The Prime Minister is helpless in the face of ghar vapsi because it is the RSS and the RSS alone that has brought him to power: Swami Dr Thontadarya Siddalinga Swamy of Thontadarya Matt of Gadag,

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December 29, 2014

The Prime Minister is helpless in the face of ghar vapsi because it is the RSS and the RSS alone that has brought him to power: Swami Dr Thontadarya Siddalinga Swamy of Thontadarya  Matt of Gadag,

 
The insecurity faced by the poor and helpless, especially the minorities makes the call for Communal Harmony, Dialogue and Co-Existence the most vital need of the hour, said Dr Thontadarya Siddalinga Swamy of Thontadarya  Matt of Gadag, a progressive seer of the Lingayat tradition speaking  to Teesta Setalvad in an exclusive interview that took place at the sacred temple on the banks of the Krishna river

 

The Thontadarya matt seer has been the spirit behind the anti-Posco agitation since its genesis in the early 2000s in Karnataka. The head of a powerful matt in north Karnataka, Thontada Siddalinga Swami is also counted among the progressive Lingayat seers and has been associated with pro-people and anti-sectarian causes.

Today, Saturday, December 27, 2014, he was an inaugural speaker at the Fourth State Seminar and Celebration of Traditions of Cordial Co-existence by Different Communities organized by Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike  (Karnataka Communal Harmony Forum) at Tinthani in northern Karnataka, present there with over 500 delegates representing vast struggles and peoples organisations, along with Teesta Setalvad. December 27-28 is the birth date of Kuvempu who propagated the concept of Vishwa Manava Tatwa as against narrow minded communalism.

 

A second edition of the book, Tinthani Monappaiah- A Study by Dr MM Padashetty first released in 1982 will also be released.

 

Q. How and why do see as Communal Harmony the mort crucial need of the hour? Why is a Call for Harmony and Dialogue between all Indian Communities so crucial today?

 

A. We are facing unprecedented degrees and forms of aggression and violence, acts of terror; be it in Assam, Pakistan or through the ghar vapsi programmes being launched by the ruling party and its allies in India, which has generated deep fear and insecurity among the minorities. Ghar Vapsi is a deliberate attempt to create fear and an irritant to the minorities, it does not bode well for the social harmony of the country. If the Prime Minister is true about his claims to represent an agenda of ‘development’ then why is his party indulging in these acts which have nothing whatsoever do with development?

 

Q, If the Central Government was serious about its claims on representing an agenda of development, should not the Prime Minister be speaking out unequivocally against these provocations, this hate speech and ghar vapsi by BJP MPs, Ministers and organisations like the RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal?

 

A.  He is a helpless Prime Minister because it is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and RSS alone that has brought him to the forefront and ensured his becoming prime minister. He is helpless in the face off their agenda, which is the real agenda.

 

 

Q. So it is 89 years of the RSS’ existence, its struggle for a “Hindu” nation against the ideals of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution that is actually responsible for this majoritarian NDA II government and not the Modi magic?

 

A.  Absolutely. It is their work in the area of distortion of history, culture and education that is responsible for the political situation and the discourse today. And their apparent dominance and success. Akbar, with his broad humanistic vision is not remembered by them but the Ghaznis are; the wonderfully inclusive Sufi tradition is not celebrated nor the Basava tradition among Lingayats. Everywhere, among all communities casteism and the lure of money is attempting to control the dominant discourse.

 

Q. What is the significance of  this wonderful location by the river, the Tinthani Mouneshwara Kshetra in the Surapura Taluk of Yadagiri district of north Karnataka for communal harmony and co-existence?

 

A. We have inherited this tradition and it is the tradition of Basava, the Basava parampara which about 20 per cent of the Lingayat swamis actually follow. While 80 per cent of the other Swamis misuse and mis-quote Basava and are actually casteist in their practices.

 

This Swami sitting by my side is the Siddhalinga Swami Lambani trained at the Illikad math by the 84 year old Swami Dr Puja Mahsanteshwara Swami of Chittaragi-Illekal (the original math) who trained him. This was 14 years ago, in 2000. This step was opposed tooth and nail by casteist voices who even dragged us to Court to de-legitimise the Matt. We finally won the battle when advocate Nagappa of Raichur advised us that instead of Matt we should use the title of Anubhava Mantapa (Parliament of the Learned) for the Centre of Worship!!

 

This is the land of mutual co-existence and shared worship.  The Tinthani tradition is special. On the bank of the Krishna River, Avadhuta and Sufi traditions have intermingled here. The tradition of Monappayya’s Thintani known for Gaddige alias Moinuddin a renowned Sufi and Natha saint is alive among people. For centuries, there has been co-existence and sharing. The Murtaza Qadrisaheb Dargah on the highway was respected by the 15^th Math Swami of Illekal (Vijaya Math) and there was much intermingling and sharing of customs and beliefs.

 

There is another example of a Swami from the Scheduled Castes (not just a Banjara) being accepted after Swami Siddayyanakote trained him. Samagar Swami. Despite swift resistance in the beginning, when we stood upto the beliefs and principles of Basava, both Swamis have been accepted and are now even called to perform ritual; (path puja) at festivals and functions. Another example that if we are firm in our convictions, the world, even if wedded to injustice will come around. We will win the day.

 

Q. Has there been a lasting political or social impact of these traditions?

 

A. Political, not much. Casteism and the lure of money has ensured that. But socially we have made a lasting impact through an absence of Hindu-Muslim strife and a genuine sharing of social customs through a respect for each other’s spirituality.

 

Q. Should not religious heads of the major faiths, Hinduism and Islam be at the forefront to re-claim our traditions that have been appropriated by communalists/fascists and fundamentalists?

 

A.  This is imperative. I, we have been trying but have been only partially successful.

 

Q. As a spiritual head what is your message for the youth, who,we are told, is being attracted by consumerism and communalism?

 

A.  Though times are difficult and there appears to be darkness all around, our understanding and commitment to humanism is unflinching, an unwavering ray of light that cannot be turned off. It will shine through because it is the right path. We must convey this even to the youth.

 

 

Ek lak-Imsi Hazar Panchopeer Pygamber Mounuddin

Jithapeer Mounuddin Kashipathi Gangadhara Mahadeva

Monappayya is called Mounuddin gere. He is considered a Peer (Sufi) teacher. Monappayya songs have lines such as these:

Hindus and Muslims marched together

For Hindus and Muslims the self same Moon is there.

 

                                                                      

CJP Condemns Scurrilous Reportage

December 22, 2014
 

Press Release

 

The Citizens for Justice and Peace, Mumbai expresses outrage at the deliberate and vicious mis-reporting of the current witch hunt at the instances of the Gujarat Police Crime Branch and as scurrilously reported by dubious media channels like India TV, IBN7 and newspapers like the Pioneer with clear links to the ruling dispensation.

As states by us in repeated Press Statements since the lodging of the False FIR against two functionaries, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand as also three Survivors of the Gulberg Carnage of 2002 (Firoz Gulzar Pathan, Salim Sandhi and Tanveer Jafri), the statements recorded by the Crime Branch (from December 15-20, 2014) as a consequence of the Order of the Gujarat High Court dated December 5,2014 would in the normal course have been recorded after the grant of anticipatory bail by the courts. The application for ABA has been pending before the Gujarat High Court since April and the High Court has in fact given all five persons including the human rights defenders protection against arrest.

The channels mentioned above, who’s questionable journalism has extended to paid news benefitting certain interests have deliberately wrongly reported that we have been “charged’ with financial misconduct. A false and unsubstantiated FIR has not resulted in any “evidence” and every false allegation has been answered by us in detail.

 

As the statement released by CJP reproduced below shows, this is nothing short of a witchunt of an inquiry to stymie the struggle for justice for the Survivors of 2002. Malicious Lies statement by CJP can be read at http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?289781.

Another recent report may be read at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/
45526479.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Trustees:

I.M. Kadri, Nandan Maluste, Teesta Setalvad, Cyrus Guzder,  Alyque Padamsee, Anil Dharker, Shakuntala Kulkarni,  Javed Anand, Rahul Bose, Cedric Prakash

Also Read:
 

Allegations against Teesta Javed Baseless
http://www.cjponline.org/prelease/19junel14.htm

 

CJP Rebuts Malafide allegation
http://www.cjponline.org/prelease/21mar14.htm

 

Allegations Baseless
http://www.cjponline.org/prelease/12mar14.htm

Other Statements In Support can be read at www.cjponline.org  

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 http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?289781

 

 'Malicious Lies'

 

 'The Citizens for Justice and Peace strongly condemns and refutes the malicious lies being spread by advocate for the State of Gujarat Ajay Choksi in misleading the Court about the Citizens for Justice and Peace “cheating” victims of the riots'

 

Citizens for Justice and Peace

 

The Citizens for Justice and Peace strongly condemns and refutes the malicious lies being spread by advocate for the State of Gujarat Ajay Choksi in misleading the Court about the Citizens for Justice and Peace “cheating” victims of the riots.

The Secretary CJP Teesta Setalvad has filed a strong 41 page affidavit in rejoinder explaining point by point how baseless and malicious the allegations of the State are. The nexus of the Gujarat government headed by Narendra Modi, it’s Crime Branch headed by powerful policemen who have been collaborators of the regime since 2002 and Rais Khan Pathan a former employee of the Organisation who is being used as a proxy in this malicious war have also been exposed. Before this, too, Khan has been “aided” in his malicious efforts by senior legal functionaries who are politically in allegiance with the Gujarat government (in the Gujarat high Court and Supreme Court). He has now been cited as “witness” by the Crime Branch Ahmedabad in this false and malicious case. The timing of this “FIR” is revealing. A cooked up case has obviously been raked up to prevent an Appeal in the Smt Zakia Jafri v/s Narendra Modi Criminal Case. Shri Tanvir Jafri, son of Smt Zakia Jafri and the late Shri Ahsan Jafri has also been made a co-accused in the Criminal Complaint, a further sign of rank intimidation. Why is the Gujarat Government afraid of the higher Courts?

On behalf of herself and her husband Javed Anand, Teesta Setalvad has filed an affidavit in the Sessions Court in Ahmedabad, pointing out the gaping holes in the affidavit earlier filed by the crime branch of the Ahmedabad police in the same courts with bogus, false and mindless accusations against them for embezzling funds. Here below are some of the main points in the 41-page affidavit (attached with this press release) filed by her:

1. The full of falsehood affidavit of the crime branch is nothing short of intimidatory tactics with the ulterior motive of brow-beating the organizations with which she is associated with, and her and her husband personally, from pursuing the course of justice for the victims survivors of the 2002 carnage and punishment of the guilty, including those in high places. It may be noted, that directly as a result of our efforts, till date at least 117 accused have been convicted and given life imprisonment. This includes former BJP MLA and minister in Narendra Modi’s cabinet, Dr. Maya Kodnani.

2. The dubious intent of the crime branch among other things evident from the fact that they have deliberately concealed the fact in their affidavit that while the Ahmedabad-based accomplice of the crime branch, Rais Khan, a disgruntled ex-employee of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) till December 2007, was paid a total salary of Rs. 9,63,500, provided free housing and a vehicle, Teesta Setalvad (who functioned as chief executive) neither asked for, nor received a single rupee as salary from the organisation between April 2002 (when CJP was founded and December 2009 (nearly 8 years). Nor is there any mention of the fact that unlike Rais Khan, she neither asked for nor received any accommodation allowance.

3. With malicious intent, the crime branch has aggragated all the donations and grants received by CJP and Sabrang Trust and claimed that the entire amount was collected for the sole purpose of proposed Gulberg Memorial. The fact is that till date, while Sabrang Trust has in total received approximately Rs 4.5 lakh only earmarked by donors for the memorial, CJP did not receive a single rupee for the same.

4. It has been alleged that a total of around Rs. 2.62 crore was collected by Sabrang Trust between 10.4.2007 and 20.2.2014 for the museum. This is a blatant falsehood for two reasons. Firstly, a table contained in Teesta Setalvad’s affidavit where the purpose for which the foreign contributions were strictly to be used were clearly specified by the donors is clearly spelt out, it is evident that only around Rs. 4.5 lakh in all was earmarked by the donors for the Gulberg Memorial. This is easily established through the donors’ letters. Moreover, several of the donors have written to Sabrang Trust in the recent period, stating that in view of insufficient funds being received for the Gulberg memorial, Sabrang Trust is authorised to spend their donations on other activities. Secondly, it is also evident from the table that the total foreign contributions received by Sabrang Trust totaled around Rs. 1.33 crore and NOT Rs. 2.62 as falsely claimed by the crime branch. The highly exaggerated figure is the result of a simple accounting subterfuge: Of the total of Rs. 1.33 crore received over the relevant period, a total of Rs. 1.21 crore were transferred from the trust’s savings a/c to term deposits in the same bank with a view to earning extra interest income for the trust. On maturity the same deposits along with interest totalling around Rs. 1.26 crore were credited back into the savings account. In its wisdom, or malafide intent, the crime branch has chosen to treat this Rs. 1.26 crore as fresh income!!

5. It has been alleged that Teesta Setalvad got over Rs. 21.6 lakh from Sabrang Trust between 1.10.2009 and 30.6.2013. Similarly, it has been alleged that Javed Anand received over Rs. 20 lakh from Sabrang Trust during the same period. Teesta Setalvad’s affidavit clearly points out that were NOT paid this or even part of this amount in their capacity as trustees of Sabrang Trust. In fact, they were paid these amounts (averaging to Rs. 48,000 p.m. in case of Teesta Setalvad and around 47,700 p.m. in case of Javed Anand) for discharging their duties as Project Directors and Project Administrators as per the budget approved by the Trustees of Sabrang Trust and sanctioned by the donor organizations for specific projects having nothing to do with the Gulberg Memorial.

6. It has been alleged that Rs 67 lakh odd “have been transferred” to employees/ staff salaries etc. Teesta Setalvad’s affidavit asks which organisation with large scale activities such as those implemented by Sabrang Trust and CJP functions without paid staff.

7. It has been alleged that over a 6 year period (between 12.4.2007 and 4.6.2013) a total of only Rs. 2,49,000 was spent on legal aid from the non-FCRA account of CJP. This is purely a figment of the crime branch’s twisted imagination. A detailed year-by-year account provided by Teesta Setalvad shows that CJP spent a total of over Rs 2 crore (100 times the crime branch’s figure) on legal aid.

8. It is claimed that there was ‘Zero’ credits in the savings accounts in UBI of both Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand during the entire calendar years in 2001 and 2002. The monthly bank statements issued by the bank clearly show that a total of approximately Rs. 18.8 lakh was credited (deposited) in the said account of Teesta Setalvad during the relevant period. During the same period, a total of over Rs 9.2 lakh was credited to the said account of Javed Anand.

These and many such bogus and false charges have been rebutted in detail in the affidavit filed by Teesta Setalvad. We enclose it here for your reference. The method of “acquiring” details of the individuals and Organisations involved in bonafide legal activity simply to hamper the struggle for Justice and Accountability have been illegal and intimidatory and have also been questioned by Setalvad in her affidavit.

Trustees:

I.M. Kadri, Nandan Maluste, Teesta Setalvad, Cyrus Guzder, Javed Akhtar, Alyque Padamsee, Anil Dharker, Ghulam Pesh Imam,  Javed Anand, Rahul Bose, Cedric Prakash

 

FROM OUR ARCHIVES India’s Christians Salt of the Earth BY TEESTA SETALVAD

http://www.sabrang.com/cc/comold/dec00/cover.htm
December  2000
Cover Story

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India’s Christians Salt of the Earth BY TEESTA SETALVAD I honestly believe that missionaries have done more for women’s education in this country than government itself. The women population of this country has been placed under a deep debt of gratitude to the several missionary agencies for their valuable contribution to the educational uplift of Indian women. Of course, at present India can boast of several other religious bodies such as the Brahmo Samaj, the Ramakrishna Mission, Arya Samaj, etc., doing work in the field of women’s education, but in the past the Christian missionaries were the only agencies in that field… Had it not been for these noble bands of Christian women teachers, who are the products of missionary training schools, even this much advancement in the education of the Indian women would not have been possible; even to this day, in every province, we find the missionary women teachers working hard in a spirit of love and faith, in out-of-the-way villages, where Hindu and Muslim women dare not penetrate. — Dr. (Mrs.) Muthulakshmi Reddi, in her presidential address to the All–India Women’s Conference in January 1931. Being a mission school we had a Bible class every morning which nobody minded attending even though the bulk of the students were Hindus. I happened to be a good student of the Bible and carried away many Bible prizes. This fact, and the fact that I was good in English made me a favourite of the Principal. Even in those days, however, there used to be scare-stories about missionaries trying to convert students to Christianity. I remember a wholly unfounded report having reached my parents that some of the teachers were trying to convert me into a Christian! — Motilal C. Setalvad, first attorney general of India, in his autobiography, My Life — Law and Other Things)  Christian schools have been able to inject a large number of non–Christians with a sense of dedication and commitment to education. That has been a very major contribution. Commitment to education that comes from commitment to scholarship is a good thing. But when it comes from a stronger motive, like service to society or religion or God, I think the commitment is raised to an entirely different level altogether; and such commitment is what you have been able to achieve for a number of years and to communicate to others. — JP Naik, eminent educationist and a former educational advisor to the government of India. Logic and reason, and even the most elementary notion of fair play should defy the grand lie. If the lie holds it’s own against lived experience, reason, and the harsh reality of statistics, there must be ‘good reason’ for its tenacity. If hysteria governs its currency, an emotion of unreason clouds clear–thinking and honest responses, the lie has hit upon an emotional chord or bed of support, however perverted. The kind of emotion that helps perpetuate the lie. The grand lie that I speak of — and we have as a nation been piteous victim to a series of small and big lies over the last two decades or so — is the one unleashed against Christian institutions. It is alleged that the insidious intent of ‘conversion’ is the sole reason why,  in the service of their Lord, Jesus, Christians travel to regions ignored and neglected, to people forgotten and even brutalised, to educate, to nurse, to cure and to comfort — all with the missionary zeal that has come to be associated with their life–long work. The lie took its toll in the past, too. But it has achieved unsurpassed success in the past five years or so, with chilling violence of varied kinds being used against Christians. This despite the dogged service that these women and men of faith continue to perform. We have as a nation allowed the burning of Bibles and the desecration of churches, just as a 400–year–old mosque was demolished to lay the foundation for mass violence against others in our midst. Worse, nuns and priests have been killed and terrorised, sexual violence, too, used to ram home the message. All these assaults have taken cover under the grand lie. Why do I call it the grand lie? Consider this. As we enter the third millennium of human civilisation, as calculated by the Christian calendar, Christians of various denominations in India, totalling not more than 2.3 per cent of the entire population, are responsible for 25 per cent of the social services provided in the country. Consider this. Forty per cent of the total social work by NGOs undertaken in the country is undertaken by Christian institutions alone. Consider also this. The UN Human Development Report, 2000, ranks India abysmally low in human development — at 128 out of 174 countries in the world. Low life expectancy (people not expected to survive beyond 40), high levels of adult illiteracy, deprivation in economic provisioning, counted by the percentage of people lacking access to health services, safe water and social inclusion (employment is one indicator) are the areas where Indian governance has failed it’s own people.  A decade–old UNESCO figure tells us that we had 370 million illiterates amongst us. Literacy rates among women of all classes, castes and communities are lower than those of men; other figures of the vast disparities or differences between the opportunities and privileges available to one section as opposed to another tell their own tale: For example, in India, the illiteracy rate among the scheduled tribes (about 7 per cent of our total population) is 70 per cent compared to 48 per cent for the country as a whole. What does this mean? That, whereas nearly half of all Indians are today denied the basic right to education, among scheduled tribes who live in remote and far flung areas, the deprivation is far higher.  What else does this mean? That, the buzzword on development and progress notwithstanding, we need to dig deeper behind the cold comfort of numbers and see their social relevance. We need to face our own shame and recognise that based on religion and scripture and the cultures and traditions that have evolved from these, we have created and allowed different levels of denials.So that the poor and marginalised oppressed castes, were and still are subjected to inhuman levels of spiritual, physical and material denials; long–forgotten tribes who are the original, pre–Hindu inhabitants of this land were and are rendered even more illiterate; our women, whether Brahman to ‘atishudra’ or ‘mleccha’, were and are not only kept away from education and attendant empowerment, but also subjected to violent abuse, within the family and outside. We do not, however, rise as a people in anger and shame even while these figures and searing tales of humiliation and cruelty stare us in the face. We are not outraged when the current–day perpetuators of the big lie travel long distances to perform ghar vapsi (return to the home) rites on children, women and men from whom their own forefathers have snatched land, food and shelter for centuries. And then, having forced the re-conversion on the tribal people, and unconcerned about issues like food, education, health and empowerment), say they will construct separate temples for them to pray! Within this larger sphere of material and spiritual disparity, present day statistics and our history of the past centuries, lies embedded the contribution of Christian individuals and institutions,  of varied denominations but all driven by the message of Christ — in building schools to educate girls as well as boys, in reaching inaccessible areas and holding out a caring hand to sections brutalised and excluded by scriptural faith and certainly by living tradition.  It was inevitable that the mission of Christians in India would take them where the Indian establishment, still shackled by caste–bound prejudice, dithers and even after Independence, gingerly refuses to tread. To provide succour and to empower the poor, the tribal, the Dalit, the women. We turn a blind eye to both realities. And both denials together make up the grand lie. The first is the collective denial of present human development figures that stare us in the face and which are linked to the historical denial of opportunity and fair play to large sections of our population in the past. The second denial is our refusal to recognise the contribution of Christian institutions. The second denial is indeed linked to the first because it is in the arenas of these past and present day inequities and injustices that Christian individuals and institutions have located their work, their mandate being to work for the most marginalised and underprivileged. To deny the existence of disparity now, and historically, is to deny Christian contribution, then and now, and to claim that its all nothing but convenient cover for conversion. To accept their role is to face our moral and cultural poverty, the rank injustice and marginalisation that we have perpetuated on sections of our people. To accept their role is to nail the grand lie. We have heard so much in recent years about the offensive language contained in the Minute of Macaulay (March 7, 1835). But what we refuse to accept is that elementary and higher education came in through different Christian missions long before the colonially driven and objectionable Macaulay edict, that spoke brazenly about the promotion of European literature and science among the people of India, and that referred to the indigenous people as persons of inferior (heathen) status. There was a St Francis Xavier who trailed the path in elementary education by exhorting companions to build a school in every village next to which a church was built; today Christian schools number 11,801 (pre–primary, primary and village level); secondary and higher secondary schools total 3,614!  Since as early as the 16th century, several Christian colleges have existed in western and southern India. These colleges were not only in the business of education, but they also created fine libraries and collected archival material valuable for oriental knowledge. Missionaries who set up these institutions of education got engaged and embroiled in the land they came to inhabit. The tracts on biological species, the first dictionaries in many Indian languages, the singular contribution to indigenous dialects, are some of the fruits of that engagement.  It was the Scottish mission, begun in South Konkan in 1822, that inspired the young, Jyotiba Phule, a radical mind from the region of current–day Maharashtra, who was a strong critique of the Hindu caste system in the 19th century. Pandita Ramabai, a Brahmin widow who chose conversion to Christianity as a means of emancipation from the persecution and drudgery of life as a Hindu widow, gave her testimony before the Education Commission in 1882. Official estimates of the time stated that one hundred million women were uneducated, with both Hindu and Muslim traditions historically denying women these rights. Included in this were girls, married women and, worst of all, widows who were subjected to humiliation and denied the dignity of living autonomous lives.  Testifying before the commission, Ramabai had remarked that in ninety–nine cases out of a hundred the educated men of the country were opposed to female education and the proper position of women. It was of little use to build schools without girls to fill them, or without a staff of female teachers. The teaching profession for women was thought to be incompatible with womanly modesty, she had said.  As far back as 1823, the Church of England Missionary Society ran 23 girls’ schools in Calcutta. In 1824, the American Mission opened the first school for girls in Bombay, a school that, incidentally, was open to children of all castes. The threat of the democratising processes that these contributions unleashed are undoubtedly behind the violent resistance to their work, then and now.  In South India, too, it was the missions who pioneered women’s education — the first university college, the first medical school and the first training college for women — the Sarah Tucker College, Palamcottah, the Christian Medical College, Vellore in 1918 and St Christopher’s Training College, Madras in 1923 were set up by them. In failing to nail the grand lie, we deny not just our past but also present day Indian reality. A few weeks ago, the RSS chief KS Sudarshan demanded, if you please, the ‘Indianisation’ of the church in India. It needs a great lie to hide the truth of the Church’s engagement with the marginalised people of India who are perceived by some as the real ‘problem’ of India.  It is not my intention to uncritically glorify the role of the Church in India. It is definitely my intention to challenge the insidious attempt to deny and dismiss decades, even centuries, of compassion and commitment with a grand lie.

‘We chose the Holy Family Hospital because we felt that  it would at least be God-fearing’ Narayan Ananthakrishnan  Publisher In his late 30s, Narayan Ananthakrishnan, a father of two, was suddenly faced with a medical emergency. He had to undergo a brain surgery at less than 24 hours notice. Which hospital should he choose? Guided by his neuro–surgeon, who consulted with three such institutions, Narayan opted for the low–key Holy Family Hospital at Bandra, Mumbai. Recalling those harrowing weeks, in conversation with Communalism Combat, during which his life hung in the balance, Narayan has warm memories of an institution that lived upto it’s calling — caring for a patient with dignity and compassion. It was all such a shock. I was not even aware that I was bleeding in my brain. I merely felt an acute pain on the top of my eyes that was unbearable when I went in for the MRA scan. The diagnosis indicated that there was severe bleeding on both sides of my brain and I had to be operated upon immediately. It all happened within the space of a few hours actually. I left home at around 9 a.m. in June 1999, went through the MRA  scan and by 12.30 the diagnosis was known. Things moved at lightning speed after that because there was no time to be wasted. My brother–in–law, a doctor, helped me identify and contact a neurologist, Dr RD Gursani, immediately. There were two options before me in the choice of hospital (to which my neuro–surgeon, Dr Harshad Parikh is attached) since the third, the Hinduja hospital, was beyond our budget.  It was to be either Nanavati or Holy Family Hospital at Bandra. None of us were in favour of Nanavati. Faced with a critical operation upon which my life depended, we chose Holy Family because essentially I am a God–fearing person and we felt that being a Christian hospital, Holy Family Hospital, too, would at least be God–fearing! It didn’t bother me which God or which religion. First of all, I had faith in the doctor recommended to me who consulted there. Secondly, though I am a Hindu it does not bother me which God or which religion I see in front of me. Be it a Muslim place of worship, a Christian one or a temple. It is the home of God.  I was in the hospital for just under two weeks. The nuns used to make their rounds, the father would come every single morning, check on how I was and ask, “How are you, son?” He would then bless me and say, “Don’t worry, son”. The first time he blessed me was on the morning that my operation was scheduled. You see, I was under severe stress and  pain. It was a critical operation. Soon after the surgery that lasted over four hours, the surgeon came and told my wife, Geeta, “Whichever God it is you pray to, go and thank him. Thank him that your husband is safe. The amount of blood that I have removed from his brain, it was not in my hands to save him. I operate with the same sincerity on all my patients. He survived because of God.” For the first few days there was unbearable pain, so bad that I could not open my eyes. But my entire treatment there, the handling by the staff, the operative and post–operative care was impeccable. I had no complaints. Post–operative care in my case was especially important since I am diabetic. My blood sugar needs to be tested three to four times a day and the staff did not need to be reminded even one time. I was in a non–AC room with two beds, but my room and the whole hospital was spotlessly clean, the atmosphere calm and all the rooms spacious and airy. The staff responded immediately to the bells by the side of every patient. The floors, the tables and the toilets were kept scrupulously clean. The staff is well–trained and conscientious about injections and cleaning wounds, the sort of thing that is vital for a hospital.  The whole ambience and atmosphere of this hospital was enriched by the church just across. Patients can hear the mass as it is conducted and this is very soothing, you know. I noticed this only on the fourth and fifth day because the first three days were a living hell with the kind of pain I had to undergo. The strange thing is that after my operation, we heard so many people bad–mouthing Holy Family Hospital because it is a charitable hospital and so on! I find this ironical because my treatment there by the staff from the ward boy to the nurses was faultless. What struck me most was that there was no indifference in their behaviour towards me. Be it someone in the general ward or the first class ward, they treated every patient with the same concern and care. Some things from my harrowing experience have left a lasting impression. I have been to a number of hospitals. My father has been admitted two–three times for operations; we have even admitted him to the Ramkrishna Mission hospital that is also a charitable hospital. But there is a vast difference between the two hospitals. In the atmosphere, the treatment of patients, the caring and dignity, cleanliness, there can be no comparison. One thing I remember clearly about the Holy Family hospital was the strict adherence to rules. They would not budge from the visiting hours rule, no body was allowed after the permitted time! Even my own  brother–in–law, who is a doctor, was not allowed to enter the operation theatre because he had not taken prior permission from the surgeon. He finally had to approach the head of the department for the clearance. They were very strict about certain things which I think is not happening in all the hospitals and which is why standards are not being maintained. My wife stayed with me most days. There was another strict rule of not allowing children into hospitals to guard against their picking up any infection. On the seventh or eighth day I approached the Father to give me special permission to let me see my children for just five minutes. I had been through a tough time, come out of it but not seen their faces. I promised that I would not even speak with them and finally they allowed them to come and see me.  The only thing that I remember on the negative side was their inability to register my request for a pure vegetarian meal, be it breakfast or lunch. I made repeated requests to the dietician but the request just would not register! It might sound facetious but once I find either egg or fish in the plate I just lose my appetite. But all things considered I feel that this was a relatively minor complaint. Above all else, I got this efficient and considerate treatment at a decent and affordable rate. My total bill for a serious brain surgery and fourteen days of hospitalisation, including the surgeon’s charges (normally we have to pay doctors separately) amounted to Rs. 70,000. We must have spent another Rs.15–20,000 on medication and injections purchased from outside. Can you ever contemplate such reasonable treatment in a so–called private hospital? Besides, no section of the staff was on the look out for tips every other day that has become the hapless norm in most hospitals in the city. From the man or woman who swept the floors to any other member of the staff, they did not accept tips. I wanted to give them a donation in cash or kind before I left the hospital as a token of my appreciation but they simply refused. My father even spoke to the head sister in Malayalam explaining that what we wanted to give was a token of our appreciation for the institution but she simply said that their rules forbade her from accepting. “The fact that you recovered well is sufficient for us,” she told my father. We all left the hospital, extremely happy. The greatest happiness of course was in my recovery itself from a critical and sudden brain surgery. Coupled with the warm treatment I received there. Every time my father visited me in the hospital he would say, “Whenever you are feeling sad and afraid, just look up there to the photograph of Jesus Christ. Just look at him and he will save you.” The photograph of Jesus hung just above my hospital bed.  ‘Bosco made an enormous contribution to me as a person’ Mahesh Bhatt Film Director I do not think that I can ever de–link myself from the influence of my formative years spent in the cradle of that whole culture with the Salesian priests and their commitment to the education system. The institution that they ran with caring and a deep sense of values, the grooming I got to grow into the kind of person that I am today. All that is part of the unconscious. Something that I carry wherever I go. This experience goes with me, colours my vision, influences the way I look at things, at the world, the way I act, react and think. It is part of the collective unconscious, in the bloodstream, in the marrow of my bones. We have millions in this country who are a product of these missionary schools. I grew up with the saga of Mary and Jesus inside of me. My mother, a Shia Muslim, took me to seven churches, every Friday, the month of Lent. And I was very happy that I came to know of Jesus and his way of looking at the world at Bosco. That whole dimension that is deep inside me was perhaps imbibed from my days at Bosco. The way of looking at things, celebrating Christmas, after which comes the month of Lent, followed by Easter. In many ways I am a truly Christian boy. Through all my growing up years I never ever felt that a faith was being forced upon me. There was a clear distinction made between the Catholic boys who had to attend Catechism classes while non–Christians learnt had to attend moral science classes. Christianity was never paraded, never imposed. There was not even the faintest such streak among the priests or teachers. The teachers, too, never put especial emphasis on anything ‘Christian’. This harmful propaganda is petty paranoia on our part. In any case, if Jesus is injected in my consciousness it is not going to disempower me. There are many highs in Christianity that you can draw from. Jesus as a person had a unique way of looking at things. A life assertive outlook, compassion and conscience, who’s appeal is not limited to Christians alone. The concept of Santa Claus lives on for my children. It is a fairy tale from which all of us are rudely awakened as life dishes out its offerings, but all of us need to keep the concept alive for the young, for the next generation. We should all play Santa Claus till we are rudely woken up! Now this is something I inherited from my Christian upbringing. And I am grateful for my mother for having chosen to send me to a missionary school. I owe my formative years to them. Bosco has contributed to my being what I am and I am thankful for the teachers and fathers for being so caring, tolerant and patient with me. I was a troublesome boy, not easy to handle. I was an anti–power and anti-authority kind of guy. But they showed me tolerance and compassion. We also, by the way, had the best church built through my school that was completed during my school days. It was, and possibly still is, one of the best churches that we have. The marble for it came from Italy. We had some great and meaningful times in that church; I used to go inside and spend long hours. We used to play on the rocks and stone slabs. Even though I left school many years ago, over the past 20 years or so, since I became a film maker, I have kept visiting and re–visiting the spot, the Church for shootings. Now, you only revisit what is pleasurable and memorable and my memories of years at Bosco are nothing but that. That upbringing has also made enormous contribution to me as a person, a creative artist and this lasting impression manifests itself in my films, in my work.    ‘I am what I am thanks to my school’ Shabana Azmi Film Actress, Rajya Sabha MP, Social Activist Shabana Azmi is a former student of Queen Mary’s, Mumbai. This is also the school where the former darling of the silver screen, Nargis, did her schooling from. While Nargis was  rose to the eminence of being Head Girl of the School, Shabana didn’t because “I was far from Head Girl material, being a very naughty girl”. But she has very warm memories of the school that nurtured her in her formative years. We had Psalms and hymns being sung in our school every morning. So, in that sense you could say that there was a Christian influence in the general sense. But at no point did I ever feel, nor was I ever made to feel that Christian religion was more important than mine. Never did I experience any feeling of suffocation by the Christian influence. All festivals were observed or celebrated with equal gusto, all traditions were honoured and respected. The sheer dedication of Christian institutions, and the women and men who run them, to education is tremendous.  The Irish lady who was the principal of Queen Mary’s when I was at school is now 84–years–old. But do you know, after retiring from  the school, she did not go back to Ireland. Today, she is in a remote village in Tamil Nadu dedicated to the education of tribals. Apart from the fact that neither you nor I are doing this, casting aspersions on this commendable dedication to basic education, when hundreds of thousands of our children have no access to basic literacy, is both cynical and spurious. The other thing I liked about my school was its commitment to an all round education. There were the ex tremely serious lessons on morals and values, you know, like, jhoot nahin bolna chahiye, khana kis tarah khana chahiye. I feel all this helped in  moulding all of us into the persons that we are. Which is why I say without hesitation that I am the person who I am thanks to my school! Each one of us greatly benefited from the outlook that was integral to education in our school. Marathi was given as much dedication and importance as French.  One approach that the school followed that has left a lasting influence on me is that, on principle, children from all classes were, admitted into the school. It was not a school of  only the very rich or only the very poor. There was a genuine attempt at a policy of integration so that it did not become a typical, snooty, elite South Bombay school! I remember so well that on our birthdays we were permitted to wear our birthday frocks instead of the uniform. But the only sweets that we were permitted to distribute among our classmates had to be the kind that all children could afford! None of us were allowed to distribute chocolate pastries, for example, simply because our parents could afford them.  A keen sense of justice and fairness dictated the approach and commitment to education. By the way, Nargis, the darling of the silver-screen in the past was Head Girl of the Queen Mary’s in the 1950s! I was far from being Head Girl material. In fact, I was not even a monitor but I loved every minute of my school days… There was a lot of singing, dancing, encouragement of theatre and drama, the all round development of the child. It was not a school that  concentrated on academics and academics alone. Which is why I loved my school!

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IN FOCUS http://www.sabrang.com/cc/comold/jan99/cover.htm Teesta Setalvad Conversions : A Warped Debate

IN FOCUShttp://www.sabrang.com/cc/comold/jan99/cover.htm

Teesta Setalvad

Conversions : A Warped Debate

Despite the letter and spirit of the law as laid down in Article 25 of the Indian Constitution, giving every citizen the right to freely practice, profess and propagate his or her religion, much of the impassioned discourse around the issue of conversions today reveals inherent bias in a dominant section of the Indian population. To them the existence of this basic right granted to every citizen appears as  anathema. Quite apart from right– wing chauvinists, the fact that it raises hackles among more progressive sections, be they Gandhians or other radicals, the issue of religious conversion bears careful examination.

Opponents of conversion cloak their inherent antipathy to it by criticising the methods used by those in the conversion business, alleging that financial incentives and material considerations govern the decision of individuals and groups to a change of faith. 

Today this bogey of  forced conversions has been successfully raised by the RSS–VHP combine, to numb the Indian middle class mind from the horrors of violence and terror unleashed on Christians and Muslims in the far–flung villages of Gujarat. The bald denial by the Gujarat state director general of police (DGP), C.P. Singh that any forced conversions have taken place have not stopped the avenging squads that are heaping terror and humiliation on large sections of the Indian population. The stamp of legitimacy to this warped discourse was recently given by none less than the liberal mukhota (mask) of the BJP, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee who called for a national debate on conversions instead of assuring the brutalised population of Gujarat adequate state protection against violence and terror. 

The manipulated discourse plays into the decades’ old fear of the upper caste Hindu – approximately a tenth  of the population — that the lower castes are being seduced away by ‘alien’ faiths. But little concern is ever shown to the material and social indignities that have compelled groups and individuals to exercise this choice. This apprehension of the sanatani Hindu also stems from a deep–rooted fear of loss of majority status: once viewed as either distinct from the upper caste Hindu —  or at least not a permament adjunct, as 22 per of SCs and STs and over 50 per cent of the other backward castes (OBCs) have so far been — the “majority” status of Hindus as one single, dominant, hegemonic community comes into serious question. 

There is an even more fundamental basis for the near–pathological reaction to conversions among the adherents of this world–view. Conversion undermines the theological  underpining of upper caste, sanatani Hindu faith in birth as the sole determinant of social station and position in life and notions of the ‘pure’ and the polluted.

That a decision towards a change of faith can ever be perceived as a positive move towards a life of dignity, if not an entirely egalitarian existence is not a factor or a possibility that a sanatani Hindu faith can easily accept. 

But for those committed to a plural society based on equity and justice,  religious conversion is not seen as a threat. In India, especially, conversions have been occuring for centuries, the assimilation or absorption of indigenous tribes into jatis by the sanatani Hindu faith being the first example of mass conversions.  Thereafter, individuals and groups, mostly from the oppressed castes, have through the centuries opted to convert to Christianity or Islam. In modern day India, conversions have been a matter of political choice towards social emancipation by a significant section of Dalits. 

On the flip side is the role of the other side, that is the faiths to which persons of oppressed caste origin are converting and the motives and attitudes of the clergy and other agencies of these faiths that effect these conversions. Theologically speaking,  scriptural Christianity and Islam do enjoin on their followers to convert the non–believers and save the “heathens” from hell and damnation. Conversions for the missionary then is a sublime duty. The missionary believes he is spreading the only true faith in the interests of human salvation. Undoubtedly, this worldview posits a superiority of faith vis a vis the non–believer. 

However, though modern Christianity may have come to the third world in its later avatar as an adjunct of colonial brute force, and latter–day Islam through medieval invasions, both Islam and Christianity arrived on Indian shores hundreds of years earlier through traders. Christianity in 58 A.D. and Islam soon after its birth through the Arab settlers on the west and south coasts. 

Many conversions to Islam or Christianity in the modern period of history have also coincided with the passage of emancipatory laws liberating bonded labour that allowed oppressed sections the freedom to exercise choice in the matter of faith. These sections, then, exercised this choice, after, rightly or wrongly, perceiving either Islam or Christianity to be more egalitarian than Hinduism’s oppressive caste system. 

There were a host of lower caste conversions during the second half of the 19th cent in Travancore, for instance. Educational endeavours of missionaries and the resultant more equal status played a crucial role in their choice of faith, not by inducements but through a perceived existence of equality. For example, the first low–caste person, in 1851, to walk on the public road near the temple at Tiruvalla in 1851 was a Christian. Around 1859,thousands became Christians in the midst of other emancipatory struggles in the region where they were supported by missionaries against oppressive upper caste traditions: for example the struggle of the Nadars on the right of their women to cover the upper part of their body. 

Or, take this example. On the Malabar coast in Kerala, large scale conversions to Islam did not take place during the invasions by Tipu Sultan but during the 1843–1890 period and were directly linked to the fact that in 1843 slavery was abolished in this region. As a result, large numbers from the formerly oppressed castes bonded in slavery by upper caste Hindus moved over to Islam, which they perceived, rightly or wrongly to be a religion of equality and justice. In 1929, Dr. Babasaheb  Ambedkar advised Indian ‘untouchables’ to embrace any other religion that would regard them as human beings, and following this 12 untouchables  from a village near Nasik embraced Islam. In 1935, he strongly criticised Hindu scriptures that defined Dalits as lowest of the low. Under Ambedkar’s inspiration there was a mass movement of conversion when half a million untouchables (Dalits) embraced Buddhism on October 14, 1956 at Nagpur.

 This is a factor that needs to surface prominently in the current debate. Not surprisingly, dominated as the discourse continues to be by sanatani Hindu concerns and fears, this has not happened. On the contrary, ulterior motives are being sought to justify the fact of conversions. The reaction of Swami Aseemananda is a typical example of this. Speaking to a national weekly, on the VHP’s efforts to “popularise” Hinduism in the district he said, “We are not interested in poverty alleviation or development activities. We are only trying to alleviate the tribals spiritually.” The sudden concern of columnists of leading periodicals appears to centre around the alleged monetary incentives and inducements offered by missionaries. But there is no examination of the developmental work in education, health and other areas that is undertaken by Christian religious persons in our remotest districts.

Lastly, the forced Ghar Vapsi  movement launched by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is quite obviously a sanatani Hindu project as it has an intrinsic element of “purifying” the “impure” who have drifted and are being pulled back; if so, a pertinent question to ask the storm–troopers of the new Brahmanical order is: which caste are the “re–converted” being given entry to?

Never Again December 16...........Unqiue Protest

A band of DYFI students, tarined by theatre stalwart NK Sharma, CPI-M have for the past days been conscientising Bus travellers in the capital city on the socital  Complicity of Silence that allows/turns a blind eye to sexual violence be it molestation, eve teasing or outright rape. I had an amazing experience going for two bus rides in Delhi with this committed band, acting out in a realistic sense, "feeling around", a young girl slapping her outrage in protest, another young man shooting up to her defence and finally ending in a wonderful nostalgic slogan-song! In the first ride there was a relatively mute response and we got off sedately after the experience ended. We caught another bus, with an equally thin passenger crowd it being a Saturday..but here there was a snowballing of responses. Mostly positive. Hearteningly two men, 15 years apart in age, volunteered actively to support the girl. Once on of them (the "elder") realised that it was a"natak" his outraged ego felt the young crusaders had taken him for a ride. The other not quite sure was vacillating until he too then joined the "protesters' against the protest, now complaining that they were late late and this was making them "later".. The conducter and bus driver, panic-over cautious after the "slap" had parked the bus beyond India Gate and dialed 100. Some of us interested co-travellers started chatting with the remaining travellers; bhajans and kawaalis dot out public cultural lanscape and they too agreed that such krantikari vocalism had a place and must find voice. Seasoned DYFI had got the requisite police permission so All is Well that ended well, this 6th of December...DYFI will have a unique protest on December 16 th in the capital...Equally fascinating was the discussion that three of us women, all post 50 years had, about bringing up boys, gender injustice ..but that is for the next round of Blog thoughts..