhammed]

Who cheered for Jaitley's Budget

1. Anil Ambani - wealth tax has gone. (Don't worry about the loss of tax, rest of us will pay Service Tax of 14% instead of 12%). For those of us to whom Arithmetic doesn't come naturally, that's a 2/12 increase in the service tax we pay: a 16.66% rise in the taxes we will pay.

2. Baba Ramdev - Yoga is now a charitable activity. In case you didn't decipher Ramdev's bhajans on black money, the answer is simple - if you pass on donations to babaji, you don't need to pay income tax. No tax. No black money. Simple. A little black magic goes a long way.

3. The Budget itself - no more reliance needed on the annual budget. The entire exercise after increasing and decreasing all taxes boiled down to a net increase in taxes of Rs. 15,000 crores. The increase in oil taxes outside the budget in the last few months is Rs. 54,000 crores. That's three and a half time bigger than the Budget itself !

So the next time all the TV channels and newspapers and bankers and businessmen and stock market experts run to you with Budget excitement, give them some of the cuss words that the Chief of Censor Board wants dropped.

Ha ha ha. It is true. It is clear that this government is of the corporates, by the corporates and for the corporates. It is a good lesson to the idiotic urban middle class which was carried away by the "development" rhetoric of Narendra Modi.

Acchhe din my foot!!!

[ghulam muhammed]

"ACCHE DIN" ONLY FOR TAINTED POLICE OFFICERS OF GUJARAT WHO WERE MODI'S CHAMCHAS !!

CBI court drops charges against Gujarat top cop Geeta Johri

MUMBAI: The CBI court dropped charges against senior Gujarat police officer Geeta Johri after it found that the CBI had not taken mandatory sanction from the state government before chargesheeting her in the fake encounter case.

The court discharged senior police officer in a case where she was allegedly manipulating investigation of three fake encounters in Gujarat. The court discharged Geeta Johri as the CBI had not taken mandatory sanction from state government before chargesheeting her. The CBI said that in serious cases sanctions are not required. Responding over the dropping of charges against Geeta Johri, the victims' family said that they were shocked with one after another discharges in the case.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 430900.cms

[ghulam muhammed]

Fact Finding Report On Communal Violence in Bharuch District, Gujarat

Today PUCL, Gujarat Submitted a fact finding Report to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), National Commission for Minorities, Chief Minister and Minister of Home and Revenue (Gujarat), Director General of Police (Gujarat).

· Urgent action is demanded in cases of Violation of Right to Life and Liberties, Right to livelihood of the affected people in the villages of Hansot Block, District Bharuch, Gujarat due to communal violence and ineffective/biased state action from December 2014 onwards.

· Three Innocent youth were killed, properties of several people ransacked and families from Muslim community forced to flee from their home and farms in several villages.

· Due to both delayed and biased action on the part of police and administration, they are at the mercy of their relatives as no compensation or support is provided by the state. Their right to live with dignity and safety is violated.

This was not an isolated incident but a part of a series of communal incidents and build-up of tension since December 2014.


READ FULL ARTICLE :-

http://www.countercurrents.org/pucl100315.htm

[ghulam muhammed]

Despite all the posturings in public, there is apparently some give-and-take between the two worked out behind the closed doors. Togadia visits J&K, and Pakistani envoy meets Geelani. And, no one screams.

Here is a report reproduced below on another significant development: how the State and the Union governments are joining hands in their efforts to deny monetary compensations awarded by the High Court to the victims of mass rape, from the twin villages of Kunan-Poshpora, back in 1991 allegedly by the men of Indian Army.

The Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government may be sparring over the release of a separatist leader but both have joined hands in the Supreme Court to challenge a high court order directing payment of Rs 2 lakh each to alleged rape victims of a 1991 incident involving Army men.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 522434.cms

[ghulam muhammed]

Exposing 300 days of Modi’s rule - Zulmaton Ke Daur Main Pratirodh ke 300 din (19 March 2015 at Jantar Mantar)

In a few weeks Mr. Narendra Modi completes 300 days as the Prime Minister of India. He came into office riding a promise of development, his election campaign was fuelled by subtle hate against religious minorities. His campaign was having the unstinted support of Corporate and was manned by lakhs of volunteers of RSS.

During last few months the intensity of the divisive agenda of RSS combine has gone up tremendously. Cadres of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Bajrang Dal and scores of other sister-groups have intensified the intimidating campaigns like “Ghar Wapsi” and “Love-Jihad”. There were attacks on places of worship of religious minorities. A minister of the Government, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, said that those not believing in Ram are (Haramjade) illegitimate. One of the ruling party MPs went on to praise Godse, calling him patriot. This government tried to remove the words Secular and Socialist from the Preamble of our Constitution. The talk of Gita being a National book was also voiced.

During this period the incidents of communal violence has gone up, nearly 600 during last eight months. The associates of BJP have become more assertive and the intimidation of the religious minorities has gone up. The economic agenda is being tuned for the benefit of corporate houses. The plight of farmers, Dalits and Adivasis is worsening by the day. During this period the Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Prachi have been saying that Hindu women should produce more children. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and other states, the terror, physical violence and social ostracizing of Dalit and Tribal Christians, in particular, continues unabated.

The Prime Minister is a trained pracharak of RSS, his parent organization. RSS is going hammer and tongs asserting its agenda of Hindu Rashtra. While he is keeping mum on issues of crucial importance like Hindutva and Hindu Rashtra, RSS has become more aggressive on these issues. Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak recently stated that “Hindutva is the identity of India and it has the capacity to swallow other identities.” In Cuttack, he asserted that India is a Hindu state and "citizens of Hindustan should be known as Hindus". What more can be said against Indian Constitution than this statement of Mr. Bhagwat!

To say that all this intimidation was being done by fringe elements of RSS will be missing the point. It’s a clever ‘division of labor’ between different progeny of RSS combine. There are clear signals of the erosion of the liberal democratic space which we so value and need for the struggles of the deprived sections of society. The religious minorities are being treated in a way which sans dignity and equality. All social groups do feel the heat of this Government, which is out to stifle the democratic space.

We all realize that these 300 days have seen erosion of democratic values, there is a reversal or dilution of existing legislations which are pro-poor. Environmental norms have been diminished to an extent that now they will be almost nonexistent, threatening the environment and the climate. Land acquisition laws are being changed to benefit crony capital.

It is time that we, all those committed to values of pluralism, democracy and equality, need to stand together to protest against the erosion of the values of our Constitution. The very Idea of India, democratic, Secular and compassionate, is under threat with these policies which are being unleashed in an aggressive way. We need to uphold the values of Secularism, which has been the cementing factor of our Freedom movement, which has been the core spirit of our Indian Nation.

The dream and vision of Idea of India can be sustained and promoted only through our vigilance and struggle for Human rights of all, more so the deprived sections of society. We do envision a society with equality and dignity, freedom with affirmative action, pluralism with scientific temper. It’s through our struggles for democratic rights which will shape a better India in times to come.

We the following organizations appeal to you to join in the protest to restore the values of Indian nationalism. This is a call for a united response from the vast majority of Indian society who has shown repeatedly that they want to preserve the secular traditions of the country which derived from a united Freedom struggle. It is a call for the Idea Of India which came up during freedom movement. We reiterate our faith in values of Indian Constitution and appeal to all those who stand for Indian nationalism to come forward to shape the future for Humane India.

Civil society groups based in Delhi, but many representing all-India organizations, met a few days ago to plan a Rally and Dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, 19th March 2015, 11 am to 6 pm.

The programme will have speakers from civil society and secular political parties, victims, artists, intellectuals. The time will be divided between speakers in Delhi, those coming from outside, political leaders and cultural performances. Cultural programmes will be an important component of the programme. A report on the 300 days keeping the violations regarding the above issues in mind will be prepared and released.

Speakers

Ajay Makan, Ali Anwar, Amarjit Kaur, Annie Raja, Apoorvanand, Brinda Karat, Colin Gonsalves, Dharmvir Gandhi, Digvijay Singh, Jagmati Sangwan, John Dayal, KC Tyagi , Kavita Krishnan, Kunwar Danish, Mohd Salim, Navaid Hamid, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Rajiv Dimri, Ram Puniyani, Rev. Vijayesh Lal, Sahba Hussain, Seema Mustafa, Shabnam Hashmi, Siddarth Vardarajan, Sitaram Yechury, Syeda Hamid, Vrinda Grover, Yugal Kishore Shastri

Performances

Asmita, IPTA Delhi , Janam, Kumar Ambuj, Manglesh Dabral, Manmohan , Nishant Natya Manch , Sangwari, Shubha, Vineet Tiwari, Vishnu Nagar

We also call upon all peace loving people who believe in safeguarding democracy and secularism to join the day long Dharna.

Organised by:

AICCTU, AIDWA, AILU, AIPWA, AISA, AITUC, Akal ka Dhabha, All India Catholic Union (AICU), All India Secular Forum, Alliance Defending Freedom India, Aman Biradari, Anhad, Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan, Asmita, Ayodhya ki Awaaz, Beghar Foundation., Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, CBCI office for SC/BC, Centre for Harmony and Peace, Varanasi, UP, Centre for Holistic Development (CHD)., Christian Legal Association, CITU, Delhi Solidarity Group, Dhanak, DYFI, Federation of Catholic Associations of the Archdiocese of Delhi, Forum against Corruption and Threat, Guild of Service, Indian Catholic Youth Movement, Indian Radical Humanist Association, Indian Social Institute, IPTA Delhi, Jamia Students Solidarity Forum , Jan Pehel (MP), Jan Sanskriti, Jan Sanskriti Manch, Janam, JWP, Khudai Khidmatgar, Kiss of Love, Lal Jhanda Beedi Mazdoor Union, Lok Parishad, Mewat Karwan, Mewat Vikas Sabha, MOEMIN, Muslim Women’s Forum, Nagrik Ekta Manch , National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, National Federation of Indian Women, National Forum for Housing Rights, Navodaya Lokchetna Kalyan Samiti , Nishant Natya Manch, NoMore Campaign, People’s Campaign against Politics of Terror, People’s Research Society (MP), People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism , Philadelphia Church, Prashant, Gujarat, Progressive Writers Association, Rashtriya Dalit Mahila Andolan, Religious Liberty Commission of EFI, Right to Water Campaign, Rihai Manch, UP, Roopankar, Infore, SACW, Saheli, SAMLA, Sandarbh, MP, Sangwari, SFI, Shahri Adhikar Manch:Begharo ke Sath (SAM:BKS)., Society for Social Change (SSCI), The Association for Advocacy and Legal Initiatives (AALI) , Trilokpuri Platform., Ummid Shelter Home , United Christian Forum for Human Rights, Women for Water Democracy, YUVODAYA - Youth Commission of Delhi

http://anhadin.net/article263.html

[ghulam muhammed]

MODI HAS REALISED THAT INDIANS ARE ANGRY AT HIM AND THAT HE CAN NO MORE LURE THEM BY HIS FEKOLOGY !

Ryan International tells teachers, kids to join BJP

NEW DELHI: A top national school, Ryan International, has officially espoused the BJP's membership drive by urging its teachers and students to enroll with the party. While the school management claims the drive is voluntary, teachers and student say it's not - in fact, some teachers even claim their salary has been held back pending their joining the party.

Teachers and students as well as parents told TOI they have received WhatsApp messages giving them a toll-free number, 18002662020, for BJP membership. A message to the number is answered with a message that gives a primary membership number to the sender. At Ryan, this membership number is to be communicated to the management or designated teachers, it is claimed.

A Ryan staff member at the Rohini school said, "Every staff member, from school gardener to senior teachers, was asked to get 10 members. Forms of the BJP membership were distributed and party's toll-free number was sent through WhatsApp."

A parent said, "My daughter told me about the forms being distributed in the school. Last week a message from her class teacher to the WhatsApp group for parents and teachers was sent asking us to call on the (toll-free) number and register. Initially, we thought it had something to do with the school but it turned out that it was for BJP's membership registration and we didn't want to register."

Some teachers at various branches of the school in Delhi said the announcement was made in the morning assembly. "Our March salaries were delayed and the administration staff has been asking us to give the forms, duly filled, back to them so that our salaries can be disbursed," said a teacher working with Mayur Vihar branch. Teachers at Ryan's Vasant Kunj and Rohini said the same.

As per Ryan International School website, there are 133 schools across the country with over 2 lakh students. The Group started its first school in Mumbai way back in 1976. A staff member working with Delhi's Rohini branch said the membership drive is being carried out in all schools of the group.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 602360.cms

[ghulam muhammed]

India: Delhi Protest Marks Modi’s Three Hundred Days in Power- Report on hate and violence released

A collective protest by a wide range of civil society groups was held on 19 March 2015 against 300 days of the Modi govt. The protest was held at Jantar Mantar in Delhi from 11 am to 6 pm. A detailed report on hate and violence under Modi’s 300 days rule was released on the occasion (it can be downloaded here). Photos of the event by Mukul Dube are posted below

"Exposing 300 days of Modi’s rule" was the banner of a rally and dharna jointly organised by many groups and political parties at Jantar Mantar, Delhi, on 19 March 2015 to draw attention to the assault on democratic and secular rights since May 2014.

Executive Summary from the Report:
300 DAYS
Documenting Hate and Communal Violence under the Modi Regime
JOHN DAYAL
(With inputs from Kiren Shaheen, Liris Thomas, Mansi Sharma, Shabnam Hashmi, Shahnaz Husain, Tehmina Arora, and Vijayesh Lal)

The rape of a 70 year old Nun in West Bengal in an attack on a convent and school in February 2015 sent shockwaves throughout India, and the world. “Protect not just Cows, but human beings also,” said Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference. At least 43deaths in over 600 cases of violence, 149 targeting Christians and the rest Muslims, have taken place in 2014 in India till March this year, marking 300 days of the National Development Alliance government of Mr. Narendra Modi. The number of dead is other than the 108 killed in Assam in attacks by armed tribal political groups on Muslims. Desecration and destruction of churches, assault on pastors, illegal police detention of church workers, and denial of Constitutional rights of Freedom of Faith aggravate the coercion and terror unleashed in campaigns of Ghar Wapsi and cries of Love Jihad. Since May 2014, there has been a marked shift in public discourse. There has been a relentless foregrounding of communal identities, a ceaseless attempt to create a divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The BJP leaders guaranteed to abuse, ridicule and threaten minorities. Hate statements by Union and state ministers, threats by Members of Parliament, state politicians, and cadres in saffron caps or Khaki shorts resonate through the landscape. But most cases go unreported, unrecorded by police.

The Prime Minister refuses to reprimand his Cabinet colleagues, restrain the members of his party members or silence the Sangh Parivar which claims to have propelled him to power in New Delhi. Mr. Modi calls for a ten-year moratorium on communal and caste violence. His government soon declares Christmas to be a “Good Governance Day” in honour of the BJP leader and former Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. There are fears at a severe whittling down of the 15 Point Programme for Minorities, a lifeline for many severely economic backward communities, and specially their youth seeking higher education and professional training.

Anyway, Mr. Modi’s “assurance” to religious minorities is challenged and countered by Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, who asserts, repeatedly, that every Indian is a Hindu, and minorities will have to learn their place in the country. Speaking at the 50th Anniversary of foundation of its religious wing, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak bluntly stated that “Hindutva is the identity of India and it has the capacity to swallow other identities. We just need to restore those capacities.” In Cuttack, he asserted that India is a Hindu state and "citizens of Hindustan should be known as Hindus". Sadhvi Prachi, a central minister, Members of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj and Adityanath are among those urging measures to check Muslims, including encouraging Hindu women to have from four to ten children each. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and other states, the terror, physical violence and social ostracizing of Dalit and Tribal Christians, in particular, continues.

The 300 days have also seen an assault on democratic structures, the education and knowledge system, Human Rights organizations and Rights Defenders and coercive action using the Intelligence Bureau and the systems if the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act and the Passport laws to crack down on NGOs working in areas of empowerment of the marginalized sections of society, including Dalits, Tribals, Fishermen and women, and issues of environment, climate, forests, land and water rights. This report is focused on issues of communally targeted violence and the politics of hate and divisiveness that emanates from a thesis of religious nationalism.

http://sacw.net/article10852.html

[ghulam muhammed]

Muslim law board attacks Modi govt, RSS

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Sunday launched a frontal attack on the Narendra Modi government and announced a nationwide campaign to counter right-wing forces, accusing Hindu organizations like the RSS of hatching a "conspiracy" to convert the country into a "fascist state".

At the end of its two-day convention here, the board said that its "Defend Constitutional Rights Committee" will run a campaign to build a sense of confidence among minorities.

"We are concerned about the situation in the country which has worsened after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister. Not only Muslims, but Christians are also feeling uncomfortable," the board's assistant general secretary Abdul Rahim Qureshi said at a press conference here.

In a resolution, the board said that right-wing forces have become "active against the minorities after the formation of new government at the Centre."

"The resolution was passed by the board members in the national convention which seeks support of people against the conspiracy of Hindu organizations like RSS to take the country in direction of fascist state from a secular democracy," Qureshi said.

"Hindutva forces are encouraged and have become more active after the formation of the NDA government," he said.

Qureshi alleged that VHP leaders Ashok Singhal, Praveen Togadia and Sadhvi Prachi "spit venom" against minorities, but no action is taken.

"Hindu outfits are carrying out programmes like 'ghar wapsi'. RSS and VHP leaders spit venom not only against Muslims but Christians also. This is a conspiracy to divide sections of the society and we have sought support of all the Muslims as well as Hindus against the propaganda in the resolution," he said.

If the right wing-forces persisted with their agenda against the minorities, it will result in "anarchy" in the country, he said.

Qureshi claimed that the Prime Minister has not yet said anything on the " ghar wapsi" issue.

Over 250 members of the body had gathered in Jaipur for their annual general body meeting.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 654786.cms

[ghulam muhammed]

Embarrassed by Sakshi Maharaj? Here are Modi’s statements before he was branded as ‘development man’

While Sakshi Maharaj and other sadhu-sadhvis associated with the Hindutva juggernaut have filled the air with vicious poisons, the BJP and its supporters in the media are trying to portray them as fringe voices, it would help to remind ourselves of Modi’s own such statements before the Ambanis and Adanis started marketing him as vikas purush.

Hum paanch, humare pachees – Narendra Modi mocked the Muslim community in one of his speeches during the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra held shortly after the carnage in Gujarat. He said, “What should we do? Run relief camps for them? Do we want to open baby producing centres? Hum paanch humare pachees (We are five and we will have 25 offsprings).

Clash with ‘Christian’ CEC JM Lyngdoh – During a rally in Baroda, Narendra Modi hit out at former Chief Election Commissioner JM Lyngdoh for rejecting BJP’s demand for holding elections in the state of Gujarat in the aftermath of the 2002 riots. Modi made repeated references to his Christian background and his association with Sonia Gandhi for being the reason behind this well calculated move of the Election Commission. Unlike his past theatrics, this one did not go unnoticed and Prime Minister Vajpayee issued a statement pulling up the Gujarat CM for his denigration of the CEC. He said, “I am distressed by the undignified controversy involving the chief election commissioner and the chief minister of Gujarat in the context of the Assembly elections in Gujarat. Both are high Constitutional authorities and they must be given the respect that is their due.”

Statement against conversions: In a television interview to a Hindi news channel, Narendra Modi spoke of the need to ban conversions by stating that even Mahatma Gandhi was critical of the practise. However, when pressed upon to state his position in regards to reconversions to Hinduism, Modi said that there was no problem in connection to that as people ‘return to their old homes and it was a natural process’

Weblinks:

Narendra’s Modi’s remarks despicable: Lyngdoh http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/23guj.htm

PM raps Modi for remarks on Lyngdog

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes ... r-language

http://www.indiaresists.com/embarrassed ... pment-man/

[ghulam muhammed]

600 Communal Violence Incidents in 300 Days of Modi Govt

http://caravandaily.com/portal/600-comm ... modi-govt/