Narendra Modi Visionary & Dynamic young Leader of India & Lion of Gujarat

This is to inform you that Narendra Modi is addressing a crowd at Madision Square Garden in NYC on the 20th. Is it at all possible for us to shrug our apathy and organize seriously against this? Perhaps the following announcement might make you sick enough to do something.

Narendra Modi Visionary & Dynamic young Leader of India & Lion of Gujarat

Madison Square Garden, New York City

The Theater

4 Pennsylvania Plaza
New York, New York 10001
212.465.MSG1 (6741)
Date: Sunday, March 20th 2005

Time 4:30 PM Onwards

For more information please contact:
Tel: 732 246-1753

Organized by:
Association of Indian Americans for North America

Bus Transportation will be provided from major locations in Tri-State
area

Chairman:
Mr. Suresh Jani

Co-Chairman:
Mr. Sunil Nayak, Dr. Sudhakar Reddy,
Hirubhai Patel, Dr. Navin Mehta,
Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Mr. H.R. Shah

Advisor:
Dr. Ved Nanda,
Dr. Mahesh Mehta,
Dr. Mukund Mody,
Dr. Rajesh Shukla

END OF ARTICLE

APPENDIX D

DESI AMERICA: Patel Motels & Xenophobia

Sign Time.com (Aug. 9, 2007) has a piece, “No-tell Motels,” about desi-owned motels inspiring some xenophobia across the U.S.

As the Indian share of the market has grown over the years–members of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) now own 37% of the U.S. hotel industry–AMERICAN OWNED signs keep popping up outside motels around the country. While this seemingly innocuous phrase may appeal to many customers, it can also be intended as code for “not owned by immigrants,” an attempt to divert business from upstanding first- or second-generation citizens whose ethnicity distinguishes them from most of their small-town neighbors.

Read the whole piece here. In addition to the 37 percent of all HOTELS being owned by someone of Indian origin, more than 50 percent of all MOTELS are also desi-owned (stats from AAHOA).

See comments by WSJ readers about this story here. This topic has been covered extensively by desi blogs this summer. See postings at Uberdesi (that’s where we got the photo above, taken by Santosh) and SepiaMutiny. Here’s s a story from the Colorado Gazette from 2002.

Other stories about what SAJAer Tunku Varadajan called the “Patel Motel Cartel” in the NYT Sunday Magazine in 1999:

Indian Hnduvata- Hindu extremism in India and beyond

Indian Hnduvata- Hindu extremism in India and beyond

In connection with this article, please read Garda Ghista’s book The Gujarat Genocide: A Case Study in Fundamentalist Cleansing, which clearly delineates the genocidal mind of the fundamentalists and offers a solution to fundamentalism.

gujarat-1.jpg
The Gujarat Genocide – its manifestation

One more thing which we observe from description of riots above that these incidents sparking communal violence do not assume major proportions only because political parties do not perceive any political benefit in spreading communal violence and police curbs violence by taking effective action. However, if politicians perceive any direct benefit they immediately exploit the incidents to create major communal flare up. Thus it is mainly politicians who are responsible for major communal flare up. The violence will be contained if politicians do not want and it will assume major proportions, if they desire communal violence for electoral politics like in Mumbai in 1992 and Gujarat in 2002.

gujarat-2.jpg
Unspeakable crimes against helpess Muslim women carried out by Hindu fundamentalists / right-wing extremists

It is only proper awareness among people and active role of civil society actors which can help contain major mishaps. We need aware and vibrant civil society to contain outbreak of major communal violence. When civil society gets polarised on communal lines as in Gujarat, it becomes very difficult for civil society to intervene. – Asghar Ali Engineer

gujarat-3.jpg
Until today the victims of Gujarat saw no justice. Until today the Muslims of India remain for the most part impoverished and face relentless persecution, torment and racism by Hindus

APPENDIX B

February 04, 2008, RESOURCES

http://www.buscatube.com/videos/pag1/youtube/2desi/

http://www.sajaforum.org/hinduism/index.html

APPENDIX E

January 20, 2008

BOOKS: Wash Post on India’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

Emily

APPENDIX F

INDIA: Christians attacked in Orissa by hardline Hindus

Trishul Although not much has been written about Hindu hardliners in the mainstream media, the Associated Press has reported on the recent clashes between Christians and Hindu nationalists in the eastern Indian state of Orissa that made about 700 Christians flee to government-run relief camps. Last week, four people died during clashes.

The killings and subsequent flight of nearly 700 Christians to four relief camps are the latest in a series of religious and political power struggles in the secular but Hindu-dominated India’s eastern state of Orissa, which has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence.

According to the report, the Hindus had complained that the police were unable to protect them from Christians.

There were conflicting reports of what sparked the violence in rural Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi. Each side blamed the other.

The Hindu hard-liners said Christians tried to attack an 80-year-old leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad group, who leads an anti-conversion movement.

The New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began when Hindu extremists took offense at a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was an attempt to convert poor and lower-caste Hindus to Christianity.

Last week, Ashok Sharma of the Associated Press reported that Hindu hardliners had burned six churches in a village that killed one person.

Although Hindus, the overwhelming majority of India’s 1.1 billion people, and Christians, who make up around 2.5 percent of the population, have tended to coexist peacefully in India, the region where the violence took place has a history of tension between the communities.

Orissa, in fact, is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion, a move designed to counter missionary work.

Something that might help understand the rise in Hindu nationalism, also referred to as Hindutva, is a series of articles in the October issue of Himal magazine (published out of Kathmandu).

In the cover feature “Saffron Terror“, Subash Gatade writes that there is a rise in militant Hinduism but a conspiracy of silence seems to hide this reality (the photo above is from this article).

APPENDIX G

December 24, 2007

STATISTICS: Nearly 2.3 million Hindus estimated in America

Hinduism Today estimates that there are more than 2,290,000 Hindus in the United States. The editors decided to use the percentage

KIDS: American Company’s Ramayana Action Figures

Rama_2 With the weekend after Thanksgiving being the busiest time for shopping each year, I figured some of you looking for South Asian-themed gifts this year might want to consider something unusual that came to our attention.

From a press release by the Pennsylavania-based Kridana Toys:

ARDMORE, PA: My name is Mahender Swami Nathan. I am an Indian-American and the founder of Kridana. We are a toy company focused on bringing the Great Indian Epics to new generations through the power of play. We’ve just launched our first products: action figures of Lord Rama and Shri Hanuman from the Ramayana – one of the most popular epics both within India and across Asia – made with the involvement of some of the toy industry’s top craftsmen. We’ve also published our first comic book issues. These stories bring to life key vignettes for both Rama and Hanuman as first told in the Ramayana 2000 years ago and now retold through the inks and colors of today’s top comic book artists, including the world-renown Mike Turner of Aspen Comics who drew our inaugural cover.
<snip>
Check us out at Kridana.com and don’t hesitate to call me with pre-story questions for pitches. We’re currently selling product in the U.S. and Canada, our first target markets. Our products are currently available at our own website, and in December we expect to be selling through select toy and comic book stores and also general food and merchandise stores catering to the Asian-Indian market.

The seven-inch-tall Rama and Hanuman figures sell for $15 each and are available at the site.

My first question, given all the news about toy recalls from big manufacturers was whether I’d be able to trust a tiny company making its first products. While the Kridana toys are made in China, its site goes out of its way to prove its safety credentials. From its “product safety” section:

Our toys are produced to the highest standards in a modern factory which we have inspected ourselves. They are tested rigorously by an outside, 3rd-party lab: SGS Group of Switzerland (learn more about them). And, when we say we test, we don’t test once or twice; we pull toys from throughout the actual production run to send to SGS, ensuring that the toys which pass SGS’s standards are the same ones your child is playing with at home.

We feel so passionately about safety that we’re taking the unusual step of putting our test results here, on kridana.com, for you to see. It’s true that some of these pages read like a chemistry report, but, we’re an educational toy company!

Take a look at the press release below (Nathan’s contacts below, too) and post your comments below. Also see coverage at SepiaMutiny and Ultrabrown.

Congress and the Muslim League emerged from the 1946 election as the two dominant parties. The Muslim League’s success in the election could be gauged from its sweep of 90 percent of all Muslim seats in British India-compared with a mere 4.5 percent in 1937 elections. The Muslim League, like Congress, initially accepted the British cabinet mission plan, despite grave reservations. Subsequent disputes between the leaders of the two parties, however, led to mistrust and bitterness. Jinnah demanded parity for the Muslim League in the interim government and temporarily boycotted it when the demand was not met. Nehru indiscreetly made statements that cast doubts on the sincerity of Congress in accepting the cabinet mission plan. Each party disputed the right of the other to appoint Muslim ministers.

When the viceroy proceeded to form an interim government without the Muslim League, Jinnah called for demonstrations, or “direct action,” on August 16, 1946

A movie I’d been dying to see for quite some time was Water. This movie is done by phenomenal filmmaker Deepa Mehta. She really has a gift for capturing the time and emotion of past events. Water revolves around a house in 1930 India where widows end up spending the rest of their lives after their husband dies. The twist on this seemingly innocent ideal is that most of these women have lived here all their lives as they were married young and became widows at young ages such as eight or nine. The movie starts with a young girl being placed in this home by her father as she has just become a widow. The movie captures the emotion and turmoil these women had to live through while delving into the issues such as love and religion. The movie sparked outrage in India and Deepa Mehta had to move filming of this movie to Sri Lanka to escape Hindu extremists opposed to this film. I think the movie is captivating, engaging, passionate and extremely well done. I would recommend this movie to anyone and strongly suggest you all see it
http://www.ademyakup.net/hinduizm/hinduizm6.html

APPENDIX H

India’s Christians see rise in hostility by Hindu extremists

Threats against churches and prayer meetings in eastern states have risen in recent weeks.

By Mian Ridge | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the February 6, 2008 edition

Bothali, India – Radha Bai knew something was up when she heard the trucks thundering into Bothali, a bucolic village of low, whitewashed houses in the central state of Chhattisgarh. “They came into my house waving sticks and chanting,” she says. “They were looking for me, saying they would cut me into pieces.”

Ms. Bai, a Christian, was hosting a prayer meeting on Jan. 16 when 50 Hindu extremists from a group calling itself Dharma Sena (”Army for Religion”) arrived. They beat up several men and set fire to 10 motorcycles and a car, witnesses say.

In recent weeks, Hindu extremists in India’s eastern “tribal belt” – home to large numbers of forest-dwelling animists – have stepped up a campaign against Christians.

In the neighboring state of Orissa, over Christmas, mobs destroyed 55 churches and 600 houses – “the worst anti-Christian violence in India since independence [in 1947],” says Asghar Ali Engineer, who heads the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai.

“It is getting worse all the time,” says Arun Pannalal, general secretary of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum. He cites numerous cases in which Christians have been threatened and prayer services halted by hostile mobs.

Lalit Surjan, editor-in-chief of a group of newspapers in Chhattisgarh, blames the aggression on the growth of “fringe groups” such as Dharma Sena.

Ramesh Modi is president of the state’s branch of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), or World Hindu Council, a proponent of the Hindutva ideology which holds that India is a Hindu nation and religious minorities outsiders. The VHP says it has close links with Dharma Sena.

“The Christians are responsible for the violence themselves,” Mr. Modi says, when asked who carried out the attacks in Bothali. “They are converting Hindus by all means possible. We cannot wear bangles [an expression meaning we cannot be feminine, gentle] all the time.”

This is the chief justification given for attacks against Christians in India, that they are converting Hindus by force. With the rise of political Hindu nationalism in recent years, groups like the VHP have intensified their calls for legislation to curb conversions from Hinduism. At least seven states – including Chhattisgarh and Orissa – have laws ruling that Hindus must inform the authorities before switching religions.

It is true that Chhattisgarh has an expansionist evangelist movement in full swing; many Christians here are recent converts from Hinduism. Officially, less than 3 percent of India’s population of 1.1 billion are Christian. But Mr. Pannalal reckons that Christians constitute closer to 6 percent of the population in Chhattisgarh and even nationwide. Christian converts often claim to be Hindus for fear that they’ll lose their rights to the government jobs and university spots that are kept for lower castes.

Sometimes, says Pannalal, the evangelizing style of these new Christians appears insensitive. “Some pastors are only trained for a month or two before they start proselytizing,” he says. “We’ve been trying to teach them that you don’t have to criticize other gods and goddesses when you preach.”

A popular way to target evangelical Christians, as a result of the state’s conversion law, is to accuse them of forcible conversions to get them arrested. “Few of those cases go to court….” says Pannalal. “But by then the extremists have done their job, which is to terrify people.”

Hindu groups in the area are themselves engaged in conversion activities, Pannalal adds. But because Christians tend to vote for the secular Congress Party, hard-line Hindu groups, which support the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are trying to win Hindus back to the fold and convert tribal residents to Hinduism.

It is no coincidence, say observers, that nationalist Hindu activities have increased a few months before Chhattisgarh, which is ruled by the BJP, goes to the polls.

“This is a movement that stirs the religious sentiments of Hindus and then makes political capital out of it,” says Mr. Surjan. He adds, however, that few ordinary Hindus are swayed by groups like Dharma Sena.

Most Christians seem to agree. Nelson Daniel, a pastor based in Durg, a town near Raipur, Chattisgarh’s capital, suspects that Hindu extremists who have threatened to knock down his church are paid thugs. “They are never local Hindus,” he says. “There’s no problem between Hindus and Christians where I live.”

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/gujarat-2.jpg&imgrefurl=

http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2007/01/

communal_riots.html&h=314&w=500&sz=24&hl=en&start=108&sig2=

1uNFdbqIwNO1L_g7CMNlPQ&tbnid=i0m9l6cyFhWG-M:&tbnh=82&tbnw=130&ei=

7kpVSI_OK52UggKN7oyTAw&prev=/images%3Fq%3DHindu%2

Bextremists%26start%3D100%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

http://www.hinducounciluk.org/newsite/articledet.asp?rec=197

APPENDIX I

Communal Riots 2006

——————————————————————————–

By Asghar Ali Engineer 05 January, 2007 Secular Perspective

This is as usual our annual survey of communal riots and events during 2006. This was comparatively an year with few riots. In fact post-Gujarat India has witnessed fewer riots. Gujarat was indeed another watershed like the one after post-Babri riots. It has been witnessed that after some major riot, subsequent years witness smaller and fewer riots. Mumbai riots after demolition of Babri Masjid by Sangh Parivar fanatics were also very intense and widespread in 1992-93 in which more than one thousand persons perished. After Mumbai riots there was no major riot with the exception of Coimbatore riots (in which 40 persons were killed) until Gujarat happened.

Gujarat was really earthshaking both in its intensity and in its brutality and direct involvement of state machinery. In fact nothing like Gujarat had happened in post-independence period. Gujarat happened in 2002 and since Gujarat no major riot like it has happened. Such major riots perhaps make even communal forces make so nervous by exposure of media that it takes quite sometime for them to gather courage for next major communal riot. Also, after riots like the ones in Gujarat, 2002, it becomes difficult for communal forces to get people’s support for another one for quite some time. It is also important to note that the next major riot does not usually occur at the same place. For example, after Mumbai riot of 1992-93 next major riot took place in Gujarat, not in Mumbai. Similarly earlier during eighties many major riots took place but subsequent riot never occurred at the same place.

So after Gujarat there has been no major riot so far. During 2006 several small riots took place in different places. The first riot occurred at Baroda on 17th January. Two groups of Hindus and Muslims clashed on some petty matter in which two persons were injured. The police and Rapid Action Force came into action and prevented further trouble. Three persons were arrested.

On 3rd February there were clashes between those going for Friday prayers in Kamalmaula Masjid and Bhojshala temple for worship in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. The Hindu Jagran Manch, a Sangh Parivar unit has been claiming that Kamalmaula Masjid is a Hindu temple and Dhar has become communally highly sensitive place and clashes occur here frequently. More than 300 Muslims were prevented from entering the sque to pray and police had to resort to lathicharge and fire teargas shells and impose curfew. Muslims had to pray in a temporary structure outside. Later on curfew was relaxed and Hindus were allowed to perform puja.

Very surprisingly clashes between Muslims and Buddhists occurred in Leh in J&K on 10th February. The mob set ablaze a house at Horay Gonpa in protest against the alleged desecration of Qur’an. 31 persons were arrested in clashes between Muslims and Buddhists. The Qur’an was allegedly kept inside the mosque in Bodh Kharboo in Kargil. Curfew had to be imposed which continued for few days and Army had to stage flag march. Leh, in a sense, is communally sensitive as earlier too clashes had occurred between Muslims and Buddhists.

There were clashes in Muzaffarnagar, U.P. between communities on 17th February during demonstrations against cartoons of the Prophet of Islam. Six persons were injured. The sentiments were inflamed as U.P.’s minister of Haj Haji Muhammad Yaqoob announced reward of 51 crores of rupees for anyone who brings the head of the cartoonist. PAC was posted to control the situation. In Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh also clashes occurred between Muslims and Hindus in which one shop was set on fire and 5 persons were injured on same day i.e. on 11th February in Char Minar and other areas. Hyderabad witnessed similar disturbances again on 24th February when a religious place was desecrated in Karwan locality. The faces of lions installed outside the religious place were found broken. Immediately large number of people collected and began stoning the houses of other community. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the mob.

On 3rd March Lucknow which is not so communally sensitive witnessed communal clashes between Hindus and Muslims in which 4 persons were killed while Muslims were staging demonstrations against Prophet’s cartoons after Friday prayers in Aminabad, Qaiserganj, Latoosh Road when Muslims forced shopkeepers to down their shutters. However, according to Muslim source disturbances started when Khatiks (Hindu slaughterers) stoned Muslims protesting against Prophet’s cartoons. Then firing started from both sides in which 4 persons were killed. Majority of those injured were Muslims. In retaliation Muslims stoned many vehicles and damaged them and set fore to effigies of Bush.

Goa also witnessed communal violence on 4th March when Muslims took out protest march against demolition of a structure used for prayer by the minority community. To save the minority community, police claimed, they were evacuated. The Congress blamed the Hindu fundamentalists for disturbances. The Hindus stoned the Protest march. Then the mob ransacked several establishments and torched vehicles. Police fired in the air when someone attacked inspector Gaad and snatched his revolver. Two persons were injured in the firing. About 100 persons were arrested.

Bangalore saw communal violence on 10th March when dispute started between members of two communities in a Muslim majority area of city on the question of barking of dog. The argument between youths of two communities and 9 persons were injured when stoning started and one person was seriously injured in stabbing. The police brought the situation under control.

On March 26 Baroda witnessed communal violence once again in Fatehpura area. More than 100 persons gathered and stoned in which 6 persons were injured. The dispute between the two communities arose on small matter and soon engulfed the area in violence. Of the injured four were seriously injured and had to be hospitalised.

Aligarh flared up on the eve of Navratri on April 6 and four persons were killed. The two communities indulged in stoning and firing. It was alleged that Muslims removed the decorative lighting of a temple and violence flared up. Then the clash occurred with Muslims in Sabzi Mandi and Daiwali Gali. In fact, some alleged that when a piyao (structure for drinking water) was sought to be used as temple and was decorated with lights on the occasion of Navratri, the dispute started and took violent form. Besides 4 persons who died, 13 were injured of which 6 were in critical condition. Curfew had to be imposed in the area of five police stations.

On April 11, on the occasion of Prophet’s birth day Khandwa was engulfed in communal violence and in Pali in Rajasthan was also affected on this occasion. Twelve persons were injured in stoning in Khandwa. In both the places indefinite curfew was imposed. The police sources in Khandwa said that dispute started when some Muslims removed a Raavi Pandal in Jalebi chowk. In Pali, 10 persons were injured when a procession of Mahavir Jayanti was stoned. Some Muslims objected to procession being taken from Pinjara Mohalla and trouble started.

Thana experienced communal disturbances on 24th April. It is reported that one Muslim was unloading wood from a truck when two Hindu youth objected. However, matter was apparently settled but at night around 10 p.m. some Hindu youth came with swords and attacked Muslim houses. But Bajrang Dal group leader Prakash Ramkumar Yadav claimed that clashes started when he and his father were attacked and injured. But Mahmood Dalvi said he received a phone call from the area and when he reached there Ramprakash Yadav, along with 150 others were attacking Muslim houses. They were saying that we will make this area Gujarat. It was also alleged that when Muslim houses were being attacked the local MLA Eknath Sinde and policemen were silent spectators. Muslims alleged that police was arresting us instead of mischief mongers and attackers. Muslims felt terrorised by Bajrang Dal activists and lack of police support.

On April 25 one person was killed in Bhivandi, a Shiv Sainik, on the question of playing cricket. Four others were injured. It all started with a cricket ball hitting a Hindu woman and Muslim boys refusing to stop playing cricket. They forcibly stopped and slapped the boys. The boys threatened to return and settle score. They, some 30 in all returned with sticks, chains and stumps and attacked Mohan. Mohan later succumbed to his injuries. Police arrested six boys and was looking for 20 others.

Baroda, communally highly inflammable place since early eighties, once again was in flames on May 1st when a three hundred year old dargah of Chishti Rashiduddin was demolished by Vadodara Municipal Corporation which sparked riots in which 4 persons were killed and more than 12 were injured in police firing. Two of the dead had bullet injuries while other two were stabbed. It was demolished as an ‘illegal structure’. How can a three hundred year old dargah be declared as illegal?

Initially there was argument between residents of the locality but matter worsened when police intervened leading to riots which soon spread in different parts of the city. The police failed to disperse the mob by lathicharge and resorted to firing. Later on one Muslim was burnt alive along with his car and when people phoned control room police allegedly said ‘Go to Pakistan’. According to one estimate in all 6 persons died.

On intervention by Kamaluddin Bawa, it was agreed by Muslims that a portion of Mazar could be sliced of for road widening but when Muslims discovered that VMC plans to demolish entire Mazar they protested. The corporators most of whom were from BJP also maintained that when they could demolish temples why can’t VMC demolish dargah. But they forgot that temples were unauthorised and of recent origin whereas dargah was three hundred years old and could not be called ‘illegal’. Anyway it resulted in serious communal violence resulting in death of six persons. On 18th May dead bodies of two children were found in decomposed state in the dicky of a car belonging to a VHP leader. How heinous crimes these communal fanatics can commit!

Aligarh witnessed another bout of communal violence on 29th May when a BJP leader was murdered and in retaliation two persons were killed. The police further extended the curfew which was already force since last eruption of violence and clamped it in two more areas. Thus curfew was clamped in all five police station areas. Ahmedabad also experienced communal violence after a scooter rider knocked down person of another community near a place of worship. The police resorted to lathi charge and in all 30 persons were injured both in lathicharge and stoning between persons of two communities.

Next communal violence erupted in Karoli, Rajastan on 16th June when at a tea stall a mentally unstable person put cow dung on Qur’an and wrote objectionable things on it and showed it to people. This caused provocation to Muslims who set fire to two Hindu shops besides damaging some stalls. They then marched to collector’s office and submitted a memorandum demanding action against the offender. Some Hindus set fire to an autorickshaw. There were some incidents of stabbing also.

On 18th June there was incidence of communal violence in Goda village in Pratapgarh district of U.P. Two girls were burnt alive after the murder of a Hindu youth by some unknown persons. As the news of Hindu youth’s murder spread hundreds of people poured in Gonda village with weapons and attacked establishment of a Muslim community in Gonda, Baldu and Subedar villages. Over 100 houses were set ablaze in which two girls were charred to death. These three villages border on Pratapgarh and Raebareli districts. Immediate police reinforcements were rushed and situation was controlled. Some 100 persons were arrested.

On fourth September Raesen town in M.P. saw eruption of communal violence. Some persons allegedly threw pieces of beef at Jain temple. Hearing this news Hindus began to gather in large numbers and began stoning shops belonging to Muslims and damaging them. The police tried to disperse mob by firing teargas shells and when crowd did not disperse it fired three rounds in the air. Police reinforcements and rapid Action Force was brought to keep situation under control.

Ganpati festival is another occasion for eruption of communal violence. This year on 7th September Rabori area of Thane, near Mumbai and Usmanabad in Marathwada saw eruption of communal violence. In Rabori Muslims and those in the Ganpati procession clashed and began stoning but the police was quite alert and immediately brought the situation under control within 15 minutes.

However, it was more serious in Usmanabad where those in the Ganpati procession began throwing gulal (red powder) at Muslims in an inebriated state. They threw stones at the mosque and several Muslim shops. They also began to set fire to shops and vehicles and broke open some shops. It went on till late at night. It began from Khwajanagar of Shams chowk and continued right up to Samtanagar, near the place where Ganpati is submerged in water. Police arrested 64 persons from both the communities.

Nanded is another communally sensitive town in Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It witnessed communal violence on 29th September when student organisation Chava took out procession against reservation on religious grounds and passed through a Muslim locality and began stoning a mosque and damaged stalls selling iftar (breaking fast) eatables as it was month of Ramadan. These students having support of Shalinitai, a Maratha leader, were carrying lathis and other sharp weapons. They were shouting slogans against Muslims and attacked Abidin mosque near Bank of Hyderabad and damaged stalls selling fruits for Iftar. The vehicle belonging to Chava was full of stones. They were also carrying and waving swords. The police remained silent spectator and did not take any action against students. This procession was taken out when article 144 was in force. But police Dy.S.P. Abdurrazzaq claimed it lathicharged the processionists and arrested 30 of the Chava Organisation.

Mangalore in South Karnataka is highly sensitive area and BJP has its stronghold here. Since the BJP became part of ruling coalition in Karnataka, the communal situation has deteriorated there. The police is playing partisan role and Sangh Parivar members have become quite bold. Mangalore area has history of communal violence. In 1998 Surathkal riots 8 persons were killed and Muslim properties were widely damaged. This time around 2 persons were killed in Mangalore area between October 4 and 7 but also in between hundreds of minor skirmishes took place between Hindus and Muslims.

The communal polarisation has been created by BJP since 1992 when Babri Masjid was demolished and JP has reaped benefits in elections by winning 11 seats in Assembly elections of 2004 from the region. According to T.A. Jhonson of Indian Express “several flashpoints for communal violence have emerged from the issue of transportation of cows in violation of a state law to eve teasing to inter-religious relationships.” Also, the minorities complain of administration’s bias since the BJP became partner in coalition. Ironically the Mangalore district is under the charge of a BJP minister. The rightwing Hindu youth feel that they can get away with anything. Those in 15-25 year age group are cause of frequent violence against Muslims and over-react on issues like cow transportation as they feel no action will be taken against them.

However, Hamid Khan, member of the Muslim Central Committee said that police acted swiftly after outbreak of violence on October 4 and imposed curfew effectively, otherwise situation would have got out of control. The BJP minister Nagaraj Shetty also gave assurance that action will be taken against the guilty “without politics”. The Janata Dal (Secular) which allied with BJP blamed Bajrang Dal and SIMI for violence.

On the occasion of Diwali on 22nd October communal violence erupted in three districts of U.P. Muzaffarnagar, Blandshahar and Ambedkarnagar. In Khalapar region of Muzaffarnagar a firecracker was ignited and dispute started with this between some Hindus and Muslims and violence erupted in which one person was killed and more than three were injured. There was firing from rooftops, which continued for half an hour resulting death of one person. Mulayamsingh declared compensation of Rs.5 lakhs for family of Pankaj killed in the clashes. Another person, a student of 11th class was murdered in Ambedkarnagar and communal disturbances started in which several people were injured including some police officers. Here many shops and houses were also damaged.

From what has been narrated above it can be seen that several small riots take place on small matters like playing cricket or lighting a cracker or someone being knocked down by a scooterist and so on. Why does it assume communal colour? The obvious reason is that communal forces indulge in communal propaganda and poison the minds of people and this continues throughout the year without any respite. This helps create communal mindset and even personal disputes between Hindus and Muslims then acquire communal colour and becomes cause of communal violence.

Communal propaganda going on unceasingly becomes greatest obstacle in smooth relationship between two major communities of India. Unfortunately the governments even in the Congress ruled states does not contemplate any action against such propaganda though there are laws prohibiting such propaganda creating ill will between communities. Not only this there is pronounced bias in text books taught in government as well as private schools from primary to secondary levels. These text-books also help create polarisation in our country. Education has thus become part of the problem instead of part of the solution.

One more thing which we observe from description of riots above that these incidents sparking communal violence do not assume major proportions only because political parties do not perceive any political benefit in spreading communal violence and police curbs violence by taking effective action. However, if politicians perceive any direct benefit they immediately exploit the incidents to create major communal flare up. Thus it is mainly politicians who are responsible for major communal flare up. The violence will be contained if politicians do not want and it will assume major proportions, if they desire communal violence for electoral politics like in Mumbai in 1992 and Gujarat in 2002.

It is only proper awareness among people and active role of civil society actors which can help contain major mishaps. We need aware and vibrant civil society to contain outbreak of major communal violence. When civil society gets polarised on communal lines as in Gujarat, it becomes very difficult for civil society to intervene.

__________________________

Asian American Hotel Owner\'s Association support Modi and Jindal

By Coalition Against Genocide

22 February, 2005
CAG
The Asian American Hotel Owner Association’s (AAHOA) has created a storm in US by inviting a militant,anti-minority Indian politician to its annual convention. AAHOA will be honoring Narendra Modi, the Chief executive of the Indian state of Gujarat who is accused of sharing responsibility in the massacres, sexual mutilations and rapes of Muslims and persecution of Christians, indigenous tribes and moderate Hindus.

Narendra Modi has been indicted by various Indian and International human rights organizations for his role in the pogroms directed at the Muslim community in Gujarat in 2002. He was criticized by the Supreme Court of India as a modern day Nero for his actions during the 2002 massacres and has two cases lodged against him in the State of Gujarat.

The AAHOA’s membership predominantly consists of immigrants from Modi’s home state. Its decision to honor Modi in its convention and trade fair on March 24 – 26 has been controversial in the organization itself. AAHOA’s decision to invite Modi raises the speculation that Indian American Professional Organizations are being infiltrated by sectarian ultra-nationalists and have become conduits for their fundraising and political support in US.

In response to these disturbing developments, a wide spectrum of organizations based in US have come together to form a coalition – Coalition Against Genocide (CAG). The member organizations in CAG have diverse backgrounds including community-based groups, developmental groups, human rights groups and academic experts that have been coordinating their efforts against the spread of religious hatred in India. CAG asserts that its stand is a just and moral stand and is in the best interest of the US society, the Indian Diaspora and India.

CAG will adopt a multi pronged strategy to expose and marginalize the extremists and will work towards safeguarding the pluralist ethos of India and the economic well being of the Indian Diaspora in US.

The Coalition has demanded that AAHOA rescind its invitation to Narendra Modi. CAG has brought to attention the fact that Modi’s party has been glorifying Hitler and his genocidal policies in the state run schools. Modi is in close alliance with and promotes the extreme right-wing Hindutva movement that is supremacist and anti-minority and whose members were responsible for the assassination of Gandhi. This movement was formed on the model of Mussolini’s Fascist party in the 1920s and has been glorifying Hitler since the 1930s.

CAG is hopeful that AAHOA members will take these facts into account and force its Board to rescind the invitation given to Mr. Modi.

_____________________

Copy of CAG’s letter to AAHOA:

To: The President and Board
Asian American Hotel Owners Association
66 Lenox Pointe N.E, Atlanta Georgia 30324.
February 19, 2005
Dear Sir:

We represent a coalition of national and local organizations in the U.S. and are writing to express our moral outrage at your invitation to Narendra Modi to speak at your convention in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on March 24-26, 2005.

As you must know, Mr.Modi has been indicted by all reputable Indian and International human rights organizations for his role in the ethnic cleansing and pogroms against the Muslim community in Gujarat, India in 2002, in addition to having two cases lodged against him in the state of Gujarat.

In the state-sponsored pogrom in Gujarat, thousands of people were killed and made refugees, hundreds of women and young girls were brutally raped and tortured, religious places of worship were defiled and destroyed, and property loss and damage ran to millions of dollars. These heinous crimes were not only committed under Gujarat Chief Minister Modi’s watch, but also condoned by him. The Supreme Court of India has rebuked the State Government of Gujarat for its faulty and discriminatory handling of more than 2000 cases that were never even properly investigated let alone tried. The Gujarat State government under Mr. Modi continues to discriminate against Muslim and Christian minorities to this day.

By honoring Mr. Modi at the AAHOA Meeting, you dishonor the victims of the Gujarat pogrom, and insult the moral dignity of all Indians and world citizens. Your decision to invite Mr. Modi brings shame to the Indian-American community, which takes pride in upholding secular principles.

Apart from the fact that your decision to invite Mr. Modi is morally repugnant, it is also economically unwise as it will negatively influence the patronage of AAHOA member hotels by a vast majority of peace loving (Indian and non-Indian alike) residents of the US.

We are perturbed that a service-based industry such as the hotel industry would put its reputation and financial well-being on the line by endorsing a man like Mr. Modi who is being tried for his complicity in crimes against humanity in India.

We demand that you rescind your invitation to Mr. Modi so as to repair the damage done by your association. If the invitation is not rescinded by 5PM Monday, February 21st we will be forced to launch a public campaign on this issue.
Sincerely, on behalf of Coalition Against Genocide

Mr. George Abraham
Dr. Angana Chatterji
Ms. Sapna Gupta
Dr. Ashwini Rao
Dr. Shaik Ubaid
Coalition Against Genocide, 8480 Baltimore National Pike #286,Ellicott City, MD 21043
coalition.against.genocide@gmail.com

Rohit Bhan
Saturday, July 21, 2007 (Ahmadabad)
There could be fresh trouble for the Naraendra Modi government in Gujarat.

The Nanavati Commission, probing the Gujarat riots of 2002, has asked the state government to hand in its analysis of cell phone data between February 27, 2002 and March 4, 2002 when the state was engulfed by communal violence.

On Friday, NDTV had reported that lawyers and activists for victims of the Gujarat riots had submitted analysis of phone record to the Nanwati Shah Commission.

The analysis of those records provided by the Crime Branch seemed to show key policemen moving out of the areas where riots were taking place.

The Gujarat police had handed over two CDs with this data to the Commission four years ago.

”The Commission today has given us two weeks time during which we will complete our analysis and present it before the Commission,” said Arvind Pandya, lawyer, Gujarat government.

Interestingly, the Commission observed that if the government fails to do so it will accept the analysis of phone records provided by civil rights group Jan Sangharash Manch on Friday.

This analysis points to a pattern linking the police, politicians and Sangh activists during the attacks on Gulbarg Society and Naroda Patiya on February 28, 2002 where over 130 people were killed.

”If the State Government does not submit its findings within two weeks, it will not be taken on record,” said Mukul Sinha, lawyer, Jan Sangharsh Manch.

But riot victims who lived through those days don’t need phone records as proof.

Roopa Modi’s son Azhar went missing during the attack on Gulbarg Society and believes police officers deliberately stayed away to give rioters a free hand.

”My husband was there at the police station. I called the police several times that we are trapped but they did not act. Nobody bothered about us,” said Roop Modi.

The Narendra Modi Government may now have to answer some uncomfortable questions with the Nanavati Commission directive to complete cell phone findings within two weeks.

Having sat on the records for the last four years the government will now have to try and prove that there was no complicity between the police, politicians and Sangh activists during India’s most violent communal riots in recent history.

Noticias de Rupia | Nouvelles de Roupie | Rupiennachrichten | новости рупии | 卢比新闻 | Roepienieuws | Rupi Nyheter | ルピーニュース | Notizie di Rupia | PAKISTAN LEDGER | پاکستاني کھاتا | DefensebriefsIntellibriefs Translate this page on to one of these languages: Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape Bookmark and Share Add to Technorati Subscribe to our RSS feed: | RUPEE NEWS | June 16th, 2008 | Moin Ansari | معین آنصآرّی | اخبار روپیہ | Save/SharePost to MySpace!