Monday, October 12, 2015

Re:[IAC#RG]

Long back, while bidding good bye after the 10 the exams, some body wrote 
in my autograph: try to forget me, that is the best way to ensure that you remember me!

Seema Mustafa has proved the truism in those words by nicely listing the stereotypes! 
Thank God, she used the word stereotype before introducing the list other wise many 
gullible people would have got carried away by that list also. Personally, I find the list is 
not of stereotypes but there is some truth and some exaggeration. 

1. Muslims in India are NOT a monolith, so the  'hence dangerous' does not apply. 
But there is some truth in the perception that they get swayed more readily by 
what their religious leaders say. One visible proof is the growing number of girls 
moving  around in purdah! I haven't seen a single photo of Benazir Bhutto or Begum 
Ahmad in burkhas. So I know that the Koran is not at the root of this use of burkha.

2. 'At best they are of two types: the APJ Abdul Kalam variety or the Dawood Ibrahim kind!' 
What a joke! Anyhow thank God, again, Seema has listed two varieties. But I know when 
Hindus try to defend their faith they are flatly termed Hindu fanatic!

3. 'They are influenced greatly by the extremist politics of the terror groups in Pakistan and West Asia;'. 
I believe there is a lot of truth in this! Many reports have appeared, at least in the media in kerala, which
makes me feel this is true! Other wise why should young men from in a fully literate state chop off the hand
of a professor who had used the paragraph of a text written by a muslim in an exam paper and some
 'fringe' elements found it offensive? Mind you it was purely a crime committed in the name of religious emotions!

4. 'They are growing rapidly and pose a challenge to the stability of India;'- Isn't the 1st part true? 
And isn't it also true that in J&K, where they are a majority, there is total instability? So how can you blame 
those who interpolate information and come to certain conclusions?

5. 'They work against the cultural ethos of India, as they eat beef, take away our daughters, 
are aggressive in following their religion, and hence a threat to Hinduism.' Yes, I have reason to 
believe that there is more truth in this than one would normally accept. Do you now that in Kerala 
while the official three language formula is implemented from the 5th  standard, Arabic is taught 
even in lower primary classes? The issue can be evaluated seriously only when one understands that 
neither Hindi nor Sanskrit is taught in these classes!

Having, expressed my views as above, I need to conclude by asking: why is it that we still do not have a 
uniform civil code through out the nation, including J&K? Religion, being a personal choice, 
shouldn't it be left purely in the personal domain?

ravi

On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com> wrote:

THE RSS/BJP MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS IN INDIA TODAY

SEEMA MUSTAFA Wednesday, September 30, 2015

NEW DELHI: It was a systematic communal campaign in Dadri, that precedes acts of violence always. First a calf was reported missing, and a campaign unleashed that basically spread rumours linking the calf to eating beef. When the tension reached prescribed levels, a temple in Dadri announced that a particular family--- Muslims of course--- was eating, after keeping, beef in their home. And barely before the echo of the announcement had subsided, a mob attacked the house of Mohammad Akhlaq, in the village in Dadri, pulled him out and beat him to death with bricks. His 22 year old son was also attacked, and is presently battling for his life in a hospital. The mob attacked their grandmother, and tried to molest the women in the house. The family is completely traumatised, terrified and currently praying for the young son's life. 

In terms of numbers, always very important for a statistic obsessed government, only one man has died so far. But in terms of impact, the incident has rung alarm bells across the country being reported in the global media at some length. And as the Muzaffarnagar violence at the time of the last Lok Sabha elections had shown, corroborated by subsequent communal incidents, the new strategy of those seeking to divide India on communal lines is to minimise deaths, but to exaggerate impact. Be it in the form of large scale displacement of the minorities, or widespread fear. 

In the Dadri attack the intention was not displacement, but to generate fear, to terrify. Hence the singling out of the one family, and the brutal attack where Akhlaq was killed without mercy. Do not eat beef is the ostensible message. The real message is: you are second class citizens, so you will do what you are told in India. 

So what are Muslims being told in India? But before that the stereotype which is fed by an ignorant, complicit media; goes largely unchallenged by the so called regional parties as they neither have the cadres nor the organisation to do little more than listen; and that is slowly being injected as a poisonous venom into society at every available opportunity, borrowing also from the US led campaign against Muslims across the world. 

1. Muslims in India are a monolith and hence dangerous; 

2. At best they are of two types: the APJ Abdul Kalam variety or the Dawood Ibrahim kind. And the second are in the majority, hence have to be hunted out before they hurt others; 

3. They are influenced greatly by the extremist politics of the terror groups in Pakistan and West Asia; 

4. They are growing rapidly and pose a challenge to the stability of India; 

5. They work against the cultural ethos of India, as they eat beef, take away our daughters, are aggressive in following their religion, and hence a threat to Hinduism; 

In this discourse there is no room for the reality. That Muslims are not a monolith, and are as culturally different as all other Indians; that they are largely liberal, even if they are religious as are non-Muslims in India; that they have shunned extremist politics to a point where they vote always for the secular option and not for the kinds of Owaisi, or the Jamaat e Islami in elections; that they have done nothing, repeat nothing, to be branded anti-national; that they too do not eat beef, and are secular and Indian as the last Indian. 

And hence through the systematic, crafted, manipulated communal incidents come the many messages. Muslims are being told very deliberately, and through violence: 

1. Do not marry outside your religion. The entire 'love jihad' campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh in particular by the RSS affiliates was directed at invoking terror through deliberate attacks on Hindu-Muslim couples, and on the families of the Muslim young people so involved, making it clear that this will not be tolerated; 

2. Do not eat meat or beef. The central government itself passed an order against the export of beef. The Maharashtra government has gone many steps further. This should have been a message to all Indians, but through the campaign and now Akhlaq's murder it has been demonstrated that the defaulters are Muslims. Hence Muslims must follow the food code or suffer the consequences, as posts on the social media by self-acknowledged Hindutva acolytes profess in language that is abusive and vitriolic. 

3. Do not live in cosmopolitan colonies, move into ghettos. Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi have managed to make this a rule with most of Gujarat covered, and other cities and states following. Muslims do not easily get rented accommodation in these cities, and are also not allowed to buy property easily by the residents associations. 

4. Do not become too successful economically. The communal violence has been increasingly targeting Muslim businessmen, with shops being specifically targeted.In fact the Congress government in Maharashtra also fed into this by unleashing a wave of terror against Muslim professionals, many of whom were arrested on suspicion of having "terror links.' While some were released after months and years, there are many languishing in jail for crimes that local lawyers have described as concocted. 

5. And speak only when you are asked to, actually not at all. This is the message coming out of a major attack on Muslim writers, academics, intelligentsia on the social media where trolls describing themselves as bhakts of PM Narendra Modi, Hindutva acolytes and carrying profile pictures of angry gods literally abuse and threaten any one writing under a Muslim name, questioning their patriotism, their religion and their identity. In fact Muslims are repeatedly reminded when they share in democratic debate, that they should remember how other countries ---Pakistan for instance---treats its minorities, and should thus follow a path of caution. 

The campaign is virulent and relentless. And political parties in states going to the polls in particular are now feeling this pressure and reacting to it in some cases. In UP, Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi party became bystanders during, before and after the Muzaffarnagar violence, doing little to counter the campaign of divisiveness unleashed by the BJP and the affiliates at the time. In Bihar, Janata Dal(U) leaders have taken cognisance of what MP Pavan Varma described to this writer, as a virulent communal campaign by the RSS and the BJP to consolidate the majority vote, and are trying to combat it. As Varma said, "RSS cadres have fanned into the districts and are working systematically to create a divide." He was optimistic, however, they would not succeed in Bihar as they had in UP, maintaining that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is alive to this and keeping a close watch.


--
Seema Mustafa

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in



--
Veteran Major P M Ravindran
 
You may also like to visit:
'Judiciary Watch' at www.vigilonline.com 
Posted by at No comments:

Re:[IAC#RG]

I find the usage of APJ Kalam and Dawood Ibrahim by Ms. Mustafa to be
spot on when it comes to stereo-typing Muslims by majoritarian
fanatics, and very tongue-in-cheek because its an open secret that US
sponsored rogues like BJP and AAP love APJK because he systematically
destroyed India's munitions and ordnance industry with his
incompetence (and promotion of incompetents), and it is a toss-up
between who has damaged India more - APJK or Dawood.

PS: What were the alternatives - Irfan Pathan versus Sania Mirza ?

Sarbajit

On 10/12/15, Gaur J K <gaurjk@hotmail.com> wrote:
> 12/10/15
> Where is the civil society today? It is totally fragmented. It is
> ideologically divided on religious and political affiliations.Members of
> political parties have to toe the party line-whether it is Congress or BJP
> or other regional parties including communists who are neither a national
> party nor a regional party. Similarly people are polarised on religious
> beliefs.Yet the fight against crime and injustice has to go on.
> Unfortunately even the legal system is not helpful in securing speedy and
> swift justice.I feel the use of ex-president Kalam alongwith D. Ibrahim is
> most inappropriate. Calling him a technocrat or anti-congress or without
> family strings is belittling his contribution to this country and humanity
> at large.RegdsJKGaur
>
> Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2015 22:04:14 +0530
> From: kiranshaheen@gmail.com
> To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net
> Subject: Re:[IAC#RG]
>
> Agree with KN. Given the Dadri killing today we held a protest march at
> Jantar Mantar, good presence yet even the progressive middle class except
> the activist section was absent. Another problem is that the creative
> sections of the civil society is hardly seen on the ground and very much
> satisfied with glass house discussions.
> Kiran ShaheenFIND WHAT YOU LOVE AND LET IT KILL YOU - Bukovski
>
>
>
> On 2 October 2015 at 10:19, Kn Panikkar <knpanikkar@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Seema,I read your excellent piece. The question is what the secular
> forces are going to do about it? Is n't it time that some major initiative
> is taken by the civil society? The situation seems to be gettinmg out of
> control.KNPanikkar
> On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> POLITICSBORDEROPINIONSOUTH ASIAWORLDGENDERYOUNG CITIZENLIFETHU, OCT 1,
> 2015THE RSS/BJP MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS IN INDIA TODAYSEEMA MUSTAFA Wednesday,
> September 30, 2015NEW DELHI: It was a systematic communal campaign in Dadri,
> that precedes acts of violence always. First a calf was reported missing,
> and a campaign unleashed that basically spread rumours linking the calf to
> eating beef. When the tension reached prescribed levels, a temple in Dadri
> announced that a particular family--- Muslims of course--- was eating, after
> keeping, beef in their home. And barely before the echo of the announcement
> had subsided, a mob attacked the house of Mohammad Akhlaq, in the village in
> Dadri, pulled him out and beat him to death with bricks. His 22 year old son
> was also attacked, and is presently battling for his life in a hospital. The
> mob attacked their grandmother, and tried to molest the women in the house.
> The family is completely traumatised, terrified and currently praying for
> the young son's life.
>
> In terms of numbers, always very important for a statistic obsessed
> government, only one man has died so far. But in terms of impact, the
> incident has rung alarm bells across the country being reported in the
> global media at some length. And as the Muzaffarnagar violence at the time
> of the last Lok Sabha elections had shown, corroborated by subsequent
> communal incidents, the new strategy of those seeking to divide India on
> communal lines is to minimise deaths, but to exaggerate impact. Be it in the
> form of large scale displacement of the minorities, or widespread fear.
>
> In the Dadri attack the intention was not displacement, but to generate
> fear, to terrify. Hence the singling out of the one family, and the brutal
> attack where Akhlaq was killed without mercy. Do not eat beef is the
> ostensible message. The real message is: you are second class citizens, so
> you will do what you are told in India.
>
> So what are Muslims being told in India? But before that the stereotype
> which is fed by an ignorant, complicit media; goes largely unchallenged by
> the so called regional parties as they neither have the cadres nor the
> organisation to do little more than listen; and that is slowly being
> injected as a poisonous venom into society at every available opportunity,
> borrowing also from the US led campaign against Muslims across the world.
>
> 1. Muslims in India are a monolith and hence dangerous;
>
> 2. At best they are of two types: the APJ Abdul Kalam variety or the Dawood
> Ibrahim kind. And the second are in the majority, hence have to be hunted
> out before they hurt others;
>
> 3. They are influenced greatly by the extremist politics of the terror
> groups in Pakistan and West Asia;
>
> 4. They are growing rapidly and pose a challenge to the stability of India;
>
>
> 5. They work against the cultural ethos of India, as they eat beef, take
> away our daughters, are aggressive in following their religion, and hence a
> threat to Hinduism;
>
> In this discourse there is no room for the reality. That Muslims are not a
> monolith, and are as culturally different as all other Indians; that they
> are largely liberal, even if they are religious as are non-Muslims in India;
> that they have shunned extremist politics to a point where they vote always
> for the secular option and not for the kinds of Owaisi, or the Jamaat e
> Islami in elections; that they have done nothing, repeat nothing, to be
> branded anti-national; that they too do not eat beef, and are secular and
> Indian as the last Indian.
>
> And hence through the systematic, crafted, manipulated communal incidents
> come the many messages. Muslims are being told very deliberately, and
> through violence:
>
> 1. Do not marry outside your religion. The entire 'love jihad' campaign
> launched in Uttar Pradesh in particular by the RSS affiliates was directed
> at invoking terror through deliberate attacks on Hindu-Muslim couples, and
> on the families of the Muslim young people so involved, making it clear that
> this will not be tolerated;
>
> 2. Do not eat meat or beef. The central government itself passed an order
> against the export of beef. The Maharashtra government has gone many steps
> further. This should have been a message to all Indians, but through the
> campaign and now Akhlaq's murder it has been demonstrated that the
> defaulters are Muslims. Hence Muslims must follow the food code or suffer
> the consequences, as posts on the social media by self-acknowledged Hindutva
> acolytes profess in language that is abusive and vitriolic.
>
> 3. Do not live in cosmopolitan colonies, move into ghettos. Mumbai,
> Ahmedabad, Delhi have managed to make this a rule with most of Gujarat
> covered, and other cities and states following. Muslims do not easily get
> rented accommodation in these cities, and are also not allowed to buy
> property easily by the residents associations.
>
> 4. Do not become too successful economically. The communal violence has been
> increasingly targeting Muslim businessmen, with shops being specifically
> targeted.In fact the Congress government in Maharashtra also fed into this
> by unleashing a wave of terror against Muslim professionals, many of whom
> were arrested on suspicion of having "terror links.' While some were
> released after months and years, there are many languishing in jail for
> crimes that local lawyers have described as concocted.
>
> 5. And speak only when you are asked to, actually not at all. This is the
> message coming out of a major attack on Muslim writers, academics,
> intelligentsia on the social media where trolls describing themselves as
> bhakts of PM Narendra Modi, Hindutva acolytes and carrying profile pictures
> of angry gods literally abuse and threaten any one writing under a Muslim
> name, questioning their patriotism, their religion and their identity. In
> fact Muslims are repeatedly reminded when they share in democratic debate,
> that they should remember how other countries ---Pakistan for
> instance---treats its minorities, and should thus follow a path of caution.
>
>
> The campaign is virulent and relentless. And political parties in states
> going to the polls in particular are now feeling this pressure and reacting
> to it in some cases. In UP, Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi party became
> bystanders during, before and after the Muzaffarnagar violence, doing little
> to counter the campaign of divisiveness unleashed by the BJP and the
> affiliates at the time. In Bihar, Janata Dal(U) leaders have taken
> cognisance of what MP Pavan Varma described to this writer, as a virulent
> communal campaign by the RSS and the BJP to consolidate the majority vote,
> and are trying to combat it. As Varma said, "RSS cadres have fanned into the
> districts and are working systematically to create a divide." He was
> optimistic, however, they would not succeed in Bihar as they had in UP,
> maintaining that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is alive to this and keeping a
> close watch.
> --
> Seema Mustafathecitizen.in
>
>
> Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
>
> Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
>
> Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
>
> Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
>
> WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in
>
>
>
> Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
>
> Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
>
> Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
>
> Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
>
> WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in
>
>
>
> Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
> Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
> Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
> Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
> WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in
Posted by at No comments:

[IAC#RG] Fwd:

Dear Seema,
                    I've gone through your write up indicating a sense of concern including the comments made by a few individuals. While each one has voiced his concern about the communal situation being worrisome and shameful,no one,I am afraid,has touched the root cause of the problem. There is a talk of growing religious intolerance in society. Let me say this with a firm sense of conviction that society at large is all secular. Only a few limited ones from all denominations/religions who might not be so don't really matter much as they cannot influence anything against the wishes of a large majority with a secular thought. What in fact happens is something entirely different.
Come election time and all the political parties start shouting from the roof tops to polarise the society on communal lines in an effort to convert them into vote banks for electoral gains thereby creating religious fault lines. These fault lines are very cleverly manipulated and used to its advantage by each political party. In this respect there is no political party which can be termed as secular. It is a fallacy in the minds of the gullible to have categorised parties as secular or communal. In fact all political parties are unscrupulous in capitalising on the fault lines created by them between communities.
Politics in India has never been issue based. For deriving electoral gains parties use cast, regional or religious sentiments. Unsocial elements are patronised with money and muscle power. To destabilise governments law and order problems are created by providing support to disruptive individuals.
Orchestrators of such incidents irrespective of which party they belong to walk hand in hand showing great bonhomie as if nothing had happened. They only pretend to blame each other in the electronic and print media.
An other fall out of the fault lines created between communities gives rise to certain disgruntled/fringe elements who are extremely vulnerable for being used and misused for violence and terror activities by certain forces especially like Pakistan which are inimical to the interests of India. 
Two suggestions, therefore need to be seriously considered :-
1.A movement by civil society and the fourth estate to impress upon the political parties to shun vote bank politics involving cast,region or religion and in stead indulge in issue based politics. Media to my mind  can play a big role in this endeavour. It is just as well that you form part of the media too.Issues pertaining to cast and religion can be handled by a council comprising members from all parties without giving it a political colour.
2. Whenever untoward incidents like terrorist attacks,hostile,insulting or demeaning activities by a particular community occur,it should be vehemently condemned and opposed by the silent liberal majority of that community involved.



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com>
Date: 2 October 2015 at 00:17:29 GMT-5
To: Kn Panikkar <knpanikkar@gmail.com>
Cc: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net" <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net>
Subject: Re:[IAC#RG]
Reply-To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net

Thanks a lot!
I agree, and while everyone is working here full time trying to do something, it is clearly not going to be enough.
We need political parties to take a lead, and civil society to follow for a really proper counter which is unfortunately not happening. Civi Society alone is too fragmented...although now there is a lot of work going on.
Lets see what happens after Bihar...
Warm regards 
Seema

On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 10:42 AM, Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you. Of course I know that, and guess thats what gives us some hope.



On Fri, Oct 2, 2015 at 1:00 AM, ashok kumar <indiaresists@lists.riseup.net> wrote:
Seems Mustafa , kudos to you for bringing it all out so lucidly.                                                    Like all Muslims in India are not "Dawood " variety , all Hindus aren't  hardcore hindutva fundamentalists either. And this I say as a proud , practising Hindu from the heartland , U.P.  Please rest assured that I don't represent the minority but the majority amongst Hindus though we may  have differing  eating preference or praying methodology than yours. So what ? You are as much an Indian as    me or any Sikh , Christian  or a Parsi  etc.  Every Dadri or Muzaffar Nagar shames and saddens us as much . It  also alarms us as much. I don't have  the gift which the Almighty has blessed you with , to express my feelings adequately in words. Hope you understand my pain , anguish and sorrow .           Ashok  Kumar.
From: Seema Mustafa
Sent: ‎01/‎10/‎2015 22:36
To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net
Subject: [IAC#RG]

THE RSS/BJP MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS IN INDIA TODAY

SEEMA MUSTAFA Wednesday, September 30, 2015

NEW DELHI: It was a systematic communal campaign in Dadri, that precedes acts of violence always. First a calf was reported missing, and a campaign unleashed that basically spread rumours linking the calf to eating beef. When the tension reached prescribed levels, a temple in Dadri announced that a particular family--- Muslims of course--- was eating, after keeping, beef in their home. And barely before the echo of the announcement had subsided, a mob attacked the house of Mohammad Akhlaq, in the village in Dadri, pulled him out and beat him to death with bricks. His 22 year old son was also attacked, and is presently battling for his life in a hospital. The mob attacked their grandmother, and tried to molest the women in the house. The family is completely traumatised, terrified and currently praying for the young son's life. 

In terms of numbers, always very important for a statistic obsessed government, only one man has died so far. But in terms of impact, the incident has rung alarm bells across the country being reported in the global media at some length. And as the Muzaffarnagar violence at the time of the last Lok Sabha elections had shown, corroborated by subsequent communal incidents, the new strategy of those seeking to divide India on communal lines is to minimise deaths, but to exaggerate impact. Be it in the form of large scale displacement of the minorities, or widespread fear. 

In the Dadri attack the intention was not displacement, but to generate fear, to terrify. Hence the singling out of the one family, and the brutal attack where Akhlaq was killed without mercy. Do not eat beef is the ostensible message. The real message is: you are second class citizens, so you will do what you are told in India. 

So what are Muslims being told in India? But before that the stereotype which is fed by an ignorant, complicit media; goes largely unchallenged by the so called regional parties as they neither have the cadres nor the organisation to do little more than listen; and that is slowly being injected as a poisonous venom into society at every available opportunity, borrowing also from the US led campaign against Muslims across the world. 

1. Muslims in India are a monolith and hence dangerous; 

2. At best they are of two types: the APJ Abdul Kalam variety or the Dawood Ibrahim kind. And the second are in the majority, hence have to be hunted out before they hurt others; 

3. They are influenced greatly by the extremist politics of the terror groups in Pakistan and West Asia; 

4. They are growing rapidly and pose a challenge to the stability of India; 

5. They work against the cultural ethos of India, as they eat beef, take away our daughters, are aggressive in following their religion, and hence a threat to Hinduism; 

In this discourse there is no room for the reality. That Muslims are not a monolith, and are as culturally different as all other Indians; that they are largely liberal, even if they are religious as are non-Muslims in India; that they have shunned extremist politics to a point where they vote always for the secular option and not for the kinds of Owaisi, or the Jamaat e Islami in elections; that they have done nothing, repeat nothing, to be branded anti-national; that they too do not eat beef, and are secular and Indian as the last Indian. 

And hence through the systematic, crafted, manipulated communal incidents come the many messages. Muslims are being told very deliberately, and through violence: 

1. Do not marry outside your religion. The entire 'love jihad' campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh in particular by the RSS affiliates was directed at invoking terror through deliberate attacks on Hindu-Muslim couples, and on the families of the Muslim young people so involved, making it clear that this will not be tolerated; 

2. Do not eat meat or beef. The central government itself passed an order against the export of beef. The Maharashtra government has gone many steps further. This should have been a message to all Indians, but through the campaign and now Akhlaq's murder it has been demonstrated that the defaulters are Muslims. Hence Muslims must follow the food code or suffer the consequences, as posts on the social media by self-acknowledged Hindutva acolytes profess in language that is abusive and vitriolic. 

3. Do not live in cosmopolitan colonies, move into ghettos. Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi have managed to make this a rule with most of Gujarat covered, and other cities and states following. Muslims do not easily get rented accommodation in these cities, and are also not allowed to buy property easily by the residents associations. 

4. Do not become too successful economically. The communal violence has been increasingly targeting Muslim businessmen, with shops being specifically targeted.In fact the Congress government in Maharashtra also fed into this by unleashing a wave of terror against Muslim professionals, many of whom were arrested on suspicion of having "terror links.' While some were released after months and years, there are many languishing in jail for crimes that local lawyers have described as concocted. 

5. And speak only when you are asked to, actually not at all. This is the message coming out of a major attack on Muslim writers, academics, intelligentsia on the social media where trolls describing themselves as bhakts of PM Narendra Modi, Hindutva acolytes and carrying profile pictures of angry gods literally abuse and threaten any one writing under a Muslim name, questioning their patriotism, their religion and their identity. In fact Muslims are repeatedly reminded when they share in democratic debate, that they should remember how other countries ---Pakistan for instance---treats its minorities, and should thus follow a path of caution. 

The campaign is virulent and relentless. And political parties in states going to the polls in particular are now feeling this pressure and re


[The entire original message is not included.]

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in



--
Seema Mustafa



--
Seema Mustafa
Posted by at No comments:

RE:[IAC#RG]

12/10/15

Where is the civil society today? It is totally fragmented. It is ideologically divided on religious and political affiliations.
Members of political parties have to toe the party line-whether it is Congress or BJP or other regional parties including communists who are neither a national party nor a regional party. Similarly people are polarised on religious beliefs.
Yet the fight against crime and injustice has to go on. Unfortunately even the legal system is not helpful in securing speedy and swift justice.
I feel the use of ex-president Kalam alongwith D. Ibrahim is most inappropriate. Calling him a technocrat or anti-congress or without family strings is belittling his contribution to this country and humanity at large.
Regds
JKGaur

Date: Fri, 2 Oct 2015 22:04:14 +0530
From: kiranshaheen@gmail.com
To: indiaresists@lists.riseup.net
Subject: Re:[IAC#RG]

Agree with KN. Given the Dadri killing today we held a protest march at Jantar Mantar, good presence yet even the progressive middle class except the activist section was absent. 
Another problem is that the creative sections of the civil society is hardly seen on the ground and very much satisfied with glass house discussions. 
 


 Kiran Shaheen
FIND WHAT YOU LOVE AND LET IT KILL YOU - Bukovski


                    

On 2 October 2015 at 10:19, Kn Panikkar <knpanikkar@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Seema,
I read your excellent piece. The question is what the secular forces  are going to do about it? Is n't it time that some major initiative is taken by the civil society? The situation seems to be gettinmg out of control.
KNPanikkar

On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Seema Mustafa <seemamustafa@gmail.com> wrote:

THE RSS/BJP MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS IN INDIA TODAY

SEEMA MUSTAFA Wednesday, September 30, 2015

NEW DELHI: It was a systematic communal campaign in Dadri, that precedes acts of violence always. First a calf was reported missing, and a campaign unleashed that basically spread rumours linking the calf to eating beef. When the tension reached prescribed levels, a temple in Dadri announced that a particular family--- Muslims of course--- was eating, after keeping, beef in their home. And barely before the echo of the announcement had subsided, a mob attacked the house of Mohammad Akhlaq, in the village in Dadri, pulled him out and beat him to death with bricks. His 22 year old son was also attacked, and is presently battling for his life in a hospital. The mob attacked their grandmother, and tried to molest the women in the house. The family is completely traumatised, terrified and currently praying for the young son's life. 

In terms of numbers, always very important for a statistic obsessed government, only one man has died so far. But in terms of impact, the incident has rung alarm bells across the country being reported in the global media at some length. And as the Muzaffarnagar violence at the time of the last Lok Sabha elections had shown, corroborated by subsequent communal incidents, the new strategy of those seeking to divide India on communal lines is to minimise deaths, but to exaggerate impact. Be it in the form of large scale displacement of the minorities, or widespread fear. 

In the Dadri attack the intention was not displacement, but to generate fear, to terrify. Hence the singling out of the one family, and the brutal attack where Akhlaq was killed without mercy. Do not eat beef is the ostensible message. The real message is: you are second class citizens, so you will do what you are told in India. 

So what are Muslims being told in India? But before that the stereotype which is fed by an ignorant, complicit media; goes largely unchallenged by the so called regional parties as they neither have the cadres nor the organisation to do little more than listen; and that is slowly being injected as a poisonous venom into society at every available opportunity, borrowing also from the US led campaign against Muslims across the world. 

1. Muslims in India are a monolith and hence dangerous; 

2. At best they are of two types: the APJ Abdul Kalam variety or the Dawood Ibrahim kind. And the second are in the majority, hence have to be hunted out before they hurt others; 

3. They are influenced greatly by the extremist politics of the terror groups in Pakistan and West Asia; 

4. They are growing rapidly and pose a challenge to the stability of India; 

5. They work against the cultural ethos of India, as they eat beef, take away our daughters, are aggressive in following their religion, and hence a threat to Hinduism; 

In this discourse there is no room for the reality. That Muslims are not a monolith, and are as culturally different as all other Indians; that they are largely liberal, even if they are religious as are non-Muslims in India; that they have shunned extremist politics to a point where they vote always for the secular option and not for the kinds of Owaisi, or the Jamaat e Islami in elections; that they have done nothing, repeat nothing, to be branded anti-national; that they too do not eat beef, and are secular and Indian as the last Indian. 

And hence through the systematic, crafted, manipulated communal incidents come the many messages. Muslims are being told very deliberately, and through violence: 

1. Do not marry outside your religion. The entire 'love jihad' campaign launched in Uttar Pradesh in particular by the RSS affiliates was directed at invoking terror through deliberate attacks on Hindu-Muslim couples, and on the families of the Muslim young people so involved, making it clear that this will not be tolerated; 

2. Do not eat meat or beef. The central government itself passed an order against the export of beef. The Maharashtra government has gone many steps further. This should have been a message to all Indians, but through the campaign and now Akhlaq's murder it has been demonstrated that the defaulters are Muslims. Hence Muslims must follow the food code or suffer the consequences, as posts on the social media by self-acknowledged Hindutva acolytes profess in language that is abusive and vitriolic. 

3. Do not live in cosmopolitan colonies, move into ghettos. Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi have managed to make this a rule with most of Gujarat covered, and other cities and states following. Muslims do not easily get rented accommodation in these cities, and are also not allowed to buy property easily by the residents associations. 

4. Do not become too successful economically. The communal violence has been increasingly targeting Muslim businessmen, with shops being specifically targeted.In fact the Congress government in Maharashtra also fed into this by unleashing a wave of terror against Muslim professionals, many of whom were arrested on suspicion of having "terror links.' While some were released after months and years, there are many languishing in jail for crimes that local lawyers have described as concocted. 

5. And speak only when you are asked to, actually not at all. This is the message coming out of a major attack on Muslim writers, academics, intelligentsia on the social media where trolls describing themselves as bhakts of PM Narendra Modi, Hindutva acolytes and carrying profile pictures of angry gods literally abuse and threaten any one writing under a Muslim name, questioning their patriotism, their religion and their identity. In fact Muslims are repeatedly reminded when they share in democratic debate, that they should remember how other countries ---Pakistan for instance---treats its minorities, and should thus follow a path of caution. 

The campaign is virulent and relentless. And political parties in states going to the polls in particular are now feeling this pressure and reacting to it in some cases. In UP, Mulayam Singh and the Samajwadi party became bystanders during, before and after the Muzaffarnagar violence, doing little to counter the campaign of divisiveness unleashed by the BJP and the affiliates at the time. In Bihar, Janata Dal(U) leaders have taken cognisance of what MP Pavan Varma described to this writer, as a virulent communal campaign by the RSS and the BJP to consolidate the majority vote, and are trying to combat it. As Varma said, "RSS cadres have fanned into the districts and are working systematically to create a divide." He was optimistic, however, they would not succeed in Bihar as they had in UP, maintaining that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is alive to this and keeping a close watch.


--
Seema Mustafa

Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in


Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net"
Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net"
Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists"
Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user
WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in


Post: "indiaresists@lists.riseup.net" Exit: "indiaresists-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net" Quit: "https://lists.riseup.net/www/signoff/indiaresists" Help: https://help.riseup.net/en/list-user WWW : http://indiaagainstcorruption.net.in
Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, October 11, 2015

[IAC#RG]

THE RTI ACT COMPLETES A DECADE BUT YET TO BE STRENGTHENED  

 

By Aires Rodrigues

 

The Right to Information Act which came into force on October 12th 2005 is now a decade old.  The Right to Information Act was enacted to ensure transparency and accountability in governance. But the manner in which the government is subtly subverting the Right to Information Act is a matter of concern.

 

A well informed citizenry, transparency, and free flow of information are the very foundations of any successful democratic society. India may be publicly acclaimed as the world's largest democracy but the ground reality is that we are now ebbing away as Democracy and non-transparency in the functioning of the Government cannot co-exist.

 

Besides freedom of speech without access to information is meaningless. Narendra Modi rode to power on his vow of 'Acche din' for the Aam Aadmi and Good governance. But it's almost 17 months in power and the Prime Minister has not uttered a word on the RTI Act, leave alone on strengthening it. His then enthusiasm for freedom has been waning away and we now have an emerging culture of surveillance and secrecy.  

 

As part of the ploy to subvert the RTI Act many of the Information Commissions across the country have been kept dysfunctional. Even those Information Commissioners appointed are 'pliable' retired government officials who have spent their entire career hiding information from public domain and cannot now be expected to bat for transparency in their post-retirement avatar.  

 

For the common man, getting correct and accurate information under the Right to Information Act is today becoming a far cry. It is no surprise that the Gujarat government recently even denied information sought by Narendra Modi's estranged wife Jasodhaben who was only seeking details of the police security provided to her.

 

As the Right to Information Act requires that the Information Commissioners have to be persons of Eminence in public life, Independent minded persons who do not succumb to political pulls and pressures need to be appointed as Information Commissioners to ensure the proper implementation of the Right to Information Act. If Yes-men manage to creep into as Information Commissioners it would be an exercise in futility ending up as white elephants that we would rather be better off without.

 

Under Section 4 of the RTI Act all public authorities are duty bound to regularly display on their website a wide range of information, including all relevant facts while formulating important policies or announcing the decisions which affect the public. This proviso in the law was enacted to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications. But this mandatory duty has been blatantly flouted by the authorities with most government websites themselves dysfunctional or not updated. What is the use of right to freedom of speech when the people do not have their rightful access to information?

 

The Judiciary needs to step in to ensure that the Government complies with the mandate of the Right to Information Act. But with the Courts themselves also averse to parting with information and with its functioning largely under a veil of secrecy, we are stonewalled.

 

But we need to battle it out and cannot allow the RTI Act to be choked by the government to a slow death. Steps need to be taken to strengthen the transparency regime that was sought to be established as envisaged by the RTI Act. Effective implementation of the RTI Act requires political commitment from the very top. Officals denying information or giving misleading and distorted information need to be severely penalized.

 

Governance by cloak of secrecy and opaqueness needs to be strongly resisted. It cannot be a hush-hush regime. We need to dismantle those walls of secrecy that continue to hound transparency and good governance despite the Right to Information Act now being in place for a decade. In those very words of Narendra Modi 'Sabko sanmati de bhagwan' (Let good sense prevail).


Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)