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@defenceofdemocracy
Gods on Earth: Shankaracharya says no to worship of Sai Baba
by Ram Puniyani
The phenomenon of God is probably the most complex one in the World. For believers there is a range of belief system about the supernatural powers. For agnostics it is ‘I don’t know’ and for atheists there is no supernatural power. The systems of thought relevant to the topic range from Animists (nature worshippers), polytheists (multiple gods/goddesses), tri-theists (Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh or Father, Son and the Holy spirit), Monotheists (single Universal God) to Atheists. In the concept of God we have ‘god as a physical being’ to formless the God. Adivasis are animists, worshipping the nature and spirits of their ancestors. In different religions the concept is very different, including the fact that some religions do not have the concept of God like Buddhism and Jainism. Polytheism prevailed in Greek society, with different Gods and Goddesses endowed with special virtues. Ancient Aryans also had polytheism, with multitude of Gods and Goddesses looking after different virtues and aspects of the life on Earth. We have a Goddess each for wealth (Laxmi) knowledge (Sarswati) and Power (Durga) We also have a God each for lightening (Indra) air (Marut) sex (Kamdevta) liquor (Som devta) amongst the plethora of the divine powers. Hindu mythology is a rainbow exposition of the diversity and complexity of the lives of Gods and Goddesses.
There is no fixed timeline of the phenomenon of God. Diverse concepts begin in different time periods. From animism, the most ancient concept to polytheism-monotheism and atheism come up over a period of time but not in a sequential fashion. Simultaneously, there come up the traditions of Charvak, Buddhism and Jainism which either do not talk about God or deny the existence of God. While today the prophet based religions like Christianity and Islam have a definitive concept, the Hindu religion has plethora of divine powers, Hinduism also has assimilated the diverse concepts, which merrily co-exist. That’s how in my childhood while reciting Hanuman Chalisa and reading Ramayan, (Lord Ram) I could reverentially go through the text of Mahabharata, with many Gods playing their different interesting roles. My family-community, worshipped Banyan tree on one hand and on the other had parallel worship of bullocks, of snakes and what have you. I vividly remember taking the wooden bullocks to neighbors and getting some sweets or small change as a reward. Every Saturday, mendicants with a vessel filled with oil used to come and my grandfather used to slip some coins in to the vessel, while at the same time performing the puja of Lord Ram.
courtesy: Aaj Tak
Last three decades in particular while on one hand one saw the plethora of Godmen like Mahesh Yogi, Rajneesh, J.Krishnamurthy, Asaram Bapu, Satya Sai baba (Bhagwan) coming to the fore, the popularity of Sai Baba of Shirdi and Mata Vaishno Devi has gone up exponentially. Bhagwan Satya Sai, who died few years ago, had vast following and he was regarded as the reincarnation of Shirdi Sai baba. At the same time Shirdi Sai pilgrimage became very popular and his temples came up in most cities. Sai Baba of Shirdi has a beautiful syncretic background. While he was born in a Muslim family he came up more in Sufi tradition and intermingled with equal affection amongst Hindus as well as Muslims. His major focus was bringing Hindus and Muslims together. One major landmark in his life will give the essence of his efforts. In 1896 he instituted the annual Sufi ‘urs' festival with the explicit purpose of bringing these two communities together. In 1912 he combined this Urs with Hindu Ram navami festival. This effort of his strengthened his Sufi initiative of co-operation, symbiosis and tolerance. During the festival Hindus would worship in the mosque along with Muslims, each community following their own rituals. The Baba would put the sandalwood paste on the forehead of Mlahspati, the priest of local Khandoba temple, who in turn would reciprocate the gesture. Baba was deeply steeped in humanism, the core of all religions, and so initially Muslims as well as Hindus started respecting him.
By and by more and more of Hindus started worshipping him and today he is more of a Hindu deity than a Muslim one. In Hinduism as such there is a scope for new Gods and Goddesses also (e.g. Santoshi Ma, Satyanarayan). Apart from Sai Baba; Swami Parmhans is another one who has been raised to the level of divinity, and his more famous disciple Swami Vivekananda, also started a mission in his name.
The controversy around worshipping of Sai Baba was raised by Shankaracharya Swami Swaroopanand (June 2014) who described Shirdi Sai baba as a Muslim ascetic, and proclaimed that he cannot be worshipped like a Hindu deity. He also said that his campaign is to protect the Hindu religion and that he will continue irrespective. Sadhvi Uma bharti currently Union Minister of Water Resources, who was one of the prominent figures in Ram Temple agitation, leading to demolition of Babri masjid and deepening the communal divides, is also worshipper of Sai baba. In a letter to Swami Swaroopanand she explained the rationale behind her statement where she had said that looking upon someone as a god was people's personal choice.
While Sai Baba has been accepted as God by large sections of Hindus, it is probably for the first time that someone, Shankaracharya, has objected to this popular trend. As such Hinduism is a collation of multiple traditions. The clerical Brahminical tradition to which Shankracharya belongs is rigid and orthodox, while the other traditions of Nath, Tantra, Siddhanta and Bhakti are more flexible and adapt to the situation very easily. The Hindu practices have evolved continuously. On one hand the clerical ones emphasize on the status quo, the non Brahminical traditions have flexibility and fluidity. It will require a deeper study to understand as to why the worship of Jai Mata Di, Sai Baba, Santoshi Maa has become more popular during last few decades, surely it is part of broader inclusive Hindu practice as well. One needs to realize that the religious practices of different religions are not uniform. Even in the Universal, Prophet based religions; there are sects, Catholic-Protestants, Shia-Sunni, Hinayan-Mahayan, Digambar-Shetambar, to name the few. The orthodox versions of religions have been used as the base of politics within every religion. South Asia is today in the grip of rising religiosity on the one hand and growing assertion of politics in the name of religion on the other. The more conservative orthodox versions are picked up for political abuse, Wahabi version from Islam, Brahminical version from Hinduism, and similar conservative version from Buddhism in Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand in particular.
People should be left to their own wisdom and choice in matters of the faith. Imposing, asserting a particular version from the interpretation of the texts does complicate the matters and creates strife, the way the controversy raised by Shankaracharya is doing.
While on the topic of God, recently a book has come out, “Why Atheism will replace religion: The triumph of earthly pleasures over pie in the sky” written by Nigel Barber. This book predicts that religions, believers, will become a minority Vis a Vis the practice of secularism in the decade of 2040s. This book relates the rise/fall of the religion with economic power and makes an observation that atheists are much more in number in developed countries. This book is based on the study of 137 nations conducted by the author who concludes that in the countries; more developed the welfare system; higher is the number of atheists. The book’s crunch line is, in countries where distribution of income is even, lesser is the number of religious people. The author is a prominent psychologist. He makes a prediction that people will feel lesser need of supernatural beliefs when the tangible world is providing them for their real needs. Also in a survey conducted in America 20% people identified themselves as Atheists.
While we wait for the realisability of such prediction, we should respect the people’s choices about their faith, this is a message loud and clear given by the followers of Sai baba in response to what Shankaracharya said.
Report on The Idea of India Conclave in Mumbai
by Ridhima Sharma
The first Idea of Idea Conclave outside Delhi was organized in Mumbai on July 22, 2014 by ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) and other concerned citizens. The conclave made it possible for various citizens, movements and groups to come together and discuss their idea(s) of India and what could be done to translate those into action.
The day began with Harsh Mander’s introductory address where he pointed out the extent to which the 2014 elections caused a deep fissure among the people of the country; a division of an unprecedented scale and nature was created between those who rejoiced at Modi’s victory and those who felt a grave sense of despair at the same. While the victorious sections include the middle class, the corporates and those who subscribe to a majoritarian ideology in general, the ‘social losers’ of the elections were the secular community, minorities (religious, sexual etc) and the country’s poor who cannot even afford the luxury of middle-class aspirations. In this context then, Mander continued, it becomes important for all these sections to come together and discuss their idea of India with each other. He explained that the idea behind the Conclave is to build a platform for concerned citizens not just in Delhi but across the country and to deliberate among other things, on the vision of creating a “just, caring and responsible State.”
The first panel on Changed Political Scenario and Impact on Democratic Civil Rights Movements was chaired by Anjali Monteiro and had Dilip D’Souza, Anand Patwardhan and Teesta Setalvad as panelists.
Dilip D’Souza, writer and journalist, began on an optimistic note as he argued that the current political scenario is in fact an opportunity for the secular and liberal forces of the country to be more active and spell out an idea or vision of India based on values of secularism and social justice. He said that there is reason for “people like us” to feel more empowered because of the accountability that the government now owes and the increased scrutiny it faces. He made it clear that Modi’s victory does not or should not put a stop to our struggles and should urge us to overcome a sense of complacency that had set in, in the past few years.
Anand Patwardhan, documentary filmmaker, argued that even though the government has so far not carried out its communal project on a large scale (even though it has maintained a deafening silence on acts of communal violence such as the murder of Mohsin Shaikh in Pune), it has taken certain steps that point out the severity of the combination of economic neo-liberalism and right wing authoritarianism that the BJP is. These include the BJP’s emphasis on privatization and loss of sovereignty through measures like 100 % FDI in defence and media and facilitating land and resource acquisition by large corporates. It has also granted impunity to those accused of hate crimes and Amit Shah’s rise is just one of the examples of the same. He argued further that the new government has been able to strengthen structures of both state and extra constitutional censorship that threaten the publishing industry (Wendy Doniger, Shekhar Bandopadhyay and Megha Kumar are some of the examples), films and various forms of art and culture. He concluded with the need to speak out (even through smaller publications, internet etc) and the absolute requirement to form alliances.
Teesta Setalwad, civil rights activist, urged the audience to think about a range of issues that predate Modi’s victory such as the “hollowing out” of terms like ‘secularism’ and ‘socialism’, which need to be reclaimed and reimagined, keeping in mind the contradictions of our political system where the UPA has also not been in a position to boast of a clean record. She argued that the challenges before the secular forces have definitely strengthened after May 16 but they had always been there, and that they cannot be countered till we articulate the contradictions and dualities of our political system in our strategy and protest.
The second panel on Safeguarding Idea of India was chaired by Dolly Thakore and had Darryl D’ Monte, Vivek Korde, Nandita Das, Mahesh Bhatt and Fr.Frazer Mascernhas as panelists.
Darryl D’Monte, environment activist raised some questions pertinent to the “ecological identity of India”. He spoke, among other things, of the (in)famous IB Report that labels the likes of Green Peace and Amnesty as ‘anti-national’ but obviously remains silent on the foreign funds procured by the RSS and its sister organizations. He concluded, by pointing out that people across the country are fighting against the appropriation of resources and that gives us hope and space for resistance.
Nandita Das, actor, questioned the very notion of having a singular ‘Idea of India’, given the diverse and multifarious nature of the ‘Indian Nation’. She said that we need to rethink what it means to be Indian in the current context and cautioned against the dangers of creating a monolithic Indian identity.
Mahesh Bhatt, filmmaker, brought in a touch of the personal as he spoke about his mother’s struggle to conceal her Muslim identity after the partition and the difficulties he faced as a filmmaker to bring out films that were ‘against the stream’. He mentioned the youth’s increasing tendency to be okay with “progress without freedom” and “development without democracy” which should be looked at and addressed, in the context of the shrinking space for dissent.
Vivek Korde, activist, engaged at length with the term ‘secularism’, its origin, meaning and the way in which it has been twisted and made notorious by the Hindu Right. He said that our biggest failure today is that we have failed to explain to a common person on the street what secularism really means and entails. He argued that at the heart of secularism, lies the spirit to free the people from all kinds of oppression and suppression.
Fr. Frazer, Principal, St. Xaviers College, spoke of three values as being important to his idea of India. These were- Democracy, Plurality and Inclusiveness, which he said, should figure in our approach towards development.
The third session called Building Secular Political Alliance was chaired by Kumar Ketkar and the panelists were Prakash Reddy, Yusuf Abrahani, Mahendra Singh and Milind Ranade.
Prakash Reddy, from CPI, stressed on the need to create alliances with other political parties, inspite of other political differences. He gave several examples to demonstrate the communal nature of the government in power and concluded that the alliance must not only have a secular approach but it must also work on drafting a well-thought out strategy to meet the economic challenges that plague the country.
Yusuf Abrahani, from Congress, started out by saying that one of the reasons the secular forces stand defeated is because of their inability to reach out to the masses due to issues of vocabulary, use of the English language etc. He further said that the BJP victory is also a result of the strong anti-Congress sentiment that built up through a series of events- the Anna Hazare Movement, the attack on the Congress post the December 16 Delhi Gang rape case and many more. He laid emphasis on the ‘corruption in the media’ which he said was a corruption of the most serious and dangerous kind. The media, he said, is not secular; while it takes seconds to arrest innocent Muslims, it will take ages to react or not react at all against Hindutva forces.
Mahendra Singh, from CPM, argued that despite India’s secular constitution, its secular fabric has been under threat time and again. In the given context, he continued, it is important for secular forces to connect themselves with ‘people’s issues’ like corruption, poverty, inflation and unemployment and incorporate these in their larger strategies too.
Milind Ranade, from Lal Nishan Party, argued that one of the biggest defeats of political parties is that they haven’t been able to win the support and participation of activists who are politically aware but reluctant to formally associate themselves with any political party. Continuing the thread of the Anna Hazare Movement, he said that what the BJP did was to replace Anna’s demand for a ‘strong Lokpal’ with that of a ‘strong leader’ and ‘strong rules’ and that Modi’s coming to power is one of the many examples of ‘strong leadership’ paving way for a dictatorial autocratic regime.
The fourth panel titled Tasks Ahead: What Should Be Done was chaired by Tushar Gandhi and had Irfan Engineer, Ram Puniyani and Mihir Desai as panelists.
Irfan Engineer, associated with All India Secular Forum, argued that Hindutva forces in India have managed to successfully package and sell what are the “stinking elements of our society”. He then suggested a few possible strategies to counter the effect of these “attractively packaged stinking elements”. Some of these include- the need for various movements to come together on a common platform with people discussing and working on a range of issues, creation of a network of peace centres in cities, the selection and use of a few ‘icons’ and their popularization among the country’s youth, cultural movements that spread the message of the likes of Kabir and Tukaram, intervention in colleges through cultural festivals and study material which in fact is already available, he pointed out, thanks to the efforts of organizations like Khoj and Avehi.
Ram Puniyani, associated with All India Secular Forum, pointed out that plenty of alternate study material is already available. What needs to be worked out however is a way to make this material more readable and accessible. The idea, he said, is to connect with the youth both at the level of content and form. He also stressed on the need to collaborate and build lasting networks.
Mihir Desai, advocate, argued that with the present establishment at the Centre, there is likely to be a ‘dual approach’ towards laws- while those that are pro-marginalised (Labour Laws, NREGA etc) will be/ are being diluted and those that empower the State machinery will be strengthened. However, one must not give up on the prospect of using the law to counter the Right, he said. He also emphasized the government’s two-fold agenda of communalization as well as a neo-liberal framework. He concluded with a ‘note of caution’ and a question that later led to much debate and discussion- Who are our collaborators? Should we choose our collaborators on the mere pretext that they are anti-BJP?
All three panelists- Irfan Engineer, Ram Puniyani and Mihir Desai spoke of the formation of the platform, ‘Hum Azaadiyon Ke Haq Mein’ which is an attempt to bring together people working on a range of issues in Mumbai to discuss and deliberate on the ways in which they can intervene through social media, education programmes in colleges, networking, providing help to those on unfair trial by the Hindutva forces etc and counter the challenges being faced today in a democratic and secular way. Some of the themes that kept recurring in the discussion that followed were- BJP and Congress- the similarities and differences, who we can or cannot collaborate with and how to negotiate with the youth's 'apathy'.
Anything more?
Fatwas and Muslim Women
by Irfan Engineer
The Supreme Court on 7th July 2014 ruled that fatwas had no legal sanctity and the defiance of fatwas would not have civil or criminal consequences as it had no place in independent India under our constitutional scheme. Though the Apex Court did not injunct Islamic religious authorities like the Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband, Dar-ul-Qaza or Nizam-e-Qaza from issuing fatwa as issuance of fatwas per se were not illegal in its opinion, it clarified that “it is not a decree, not binding on the court or the state or the individual. It is not sanctioned under our constitutional scheme”. The Supreme Court seems to have taken balanced view by clarifying that the fatwas may be issued by any religious authority or individual but it cannot be enforced and the courts would disregard it. The Apex Court cannot prevent anybody form expressing her/his religious views as Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of every person to freely profess, practice and propagate religion of her/his choice. Those views however cannot be enforced on a third person through any means. However, given the state of literacy, education and socio-economic backwardness of the community, lack of security, having very limited access to secular institutions, the poor in the community take the opinion of the even improperly trained imams (prayer leaders of the mosque) are prone to accept fatwas as divine law. Religious organizations and institutions play prominent role in their daily lives providing solace and support. Women are more vulnerable given the patriarchal values and huge gender based inequality within the community. A bizarre fatwa was issued by the imam of a mosque in Assam. A woman shared her husband’s dream in which he pronounced the word talaq (divorce) thrice with her neighbour. Both – husband and wife had laughed off the dream. The dream was reported by the neighbour to the imam who promptly issued fatwa that such a pronouncement even in a dream amounted to irrevocable divorce and the husband and wife were haram (prohibited) to each other and must separate immediately. Such a ridiculous fatwa also carried weight for the community and can cause irreparable damage. There is no homogeneity in fatwas and often contradictory fatwas are issued by muftis and imams based on one of the four school of jurisprudence they belong to – Hanafi, Hanbali, Shafi or Maliki among the Sunnis or a Shia Ulema would follow their respective jurisprudence, viz. Ja’fri, Ismaili or Zaidi. There is lot of misunderstanding about fatwas. Fatwa and mediation in matrimonial disputes are separate issues. The former is done by Dar-ul Ifta whereas the latter is done by Dar-ul-Qaza or Nizam-e-Qaza and often by biradari based mediations. Mediation by Dar-ul-Qaza is often popularly referred to as shari’ adalat or sharia courts. The petitioner – Adv. Vishwa Lochan Madan had approached Supreme Court with a prayer to ban the shari’a courts, qazis, naib qazis from functioning and thereby dictating social behaviour of citizens. Fatwa Fatwa in Arabic literarily means opinion. Fatwa is opinion of the issuer on some issue of shari’a or the other. As there is no clergy in Islam, the opinion is not binding, howsoever learned and qualified the issuer of the fatwa may have been. A fatwa issued by Dar-ul Ifta normally ends with the words “but Allah knows better” after the opinion is expressed. These words itself shows that the issues accepts the opinion expressed in the fatwa to be his best judgment on the issue, but not binding, as Allah knows better than him. Fatwa is issued in response to a query about matters relating to everyday life in accordance with shari’a. The query may emanate from any person, even a third person unconcerned with the query. Often journalists approach a local imam of a mosque with minimum training in Islamic religious affairs for his opinion on matter pertaining to a third person. The objective may not be to educate himself with the opinion of the maulvi but to publish the “fatwa” later for TRP of his channel or increase the sale of his paper. Other media then pick up and discuss the “fatwa” for days and weeks if not months. Fatwa on Imrana was sought by a journalist and not by Imrana or her husband or Imrana’s rapist father-in-law. Fatwa can only be given by Islamic scholars on the basis of Islamic law. The persons authorised to give fatwas hold position of mufti. Person issuing fatwa should have pure intention to guide the seeker of fatwa; he should have deep insight; equanimity and tranquillity; he should have a firm religious background and deep knowledge and should be aware of daily life and contemporary issues. Allama Iqbal suggested in his Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam that every generation of Muslims should re-think the issues and legislate according to their own needs. Poorly paid imams of mosques in rural area often do not meet these qualifications. They are not men of vision nor understand the issues involved and follow the rule book mechanically. A fatwa encompasses every aspect of life such as creed, worship, transactions, the economy, family, politics, governance, etc. A fatwa may relate to a individual’s conduct or to the community as a whole. Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani collected 100 fatwas issued by Ulemas of various sects against partition of the country and published the compilation. Madani argued that it was sin to call a geographical area as “pak” or holy as the Muslim country was sought to be called Pakistan. Allah’s entire creation was holy. He also argued that the first state which the Prophet of Islam built was based on the concept of composite nationalism as in the Madinese covenant, the Muslims, Christians and Jews agreed to jointly defend Madina if attacked by its enemies but at the same time, all were free to follow their faith and religion. Indian nationalism too was composite with all faiths co-existing and flourishing and Muslims enjoyed freedom of conscience. He toured length and breadth of the country addressing public meetings and educating Muslims that it was their religious duty to oppose creation of Pakistan. Similarly there have been numerous fatwas to oppose terrorism targeting innocents issued by Ulama in India as well as others in Islamic world. In the Mardin conference 15 leading scholars from countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, India, Senegal, Kuwait, Iran, Morocco and Indonesia gathered. Among them were Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric, Sheikh Abdullah bin Bayyah of Mauritania and Yemeni Sheikh Habib Ali al-Jifri and rejected the earlier fatwa of Imam Ibn Taimiyyah that was used by Osama bin Laden and his followers in support of their jihad. Imam Ibn Taimiyyah’s fatwa justified use of violence against an unjust ruler in the circumstances when the only way to address injustice and to bring about regime change was to use counter violence. Imam Hanbal had prohibited rebellion against an unjust ruler as it would promote anarchy and bloodshed. The Mardin conference rejected mindless violence targeting innocents and non-combatants condemned terrorism. In a democracy other means of changing unjust regimes is possible. Such fatwas merit little attention in the media – both, for the lack of knowledge, and because they go against the conventional wisdom that Islam is a backward, violent and aggressive religion. Media also thrives on negative news. Coverage of conflicts rather than events that are conducive to harmony and peace increase the TRPs. Fatwas and Muslim women However, everything is not hunky dory within the community. The Muftis issuing fatwas mechanically follow the rules of their respective jurisprudence without applying their mind to the changed context and circumstances in which the fatwas are sought. To be fair to the Dar ’ul Ifta, the problem lies with the fact that the doors of ijtehad (creative interpretation and application of teachings of Islam to changed circumstances) have been closed during the medieval period itself. In India, Islamic jurisprudence was an evolving science till the colonization of the country under British. The Warren Hastings’ Plan of 1772 provided for establishment of civil and criminal courts and protected the right of Hindus and Muslims to apply their own personal laws in inheritance, marriage etc. In the year 1791 under directions of Hastings, Charles Hamilton translated from Arabic the Hedaya (The Guide) into English. With the reliance of the British courts on written text, the evolution of shari’a came to a halt. Darul Uloom Deoband was established by Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanotvi and others to conserve the faith against the possible western onslaught. Since then, the fatwas issued by the Darul Ifta established by Darul Uloom have been drawing from wahabi conservative Islam and Hanafi School of jurisprudence. Muslim Women have been worst sufferers as the conservative fatwas restrict their freedom and liberties. Women in the fatwas are conceived as duty bearers towards their husbands having little rights. Moreover, the fatwas enable men to exercise considerable control over the bodies of their wives and control their movement reducing them to object for sexual gratification for their husbands, bearing them children and carrying out domestic chores. Needless to say this does not necessarily reflect the true spirit of Islam. Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer would argue that Holy Quran gives equal rights to Muslim women and complete freedom to earn their livelihood, right to manage their earnings and use it as they please without any obligation, right to maintenance from their husbands, wear clothes they liked except they were require them not to display their zeenah (bodily charms and adornments), right to unilaterally divorce their husbands (khula), right (nay, duty) to acquire knowledge, right to pray in mosque and even lead mix group of namazis in mosque, liberty to act and officiate as Qazis, etc. For lack of space, we are not giving references. Recently a fatwa was issued which called women working in establishments with other male colleagues to be haram if their earnings were not necessary to maintain the family, and if it was, they should be covered from head to toe during their working hours! A fatwa was issued banning a popular all-girls Kashmiri band leading to its disbanding. Viewing of most TV channels, listening to Music, etc have been prohibited by fatwas. What was most disturbing was the fatwa that restricted women from entering even sufi dargahs – a most inclusive space. In August 2005, Darul Uloom issued a fatwa forbidding women from voting, and if they must, they should wear a veil. This would of course prohibit them from contesting elections. Thankfully, the community does not always subject themselves to these fatwas. What should we do? First of all, we must welcome the Supreme Court Judgment which reminds the Muslim community that though it is not unconstitutional to issue fatwas, they are merely opinions of the issuer and not binding on anybody. The Apex Court has also advised the institutions and persons inclined to issue fatwas, not to do so at the instance of a third person or party unconnected with the opinion to be expressed as there is ample scope for mischief. We must particularly educate the women in particular and the community in general, particularly in the rural and semi-urban areas, that fawas are not binding, and wherever possible, hold celebratory meetings welcoming the Apex Court judgment on the issue. The courts functioning under the constitutional framework have done far more for Muslim women’s rights and entitlements and without deviating from Islamic principles – be it on the issue of granting maintenance to divorced Muslim women, holding oral pronouncement of divorce in one sitting illegal, custody of children, right of inheritance, protection of Muslim women facing domestic violence etc. Muslim women should utilize all spaces where they get better rights.
A documentary by Gopal Menon busting the myths about Narendra Modi's vibrant Gujrath campaign
NoMore Feku
Anti-Muslim rhetoric runs high as the BJP election manager in Uttar Pradesh addresses meetings in areas torn apart by riots in September.
A sting operation by Cobrapost reveals that the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, was elaborately planned and executed it with precision of a military operation and was not an act of frenzied mobs.
"If you are afraid to say something on the internet because you fear your government then you may need a new government." -Michael S. King
An Indian journalist has written the most sarcastic newspaper clarification we've ever had the pleasure of reading. Here at the Huffington Post UK, we will be the first to admit that in the heat of newsroom chaos and tight deadlines, mistakes can pop up now and then.
An electronic voting machine raised many eyebrows across the state during a mandatory mock poll in Jorhat on Tuesday. Every time a button was pressed, the vote went in favour of BJP.
Has Modi moderated?
Ashutosh Varshney in his article in Indian Express (Modi the Moderate) writes that “Modi may not have Vajpayee’s style but, substantively, his campaign over the last few months shows roughly similar traits.” Varshney gives instances of Modi paying tribute to Maulana Azad in one of his election speeches; stitching alliances with the dalit parties, including with those who fought against him and finally, Modi pointed out in one of election speeches that Haj quota from Gujarat was full whereas quotas from Bihar and UP could not be filled as Muslims were backward as compared to Gujarat. In all the three instances cited, Varshney claims that Modi’s campaign has departed wholly or very substantially from the tenets of Hindu nationalism. There are two issues here – whether the three instances cited amounts to departing from Hindu nationalist position; and second, if it does, is it merely an election strategy or a substantial ideological repositioning on part of Modi?
A section of liberals hope that responsibility of governing a nation as diverse as India would require the Hindu nationalist party to moderate its stand and politically shift towards the centre without which it cannot be governed. Varshney implies that compulsions of running a coalition government moderated Vajpayee and the BJP. However, others debunk such hopes as Hindu nationalists’ approach towards state is instrumentalist – using the state apparatus to reconstitute and re-imagine India and the Hindus as a homogenous nation, gradually obliterating the cultural diversity and liberal democratic values and in the process reconstitute the state itself as an authoritarian-cultural state – Hindu Rashtra. To achieve the goal of homogeneity in a highly diverse society with entrenched caste hierarchies; religious, ethnic, linguistic and regional diversities, it is necessary to reconstruct and inculcate and foster common cultural patterns within the populace and reshape attitudes and inculcate conformist behaviour using educational institutions, mass media and bureaucracy, particularly security forces. State power enables to wield substantial influence over all the three sectors.
Media and Educational institutions are used as soft power to achieve the objective of progressive homogenisation or cultural assimilation. Intolerance of diversity and use (or rather misuse) of security forces and authoritarian non-state actors to attack manifestations of diversity constitutes hard power. Minorities being most vulnerable get attacked more violently and frequently as they are most likely to resist homogenization on the turf of family laws, their dietary habits, celebrations of their religious festivals, etc. Diversity located within the religious minorities is problematized as instance of existence of separatist mentality within them posing a security threat to the “Hindu nation”. The soft power (media and educational institutions) and hard power (security forces and the bureaucracy) is further deployed to stigmatize the minorities as baby boomers, illegal immigrants (or rather, infiltrators) from Bangladesh, terrorists, temple demolishers and Hindu culture destroyers while Muslim rulers ruled India and coercive religious converters. Through soft power and hard power, they also try to legitimize the idea of seeking revenge from the present generation for the alleged misconducts of the past generation of the religious minorities.
However, it is not only the religious minorities that resist homogenization. Resistance to homogenisation can be located in various sections, including among people belonging to lower and middle castes, people from backward and marginalized regions, women, adivasis, sexual minorities, and other dissenting sections.
Vajpayee’s political compulsions:
Due to coalition compulsions, during Vajpayee’s regime, the BJP thought it best not to take up some issues on which the Hindu nationalists are usually vocal like the uniform civil code and construction of Ramjanmabhoomi temple in place of demolished Babri Masjid and repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution which gives some degree of autonomy to J & K State. Not pursuing these divisive agendas was not out of change of their political programme but because they did not have the necessary numbers in the Parliament to push them. Yet they used the state to pursue their progressive homogenization project.
Murli Manohar Joshi as the HRD minister appointed J S Rajput as Director of NCERT who withdrew History books written by eminent Historians and communalized the History books, appointed Hindu nationalist cadres in various posts and distributed grants accordingly. MM Joshi introduced astrology as a subject at university level and a course to train Hindu priests. Gujarat (and Rajasthan when Vasundhara Raje was in power in her first term as a CM) text books eulogized the efficiency of Hitler’s government without mentioning about the pogrom against the Jews. It is during Vajpayee’s regime that the 2002 Gujarat riots were executed and the “liberal” Vajpayee echoed Narendra Modi’s action-reaction explanation of riots by posing the question, ‘but who burnt the s-6 compartment of Sabarmati Express in Godhra?’
It is during Vajpayee’s regime that attacks on Christians were mounted on a large scale since the year 1998, including in the Dangs District of Gujarat and in Jhabua Dist (Madhya Pradesh). The response was not succour and compensation to the survivors of the attack, nor bringing the guilty to justice, but Vajpayee demanding that there should be a debate on conversions. The Hindu nationalist cadres receive shot in the arm when BJP is in power, they are patronised by those in power and state resources are made available to them. They become bolder and less accountable to law. The attack on Prof. SS Thakur in Khandwa alleged by ABVP cadres, the former ABVP activist from Indore - Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s alleged involvement in planting bombs in Malegaon in 2008 and many other places, are a few examples. Getting Hindu nationalists recruited into the bureaucracy and giving them strategic postings to carry on with their agenda through the state machinery is another activity that goes on even when they cannot pursue their core agenda.
Departing from the tenets of Hindu nationalism?
After a series of election petitions before Bombay High Court which successfully challenged the election of Shiv Sena and BJP MLAs for canvassing for votes in the name of their religion and promoting ill-will animosity or hatred. These challenges were to elections held in 1995 for Maharashtra Assembly. After these challenges, the communal parties stopped publicly canvassing for votes in the name of religion or propagating hatred, ill-will or animosity through any means. No party should be judged for its communal agenda based only on election time propaganda. But their communal message is coded. The candidates, their election agents and political parties appear secular publicly. However, other organizations associated with communal parties rake up communally polarizing issues. Amit Shah was sent to UP as in-charge of the BJP. He visited Ayodhya Ramjanmabhoomi temple for media purposes and through media he conveyed to the people that he prayed for a grand Ramjanmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. VHP then wanted to undertake chauryasikosi parikrama for politically polarizing UP. When that failed, Jat Mahapanchayat was organized and communal riots were fomented. Modi did not condemn any of these and his man Friday was directly associated with them. Can we still say that Modi has departed from the tenets of Hindu nationalism? Modi himself answered the questions by saying that he was born Hindu and he is a nationalist (and therefore a Hindu nationalist). If the appeal of Hindu nationalism was sufficient to bring BJP to power, the party would have only banked on its ideological appeal. Hindu nationalism is BJP’s core ideology and it deploys the ideology to galvanize its cadres and to appeal to the limited constituency which gets mobilized based on the ideology. BJP, as do other front organizations of the RSS, constantly work to increase the constituency and expand its influence. However, during elections it is compelled to go beyond this limited constituency and without departing, mobilize others on anti-Congressism, posturing and muscle flexing against Pakistan, and campaign on development to attract 35% young voters.
Anti-Congressism of BJP is not premised to deepen democracy and democratic institutions and increase accountability of the state. Anti-Congressism of the BJP is premised on two aspects - Italian origin of its President (constant attack on the first family of the Party on account of its charismatic appeal to the Party members) and for inclusive (though not inclusive enough) programmes for minorities, which it chooses to call minority appeasement. Anti-Congressism of the BJP is itself premised on its Hindu nationalism. Constant muscle flexing against Pakistan and demonizing it too is political programme of Hindu Nationalism. Posturing against Pakistan enables the Hindu nationalists to present the Muslim community as suspected fifth columnists and ISI agents. Let us not forget that Modi’s first election as Chief Minister of Gujarat was fought “against” Mian Musharraf!
The agenda of development is hyped through advertising techniques. It is only the corporate world and crony capitalists that see opportunities opening up for them to drastically scale up their profits without the ordinary citizen of the country benefitting, particularly the marginal peasants, workers, dalits and adivasis. There is no mention of distributive justice in the fruits of development. Therefore adding agendas during election time should not be read as departing substantively from Hindu nationalism. Tiger can never change its stripes!
RSS and Modi:
Modi’s Prime Ministerial Candidature of the BJP was resisted by its most respected leader – L K Advani. Sushma Swaraj, Shatrughan Sinha and Yashwant Singh too did not participate in the meeting which nominated Modi as BJP’s PM candidate. Subsequently, Advani, Rajnath Singh and others visited RSS head quarters in Nagpur and they had to accept Modi. Modi is not only BJP’s candidate for the post of PM, he is also RSS approved candidate. RSS is committed to Hindu nationalism as its creed. Surely, RSS did not approve of Modi’s candidature in order to substantially or even marginally deviate from their goal of Hindu nationalism. RSS has invested hundreds of its cadres belonging to the other parivar organization for election campaign of Modi to precisely achieve their goal. Should Modi decide to deviate from that, RSS would withdraw its talented and dedicated cadres from electioneering. The fact that Modi expresses no remorse for the 2002 riots in Gujarat during his Chief Ministership indicates how far he is departing from the agenda of Hindu nationalism.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/gujarat-architect-dissuading-people-in-varanasi-to-vote-for-modi/461890-37-64.html