GUJARAT (AN INDIAN STATE) : MINORITIES IN THE STORM OF COMMUNAL ATTACKS - A REPORT FROM THE RELIGIOUS CLEANSING LABORATORY OF RASHTRIYA SWAYAM SEWAK SANGH (RSS)

INTRODUCTION :

  Reports of attacks on minorities in Gujarat have been appearing in the newspapers, which include reports of minorities being driven out of their villages by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal (BD) - two wings of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) - an Hindu extremist organisation which believes in a Hindu theocratic state, devoid of minorities.

  In order to verify the truth about these reports and to find out the complete picture of the attacks on minorities, activists of the Nishant Natya Manch (Nishant in Hindi means, "the end of darkness - dawn", and Natya Manch stands for "theatre forum"), a well-known street theatre group linked to people's democratic movements and the Progressive Organization of Women (POW) went to various places in Gujarat. Shamshul Islam, Neelima Sharma, Sandhya, Bharat Acharya and Shirin constituted the team. The team stayed in Gujarat from August 23 to 30, 1998.

  The team surveyed many areas and talked to the affected people. Members of the team held lengthy discussions with intellectuals and journalists. The team not only collected facts regarding attacks on minorities, but also intervened culturally. Street plays and songs against communalism, religious fundamentalism and dehumanization were presented at many places. These programmes also facilitated the process of finding out the truth and reaching out to the people against these attacks.

  The team has prepared this Report on the basis of its findings. The opinions of affected people and of intellectuals has been given in detail in the Report. Opinions of organizations like the RSS, the VHP, and the BD are given in detail in their leaflets which are appended to this Report. The expressed opinions of these organizations is quite clear in these leaflets. The conclusions of the investigations are present in the opinions of various people. The Report presents a living picture of the atrocities being committed on the minorities in Gujarat.

  It also discusses the poisonous and filthy propaganda by the Hindu extremists against the minorities. There is an attempt to reply with facts and arguments to the issues being raised by the organisations of the RSS, despite the fact that such Hindutvavadi (Hindu extremist) organizations hardly bother about truths and arguments. They are the true followers of Hitler's Propaganda Minister Gobbels who believed that if a lie is repeated frequently and loudly enough, it becomes the truth. Incidently. M.S.Golwalkar, the philosopher and guide of the RSS idealised Hitler in his book, "We or Our Nationhood Defined", which has been reffered to at the end of the Report.

  The Report contains descriptions of atrocities being committed on minorities in different parts of Gujarat. The attacks are not restricted to a single minority community, but are concentrated on two minority communities- Christians and Muslims. The second main feature is that these attacks are not confined to any particular place or area but are spread over whole of Gujarat.  From the areas bordering Madhya Pradesh to the coastal areas, everywhere these minorities are being attacked. This makes it clear that the attacks on the minorities are not inspired by any local reasons, rather the local reasons are mere excuses. Secondly, these attacks have no relation with any 'provocative activities' of any specific community, because these attacks are not restricted to any area or a community. Actually their aim is to mould multi-religious Gujarati society into a Hindutva framework.

  Somewhere a land dispute, somewhere an inter-religious marriage, somewhere a dispute over religious places, somewhere distribution of Bibles- many such local issues serve as lame excuses. Landgrabbers, lumpens and cheats obviously play a leading role in these attacks. But this is not the essence of these attacks. These constitute a definite thinking and plan to achieve a desired goal. And in this lies the grave challenge to the unity and integrity of the people.

  The aim of these attacks is to reduce the minorities into second class citizens and to prove that in a Hindu dominated country there is right to propagate only the majority religion - minorities do not have the right to build their religious places or propagate their religion.

  Attacks on Christians are centred around Adivasi (tribal) areas where the Hindutvavadi organizations want to forcibly convert them to Hinduism. According to them, they are doing this in reply to conversions of Adivasis to Christianity by Christian missionaries. The aim behind the aggressiveness that has come in the activities of Hindutvavadi organizations is to preserve the backwardness, illiteracy, loot and exploitation of Adivasis. The local elements exploiting the Adivasis are leaders and sympathizers of these Hindutvavadi organizations. Every person should have the right to keep his faith without inducement or pressure. But, the Hindutvavadi organizations want to maintain the status quo, by any means.

  The Report contains detailed descriptions of the attacks on minorities in different parts of Gujarat. The main question is to understand the real character of the danger outlined in the Report and to defeat the designs and conspiracies of the Hindutvavadi organizations.

 As indicated by the title of the Report, the Hindutvavadi organizations have chosen Gujarat to put into practice their experiment of religious cleansing of minorities. It is a well-known fact that the RSS is the main vehicle and basic organization of Hindutva. It has organizations on different fronts starting from the VHP, the BD, and the Hindu Jagaran Manch that are mainly used to violently attack the minorities and then organisations like the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) represent its political face. The RSS is not only the ideological guide of all these organizations but also maintains political and organizational control over them. Hence, the struggle against aggressive Hindu communalism is in the main a struggle against the ideology, politics and organization of RSS.

  From the time of its formation itself, the RSS has practised the policy of dividing Indian society. It deliberately and with a thought out decision kept itself apart from the Freedom Struggle of the country. Rather in its eyes, the colonial rule was useful for realizing its concept of Hindu Rashtra. The participation of its leaders in the freedom movement was zero. Rather, they supported the British colonial rulers. And this was not accidental; it was the very basis of Hindu Nationalism preached by the likes of the RSS.

  Even today, the Hindutvavadi organizations are playing the game of imperialist forces against the country and its people. They have reduced patriotism to some symbols so that keeping these symbols in the forefront, they can sell the whole country to the foreign powers. Today they want to use atomic bomb as such a symbol. In the haze of atomic explosions at Pokhran, they handed over rights of over 1 lakh sq. km of area to the foreign countries for mines and petroleum extraction. Their concept of patriotism has no place for an independent, self sufficient economy, a just and egalitarian social order and a political system respecting democracy and people's rights. For them patriotism is strengthening the stranglehold of domestic reaction and imperialist exploitation by dividing the people and making them fight each other. That is why they cannot see the inhuman exploitation of workers at Ankaleshwar (the biggest industrial area of Asia, situated in Gujarat) and they want to maintain the oppression of Dalits (lower castes) and Adivasis. These retrogressive organizations who also support sati (the practice of immolating widows over the funeral pyre of their husbands), are advocating formation of squads in Gujarat to regulate Hindu women's conduct, like diktates of the Taliban in Afghanistan for Muslim women.

  The fact which the Report has brought out and which is important in the struggle against aggressive Hindu communalism is the growing hold of Hindutvavadi organizations on the state machinery. The Srikrishna Commission inquiring into the Mumbai riots of 1992-93 has also expressed grave concern over the communalization of the police force. No wonder, Purshottam Solanki, indicted by Srikrishna Commission in Mumbai riots, is a member of the Gujarat Cabinet. The communal role of the local police officers in the Seelampur riots in Delhi, after demolition of Babri Masjid, is no longer hidden. The role of the police in the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984 can never be forgotten. Infact, the increasing hold of these aggressive communal organizations on the state machinery significantly increases the danger of fascism.

  The Report also assesses the role of the media and shows how they have become vehicles of Hindutvavadi propaganda. Taking side of the aggressive Hindu communalism of the RSS by a section of newspapers makes this danger more grave.

  A major aspect of the Report is also that large sections of society are opposed to the Hindutva of RSS. Forces of secularism and communal amity are widespread in this country. There is a widespread base in the country and society to combat the fascist danger presented by the Hindutvavadi forces led by the RSS.

  We hope that this Report will not only help in exposing the ugly and evil designs of Hindu fundamentalists who are at the moment, using Gujarat as their laboratory for religious cleansing of minorities, but also motivate the common secular people to struggle against them. With this hope we are publishing the Report.

THE REPORT:

  These days the Muslim and Christian citizens of this country in Gujarat are going through a painful round of devastation and oppression which is unprecedented in the history of India. It is only by going there that one can understand the terrible times through which their lives are passing. The devastated places of worship, educational institutions, photographs and statues of Jesus Christ and Mary, the burnt houses and shops and the Christian and Muslim children, youth, elderly and women who have been victims of persecution - all suggest that Gujarat, rather than being a state of secular India, is an independent Hindu religious state, from where it has been decided to eliminate the minorities. Today's Gujarat is definitely a hostile place for Muslims and Christians. The elements who are triumphantly waving the flag of aggressive religious fanaticism in Gujarat have long since wiped out the truth that the minority communities have equal rights.

  On reaching Gujarat, it doesn't take long to realize the dangerous game that is being played there in the name of religion. We were in South Gujarat. It is surrounded by the Arabian Sea, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. This is the area where the most organized efforts are on to finish off the dreams of a secular India. Generally a signboard is up before the villages, "You are welcome to a village of Hindu Rashtra - Vishwa Hindu Parishad". These boards outside the villages mock the Constitution's Preamble, where it is asserted that India is a democratic and secular state. Signboards of this sort are not just for show. In this area, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is indeed ferociously engaged in changing a secular state into a Hindu Rashtra (Nation) as though engaged in a battle. For this it is necessary that either Muslims and Christians should be chased out of this area, or they should be forced, through fierce communal persecution, to accept the status of second class citizens.
 

Poisonous Propaganda Against Muslims And Christians

  Before cleansing out the minorities, a ground is being prepared through false and vicious propaganda against them on a massive scale. The strategy of making a Hindu Rashtra is being successfully implemented by carefully selecting places as targets, with the help of the administration and a section of the local press. According this propaganda, Muslims and Christians have been declared as anti-Hindu and traitors. Moreover, it claims that Muslims, by marrying Hindu girls, whereas Christians through conversions, want to make the country a Muslim/Christian dominated country. Apart from this, Muslims and Christians are being branded as loafers, thieves, rapists and dishonest people. Pamphlets with cheap and false propaganda like the above are being distributed in lakhs, even though they are clearly violative of the Indian Penal Code, Indian Constitution and the Human Rights Declaration. (Annexure 1 for some specimens of these original pamphlets)

  In accordance with this philosophy, terrible attacks are taking place in innumerable places in Gujarat on minorities and their establishments.

Communal Colour to Relations Between Hindu Girls and Muslim Boys : Bardoli

  Bardoli, 35 kms from Surat, was the workplace of Sardar Patel, a prominent figure of the independence movement, and is the city of Swaraj Ashram, a major centre of Gandhians. In the last week of June 1998, a Muslim boy from this place named Hanif married a Jain girl named Varsha in Surat after a love affair for many years. The families of these two had a prior acquaintance with each other. When this news reached Bardoli, VHP and Bajrang Dal raised a hue and cry saying that the case is actually a part of the conspiracy of beguiling Hindu girls to marry Muslim boys and then sending them to various centres in India and in the Gulf for their sexual exploitation. The vernacular local newspapers of Gujarat gave wide coverage to this propaganda. At the behest of the VHP, they even wrote that a Rajasthan based trust was behind such incidents and it gave Rs. one lakh for each Hindu girl thus beguiled. When the communal situation of Bardoli began to deteriorate, Hanif's relatives called the couple to Bardoli and handed them over to the police. The police arrested Hanif, his sister and brother in law.  Hanif is now behind bars under PASA (Prevention of Anti-social Activities Act) and his sister and brother in law have been externed from the city. Varsha was taken into the custody of the communal elements of the city and statements were issued in her name saying she had been forced by Hanif.  Gujarati papers kept on publishing her interviews. Provocative assemblies of the VHP continued and they announced a big protest rally on June 25th, 1998.  It was alleged that when the rally passed the Masjid (mosque), stones were thrown at it.  After that shops and houses in Muslim dominated areas were set ablaze in which properties worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed and many Muslim families had to flee the city.

  Professor Babubhai Desai who led an investigation team of "Movement for Secular Democracy" after the violence in Bardoli, holds the VHP and the police responsible for whatever happened in the city. "These forces changed a completely personal issue into that of communal hatred. The police, whose task was to protect the girl, handed her over to the communal elements.  She was kept in a room and beaten. Now the girl has even given a statement over Star TV in which she has said that the VHP elements beat her up daily. As far as I am aware this girl has stated before the magistrate that she will stay with Hanif only."

  Mr. Babubhai Desai, who teaches English Literature in a college of Surat is clear on one point that "The stories being printed by the local newspapers of violence by Hanif against Varsha or the interviews of Varsha in the Hanif Varsha affair had nothing to do with the truth. These people published Varsha's interviews without even talking to her. The truth is only that whatever material was given by the VHP and Bajrang Dal to them was used religiously by them in their newspapers". Speaking about how VHP and police were responsible for the violence on 25th June in Bardoli, he says, "the VHP had instilled the poison of communalism in the entire atmosphere of Bardoli. The administration was also aware of this. When the communal elements announced a protest rally in Bardoli, people like us thought that the administration would impose Sec. 144 in the area and prevent a gathering. But the administration did no such thing. They not only allowed the rally, but also allowed it to proceed along a route where only Muslims lived. Sensible elements among the Muslims sensed that there may be trouble and requested the police that it should take the Masjid into its custody after the afternoon namaz. And the police did just that. When the rally began, provocative slogans were being raised from the very beginning. There were very few local Hindus in it and most people had been brought from outside by vehicles. They were heavily armed. The shameful aspect is that the police made a show of getting some of the weapons taken off.  However, instead of confiscating them or taking them to the thana, it gave permission to keep them in a temple.  It is being said that there was stone throwing from the Masjid following which the crowd became uncontrollable.  If the Masjid was in the custody of the police, who threw the stones? This question must be answered".

  Mobin Bhai, president of Bardoli Milk Society, and Secretary of Surat District Khadi Producers' Forum was an eyewitness to the incident on 25th June. He says, "Especially since the BJP Govt. has come into power here, the VHP and Bajrang Dal have started inciting communal feelings. They repeatedly do something or the other against the Muslims using one pretext or the other . After the Hanif Varsha incident, the Bajrang Dal and VHP held a meeting here at Govind Ashram, and said that all interaction with Muslims should be stopped. Don't let farm labourers who work on the land of Muslim peasants report for work. They even organized a boycott rally where participants were mostly outsiders, people of Bardoli were less. They had arms. We were sitting and Hindu brothers of Congress were with us. When the rally reached the Masjid, they began throwing stones, and cursing loudly. The tube lights and windows of the Masjid were broken. The Hindu friends with us saw that the Muslims were absolutely peaceful. We rang up the police. The police said that they were keeping a watch. Instead of keeping their weapons in their own custody, the police had allowed them to place them in the temple. The rallyists entered the houses of Muslims. There were women inside so the Muslims stood up to them. They started entering our locality and our society (Housing Society) so we faced them. Hindu brothers and friends were also with us. There was a police patrol on the Masjid. We had closed the Masjid after the afternoon namaz, but they still used it as an excuse. Curfew was imposed at night and during the curfew the shops of Muslims were looted and demolished and their houses burnt though everything was the responsibility of the police".

  Mobin Bhai does not forget to state that no Hindu of Bardoli supported the boycott call. "Hindus are not with them. The police is theirs. The Collector, R.M. Shah, works at the instructions of VHP. He never even calls a meeting of Peace Committee. The govt. should reply to the false and poisonous propaganda of VHP. We told the Collector that six of our girls (i.e. of Muslims) have married Hindu boys. We did not raise a hue and cry. When the girls remained firm despite our explaining to them, we accepted the situation. We did not get provoked even when the event of converting these Muslim girls to Hindus was held with much fanfare." Hanif's younger brother Rafiq and his sister Hamida Farid inform that VHP is still threatening them but they would always like Varsha to be with them.

  According to a report published in the Indian Express of July 10, 1998, "Even after the arrest of Hanif Memon, whose intercommunity marriage with Varsha Shah sparked of communal skirmishes in Bardoli town late last month, the saffron brigade is determined to go ahead with its call for boycott of minority community".

"The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal had given a call for boycott of the minority community to economically and socially weaken the section to protest against what they call its conspiracy to lure Hindu girls into marriage.  General Secretary of the Bardoli unit of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh Harshad Shah told Express Newsline on Thursday that the boycott was on.  Awareness among Hindus was slowly increasing, he claimed, adding the Vishwa Hindu Parishad would also go ahead with its decision to distribute 'Om' stickers to be pasted on autorickshaws driven by Hindu drivers to distinguish them from the ones driven by minority community members.  Hindus would be asked to patronize three-wheelers carrying the ancient Hindu symbol, he added."

  Prof. Desai holds that the Hanif issue was projected due to business jealousy also. "Bardoli has become a centre of neo-rich farmers. Every Sunday around 500 second-hand motor cars are bought and sold. Earlier there used to be an animal fair here, now car-melas are held. Hanif was a big dealer in this car-mela.  A VHP leader was also in this business. This man has played a major role in ruining Hanif's business."

  Regarding the attacks on minorities in Bardoli and many other places in Gujarat, Prof. Desai sadly says that, "Those guilty of killings of minorities and the rape of their women in the riots in Surat in 1992 are roaming free. In those riots the rioters had made a video film of women of minority community being raped and then brutally killed at one place. This incident had shaken all those people in the country who believe in democratic values. The truth till today is that those who had killed Hindus in those riots were caught, but none of those who had killed Muslims and raped women of the minority community have been caught.  Our local newspapers, who go to any extent to investigate events, are silent on this tragic fact. Nobody wants to ask anyone else where are the killers of innocent Muslims and the rapists? They are still visible to everyone but not to the police".

  Bardoli falls in the Surat Parliamentary constituency.  The MP from here, Chittubhai Gamit, who belongs to the Congress, wrote a letter to the National Minorities Commission about the violence in Bardoli, "The District Magistrate R. M. Shah, and the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Shri Vaghela, allowed the RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and the women's organization to take out a rally though the people in the rally were armed with dangerous weapons like swords and knives, which the police has also acknowledged and which, according to the police, were seized and kept near the temple.  I am very surprised as to how the police officers had allowed the keeping of the seized weapons in a public place.  Shri R.M. Shah said in an official announcement that the Muslims threw stones from the Badi Masjid, though, according to the police the Masjid was in their custody and was closed. By giving wrong facts the District Collector has tried to mislead the state govt. and the people of Gujarat...... In view of these facts, I demand that action should be immediately taken against the District Collector who has a communal mentality and who works according to the instructions of the Sangh Parivar and who pressurizes officers subordinate to him to obey the orders of the Sangh Parivar".

Randikpur and Sanjeli : Marriage Issue Again

  The issue which the VHP has latched onto for spreading poison against Muslims and subsequently annihilating them is that of the marriages or love affairs between Muslim boys and Hindu girls. Using these relationships the VHP with its associated organizations let loose such a round of destruction in Randhikpur and Sanjeli, two villages of Gujarat adjoining the state of Madhya Pradesh, that scores of Muslims were forced to flee abandoning their homes and possessions. Arson and looting took place on a large scale and the targets were primarily Muslims. But along with Muslims a Christian mission and a priest were also attacked and apart from other destruction, a statue of Mary was also destroyed.

  All this started on 23rd June 1998 when two adivasi Hindu girls Kanta and Nanda disappeared with two Muslim boys of Sanjeli named Arif and Tiniyo. The VHP and Bajrang Dal gave notice to the Muslims of Randhikpur to hunt out and hand over to them these boys and girls within 48 hours, failing which they should abandon the village.  It should be remembered that the boys with whom these two Randhikpur girls had disappeared belonged not to this village but to Sanjeli which was 15 km away. Eventually when the foursome were not traced, approximately 60 Muslim families had to leave Randhikpur village leaving behind everything they owned.

  How terrible were the atrocities heaped on them by the VHP and Bajrang Dal and what the Muslims of Randhikpur have been through, can be easily estimated from these reports of two national English dailies, Hindustan Times and Indian Express.  According to the report filed by Rathin Das in Hindustan Times of 3rd August '98 from Randhikpur. "Half a century after independence, 59 terrified families of the minority Muslim community of this remote village had to give up their homeland and livestock and flee to a temporary shelter in a town 32 km away, for no fault of theirs. Their terror began after two boys of their community fell in love with two girls of the majority community and reportedly eloped.  Subsequently VHP and Bajrang Dal leaders issued a 48 hour ultimatum asking them to trace the two girls or quit the village.  The families comprising 350 men, women and children fled their village soon after leaving behind their cattle, goats and chicken which were their main means of livelihood. They are now living at the mercy of their relatives in Devgarh Baria which falls in the same district... 'They threatened to kill us if we did not vacate the village in 48 hours', 45 year old Adam Ismail recounted. Currently staying with a relative in Devgarh Baria and working as daily wager in the local fertilizer godown, Ismail was forced to leave his land, a buffalo and eight goats.  His house has been burnt down.  Although eager to return, he fears for his life.  When the journalist reached Randhikpur, he was told by a villager that 'it was risky to go to the village without being escorted by either the Bajrang Dal or the police.'"

  In his report in the Indian Express dated 29/7/98 regarding the situation in Randhikpur and Sanjeli, Darshan Desai has written regarding Muslims, "And when they return- if they gather the courage to- they are likely to find their houses gutted, their possessions destroyed, their future in the balance ... Muslim families were forced to vacate their houses, fleeing to places where they were in a majority such as Godhra, Devgadh Baria and Limkheda.  Sanjeli today is virtually devoid of Muslims; the weekly bazaar dominated by the minority community has been discontinued.  And Randhikpur has become a den of the VHP, with others entering at their own risk".

"Miles away from home, those who have fled still tremble with fear at what they have been through. 'They were about seven, drunk and menacing, with their shirt buttons undone. They hurled filthy abuses and threatened to kill us if we did not leave our houses -Yeh desh tumhara nahi hai, nikal jao - we were told. We were scared, we ran away without even our belongings', says Khatun Ben Mohammad Kalu.  A brave few returned, prompted by assurances from the district authorities. They soon wished they hadn't.  Fatima Adam Japla recalls, 'after the District Collector and the Deputy Suprientendent of Police told us it was safe to return to Randhikpur, many of us went there in a tempo. We were greeted by angry crowds, who threatened us and asked us to go back. They told us we would not be allowed to enter the town if we do not get the missing girls. The police supported the crowd, led by VHP leaders Shailesh Bhatt and Mitesh Bhatt and advised us to leave.' ... District Collector E.I. Kalashwa says, 'the situation is  under control'. Asked if people could return home to Randhikpur he said, 'We welcome them but they do not go' ... The danger associated with going to Randhikpur exists even for those who have nothing to do with the area.  A Photographer on assignment for Indian Express, Bhupendra Patel, was prevented from entering the town on Sunday.  He was gheraoed by at least 100 people, led by Shailesh Bhatt of the VHP.  He was abused, pushed around, slapped on the face and asked to leave.  Last week, a five member team of a Gujarat newspaper, Gujarat Today, was locked up in the Randhikpur police outpost after taking video and still shots of locked and burnt houses owned by Muslims.  The police seized the video cassettes, removed the film and identity card of the correspondent Yunus Gazi"

  Even this did not cool the anger of VHP and associated organizations and on July 12, 1998 they organized a religious meeting at Sanjeli in which their leaders from Baroda and Godhara came and gave intensely provocative speeches.  They said such incidents are occurring because the Pakistan Intelligence Agency, ISI, is instructing Muslim boys to abduct Hindu girls and convert them to Islam so that the population of Muslims can increase.  A provocative pamphlet was also distributed.  A boycott of Muslims was also announced.  Hindus were told to put up saffron flags on their shops and houses and to put stickers on their vehicles so that they could be identified as Hindus.  Hindus were also instructed not to take tempos and jeeps on hire from Muslims.  In the midst of this, the team of The National Minorities Commission which had gone to investigate atrocities against minorities in Gujarat, reached Randhikpur to study the situation despite serious opposition from the VHP.  With this the communal forces became more desperate.

  On August 12, 1998 another incident took place in which a business dispute was given a communal colour.  Here a Muslim had the contract for catching fish in the river.  He was having a dispute with the BJP dominated Panchayat Samiti over the duration of lease of this contract and the fish contractor brought a stay order from the Court against termination of his contract.  But the Panchayat Samiti announced that anyone who wanted to could fish.  As a result the contractor's people had a fight with those fishing and the crowd looted the shops of some Bohra Muslims.  When some Muslim youth surrounded a VHP leader who was leading the attack and trying to enter a widow's house, the police registered cases against 32 Muslims.  The atmosphere was being continually vitiated communally.

  On August 13 an Idgah near Sanjeli was demolished and the same day the Church in Sanjeli was stoned and the priest present there threatened.  Because a big Janmashtami Mela had been organized on August 15, and the Muslims were afraid that the VHP and associated organizations would provoke the crowds to attack them, the Muslims went to meet the Deputy Superintendent of Police and submitted to him a memorandum demanding security arrangements for Muslims.  This senior police officer assured the Muslims that they need not be afraid and should remain within their homes and also park their vehicles within their homes.  But the script for devastation of Muslims had already been written.  On the eve of Independence Day the Muslims of Sanjeli lived through the hell of communal violence for 10 hours. Their shops were demolished, looted, set on fire and houses were stoned.  Scores of storehouses of grain were burnt down.  A crowd of about 5000, at the behest of the VHP and Bajrang Dal, spread devastation under the nose of the police and administration.  The Movement for Secular Democracy and PUCL etc. sent a joint team to Sanjeli to investigate the fight and some of the major conclusions of the investigation are:

1) Sanjeli is a village with approximately six thousand population.  Majority of people are Muslims.  About 10% of the Muslims are rich.  This section either are shopkeepers or own big tracts of land.  Rest of the Muslims are very poor.  There are adivasi majority villages surrounding Sanjeli.

2) Muslims and adivasis have been hesitating from voting for BJP.  In the last Assembly elections too out of the total of 32 adivasi majority constituencies the BJP could secure only 8.  The rest went to Congress or the Rashtriya Janata Party.  BJP is ready to do anything to get a foothold in these areas.

3) There is a class based tension between the Muslim shopkeepers and landlords and the adivasis.  The VHP and Bajrang Dal keep looking for ways and means to turn this antagonism into struggle against the Muslims.

4) In this area adivasi and Hindu girls have eloped with Hindus also but this does not excite comment.

5) The VHP and associated organizations had anyway levelled allegations of trafficking in Hindu girls against Muslims, on August 15, 1998, they raised another issue to terrorize the Muslims.  There is a high school in Sanjeli whose Principal is a Muslim.   On Independence Day, the tricolour was hoisted here and chocolates were given by the Panchayat Samiti for distribution among the students.  The teachers of the school decided that since other people apart from students were also present during the hoisting of the flag, the chocolates should not be distributed that day but given to the students only later.  The BJP and Bajrang Dal propagated this decision of the school in a manner to suggest that the High School's Muslim Principal and other Muslims do not want to express happiness in celebrating Independence Day.  The fact is that out of the 21 teachers in the school only 5 are Muslims, and the person principally responsible for Hindu passions being roused in Sanjeli is Jaswant, the drawing master of the school who is also the Sarpanch.  He raises such issues to browbeat and terrorize the Principal.

  According to Kalika Kumar who has been Sarpanch of Sanjeli for 11 years, the person spearheading the oppression of Muslims has been a detenue under PASA for bribery and cheating. There is also an allegation against him of kidnapping a Hindu girl. When the VHP and Bajrang Dal heap atrocities on the Muslims the police remain a spectator.  Many people are of the opinion that the police abets the devastators.  The police states that to stop the violence it fired 21 teargas shells and fired 52 rounds.  The amazing thing is that despite all this, violence against Muslims and Christians, arson and looting continued for ten hours and despite so much firing by the police, no rioter was even injured.

6) VHP and Bajrang Dal had prepared for the violence.  This is also evident from the fact that there were continual announcements that no Hindu women should attend the Janmashtami Mela on August 15.

7) The VHP and Bajrang Dal are not only against Muslims in this entire area but are also attacking the Christians.  Hindu communal organizations emphasized that the violence in Sanjeli was due to the fact that Muslims were running away with Hindu girls and did not want to celebrate India's Independence Day.  If this is so then why did the same crowd attack the Christian Akhandvani Mission on 15th of August itself at 5:30 pm?  They not only attacked the Ashram but also pulled down and destroyed a statue of Mother Mary.

8) In order to hide their shameful deeds in Sanjeli and Randhikpur the VHP and Bajrang Dal beat up the reporters and photographers who went to get information about the atrocities on minorities.

  There have been other incidents in Gujarat of marriage with Hindu girls by Muslims men, or the disappearance of Muslim men with Hindu girls (which VHP terms as the kidnapping of Hindu girls). In the Nevimagnani village of Gondal Talluk in Rajkot the VHP and Bajrang Dal made a lot of noise over a similar incident.  When the team of National Minorities Commission visited Surat, the VHP presented a Hindu girl before them who testified that a Muslim boy had deceived her and forced her into marriage. Later he betrayed her and now the girl had been forced to take shelter in a brothel.

SOME QUESTIONS:

  Without enquiring into the truth or otherwise of the facts of these incidents some questions definitely arise.  When attempts were made to talk to responsible people of VHP in Rajkot, Surat, Ahmedabad, everywhere only one answer was received after the questions were heard, and that is that we too were raising these questions at the behest of the ISI.  The questions are:

1) How many Muslims men have disappeared with Hindu girls or have married them in the past five years in the whole of Gujarat.  Even if a very generous estimate is taken still the number will not cross 1500.  The continuous propaganda is that with this number of marriages Muslims will become the majority in Gujarat.

2) No figure is available either on how many Muslim girls have married Hindu boys or disappeared with them in the past five years.  6 Muslim girls have gone with Hindu boys from Bardoli itself where the Hindu communal organizations went violent over the relations between Varsha and Hanif.  The crux of the problem is that according to Hindu communal thinking relations between Muslim girls and Hindu boys are a positive thing and there is nothing objectionable about it.  But can the same right not be given at all to Muslims boys?

3) When the police caught the Hindu girls who went with Muslim boys; the Muslim boys were punished but often these girls were handed over to VHP and Bajrang Dal and these organizations forced the girls to give statements of the kind they wanted.

  The Indian Express on 1.9.98 printed a report filed by their Vadodara correspondent regarding the recovery of the two girls of Randhikpur, whom the police had recovered and brought from Pune two days earlier.  Despite being brought by the police they were handed over to the VHP leaders.  This happened at the period when the judiciary gave them some time to think before giving any statement.  According to the Indian Express, "They were lodged at the Nari Sanrakshan Grah, where local VHP leaders reportedly established contact with them and on Monday took custody of them. VHP leader Neeraj Jain, who convened an impromptu press conference here at the VHP office in the evening and produced the girls, claimed they had been kidnapped. The girls, who were visibly hesitant to talk, nodded in agreement with what Jain said.  When asked if they had given a contradictory statement to the police earlier, the girls did not reply. I nstead, Jain said that there was no question of such a statement when they were kidnapped. Prompted continuously by Jain, Kanta, the spinster among the two, said she was going home for lunch when she was whisked away. ... When told that the girls had informed the Pune police that they had gone of their own volition and were not kidnapped, Jain said, 'The police there could not understand; they must be Marathi speaking while the girls are Gujarati'.  When reporters looked at the girls, they smiled and looked away.  Asked how they had come in contact with the VHP, they looked at Jain, who said , 'This is on the basis of court order, and now we will take them to their parents in Randhikpur'.  When Jain told reporters that the boys' community had given them money, reporters looked at the girls.  Nanda, however, then said they worked at a hotel to earn livelihood.  Asked how were they treated by the boys, both said together, 'Very well'.  When asked why they had not escaped when the boys went home for work, Jain replied (before they could), 'obviously because they would have no money to run away'.  They nodded in approval."

  Dwarka Nath Rath, who is an activist of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), started investigating the cases which VHP and vernacular newspapers alleged were of Muslim boys deceiving or forcing Hindu girls into marriage.  He found that Kinari Patel, Aarti Champanari and Yogita Dhemar are leading happy married lives with their Muslim husbands.  From two cases pending before the Gujarat High Court it became clear that due to the communal thinking in Gujarat the Hindu girls who marry Muslim boys are reprimanded.  A report in the Ahmedabad Edition of Indian Express of 16 July 1998 states that the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court Rekha Ben M. Doshit has issued notice to Surat Police Superintendent and the Collector while admitting the petition of Majid Bhai (of Vallak village of Surat Dist.) in which Majid Bhai had alleged that he has married a Hindu girl named Bindiya and is thereafter being harassed due to communal reasons.  Another case of similar nature is pending before Justice H. S. Gokhale in which a Hindu girl named Sonal has asked for protection due to being in love with Iliyas, a Muslim boy.  According to the Times of India of 13/08/1998, the High Court has given that protection.

BACKWARD ATTITUDE OF GOVERNMENT AND THE VHP

  In the issue of marriages between Muslim men and Hindu women the Gujarat Govt. has adopted a very backward and openly communal attitude.  In the last week of July '98 the State Home Minister, Haren Pandeya, set up a Special Investigating Agency for all such marriages.  Now all such marriages will have to be with the permission of this Agency.  While reacting to this, the President of the Rashtriya Janata Party in Gujarat, Madhusudan Mistri, said that it was similar to Hitler's fascist decree forbidding marriages between Jews and non Jews. He said, "I would not be surprised if the BJP government decides that Hindu girls should not marry Dalit (lower caste) boys".

  Professor Bandukwala, associated with the civil rights' movement, says that this decision implies that the govt. is also becoming a part of the anti-Muslim hysteria.  Abdul Bhai Mansoor, a shopkeeper of Gandhi Nagar, considers this decision an attack on the secular character of India.  This is a massive favouritism and shows fascist tendencies.  According to him there are scores of examples of Muslim girls marrying Hindu boys.  He asks if the Special Investigative Agency of the Govt. of Gujarat is also going to investigate these marriages? At the moment the govt. is not in a position to give any answer at all to these questions. VHP has discovered another way to deal with these type of marriages.  The All-India Joint Secretary of the VHP, Praveen Togadiya, announced on 1 August 1998 at Ahmedabad that the VHP will form a squad which will keep control on the behaviour of Hindu girls and will warn them about the dangers of being entrapped in love affairs.  He also said that Muslim boys were marrying Hindu girls against their wishes.  He said that the VHP's women's organization, the Durga Vahini, has also been given the task to familiarize the college going Hindu girls about Hindu traditions.

  Examples from outside our country, of such squads being formed for women, are found in Iran during the period of Khomeini reg or recently by the Taliban in Afghanistan forming squads by which the Muslim women will be kept in control in accordance with Shariat.

SOME MORE MACHINATIONS ADOPTED FOR ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS

VYARA INCIDENT

  In order to provoke communal passions against Muslims, the VHP in Gujarat has not only made an issue out of the relations between Muslims boys and Hindu girls, but has also used other methods.  In Vayara, situated close to Bardoli, a small temple was erected overnight close to a Muslim-inhabited area.  Later, a rumour was spread that Muslim boys threw eggs and bones near the temple.  Every attempt was made there to incite communal riots.  Since the ordinary Muslims and Hindus of the city refrained from falling prey to this conspiracy, there were no riots but it is said that many Khandeshi Muslims were forced to abandon their homes and leave the city.  Their properties were bought up dirt cheap.  A team of secular citizens belonging to Surat went to Vayara to investigate the situation. They say that the temple was built in front of a plot of highly priced land which was in the custody of a Muslim family.  This drama was enacted in order to seize that land.

  There have been incidents at other places too, to usurp land owned by Muslims.  According to a report filed in the Times of India (26th July, 1998), seven Muslim families are living in great terror in Basravedi area behind Wintex Mill in Surat city. "These Muslim families are continually receiving threats and warnings from members of Bajrang Dal that they should immediately sell their property and vacate the area. The price of land is skyrocketing in this area. These poor Muslim families own the land, which since long has been sought by the land Mafia for building a commercial complex there."

  When an enquiry team went there to find out the truth, they came to know that the members of Bajrang Dal namely, Kalu Chawda, Guli Jiwan, Laliya Hira, Aku Hira Sumra, Naresh Hira, keep this place surrounded night after night.

A SUFI  MOUSOLEUM (Mazar) TRANSFORMED INTO A HINDU TEMPLE(Mandir)

  There is another incident, this time of Pirana village in Ahmedabad District.  Here there is an over 500 year old mazar (masoleum) of Sufi saint Pir Imamshah.  Both Hindus and Muslims used to come to worship at this shrine.  Followers of this Pir are called 'Satpanthis'.  Since 1939, there is a joint committee of Hindus and Muslims to look after the Mazar and its President is referred to as 'Kaka'.  The current Kaka who is a Hindu, has changed the mazar into a Hindu temple at the behest of VHP and idols of Hindu gods and goddesses have been installed here.  Earlier, 'tazia' used to be taken out from the Mazar but that has now been stopped.  'Kaka' Karsan Das has now become Acharya Maharaj Karsan Das.  In this way the Mazar of a sufi saint has been converted into a centre of communal hatred.  In the issue from Pirana, the BJP Govt. has supported Karsan Das who is linked to the VHP.

SELECTIVE BASHING

  The poisonous communal atmosphere created in Bardoli over Hanif and Varsha had its effect on Surat also.  It would not be incorrect to say that in order to incite fights in Bardoli, VHP used to take most people from Surat. When the situation was tense in Bardoli, VHP and Bajrang Dal announced boycott of Muslims in Surat also.   This especially applied to Muslim auto rickshaw drivers who are a fairly good number in Surat.  Around this time, from the last week of June, 1998 to July 1998, there were 20 incidents when Muslims autorickshaw drivers were attacked at a specific time at night.  In these incidents, the autorickshaw drivers were similarly brutally beaten and their money and other possessions were snatched, Four rickshaw drivers were also attacked with knives and guptis (hidden dagger).  Guptis were thrust so many times into the body of a young rickshaw driver named Asif Abdul Sattar Badshah, that he died on the spot.  His father Sattar Allah Rakha Badshah says that not one of those Bajrang Dal members accused of the attacks on the autorickshaw drivers could be arrested as yet.  Ghulam Memon, president of the Co-operative Autorickshaw Union, Surat, says, "The hand of the VHP and Bajrang Dal in these attacks is clear.  They had distributed pamphlets saying that so one should sit in the autorickshaws of Muslims.  After the case of Ayub Patel who could be saved and before the case of Asif, we observed a fast near the statue of Gandhiji against the attacks of VHP and Bajrang Dal, but the administration sat quiet".  There was a report on this in Indian Express on 23.7.98.

  Senior journalist of Gujarat, R.K. Mishra, is of the opinion that incidents of selective violence against Muslims in Gujarat have not occurred in Surat alone.  Following is his description of the incident which took place on 20th August 1998 in Navsari City in South Gujarat, "There is a well known Hindu doctor in Navsari who has a Muslim compounder.  The entire city is aware that the doctor does not undertake home visits.  He received a phone call asking him to attend to a Jain muni who was very ill.  The doctor stated that he did not attend on patients in their homes, whereupon the person on the phone requested him to send his compounder.  When the doctor asked for the address, the caller stated that since the place was far from the city their own person will come as escort.  After some time a person came on a scooter to take the compounder.  Outside the city, he stopped the scooter before a 'jhonpri' (hut) in an open area, and told the compounder to enter.  When they descended into the adjoining land, he was stabbed brutally with a knife from behind.  The compounder ran shouting for help.  He reached a temple where some women were present, and the attackers ran away.  If this incident in Navsari is seen in the context of the incidents at Surat, it is clear that Muslims are being selectively targeted.  I am of the opinion that such incidents have occurred in many places in Gujarat and the victims have not even reported these incidents out of fear".

COW AND ATTACKS ON MUSLIMS

  In order to justify the violent attacks on Muslims, the VHP and its associated organizations have raised several other issues, like the issues of slaughtering cows.  People connected with the meat trade in Gujarat are facing destitution, just as goldsmiths had become jobless after the ban on gold jewellery in 1962 and many of them had committed suicide.  The reason is that many of the earlier Govts. have placed different types of bans on them.  The Chiman Bhai Patel Govt. made a law which bans sale of meat for over a month. Meat shops are continually closed for twelve days on the occasion of a special festival of the Jains.  The people of VHP continually allege that Muslims (and they associate Christians too with this work) butcher cows.  For example, Surat Dist. VHP has written in one of its pamphlets - "Five cows can be slaughtered with an increase of one Muslim or one Christian".  If anywhere a bigger animal i.e. a Buffalo, has been slaughtered, a hue and cry is raised by labelling it a cow.   Computer engineer Kamlesh, residing in Surat, says, "It is possible that some Muslims may be illegally slaughtering cows, but what punishment would you like to give them? That punishment which has been set down by the law? Or will a religious mob punish them?".  Kamlesh also gives a newspaper cutting of the offensive news item which says, "If one cow is butchered, two Muslim will be butchered".

  According to the Lok Sabha Member of Surat Chittu Bhai Gamit, who belongs to the Congress, "When the Muslims of Bardoli, Kamrej and other places were celebrating Bakr-Id this time, the VHP and RSS spread the false rumour that Muslims are butchering cows on Bakr-Id.  This led to tension in the whole area.  The VHP and RSS pressurized the police and administration into lodging false cases against the Muslims.  For example, 80 year old Adam Musa, who is deaf and dumb, had been arrested under PASA for butchering cows and sent to the far off Porbandar Jail.  When this issue came before the concerned court, the judge was very surprised over the whole affair and ordered that Adam Musa be immediately released".

VIOLENT ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS AND THEIR ESTABLISHMENTS

  It is difficult to count the number of attacks on people subscribing to Christian religion, their saints, their holy books, and their establishments so widespread has been the violence against them by VHP, Bajrang Dal, and their associated organizations and Shiv Sena in Gujarat.   Christians all over Gujarat have been victims of the violent activities of these organizations and continue to be so targeted.  These are some of the incidents which illustrate this.

PIPALWARA VILLAGE

  At Pipalwara village of Vayara Talluk, a temple was built in front of the Church during Christmas last December.  In retaliation to the Christmas celebrations, a three day long Hindu Bhakt Sammelan was announced there.  By provocative speeches and pamphlets distributed at the Sammelan such an atmosphere was created that it seemed the church would be demolished.  Ishwar Bhai, who is an adivasi and lives at Baddi para close to Pipalwara has this to say about the kind of talk at the Bhakt Sammelan, "I went there on Christmas Day on December 25.  The VHP had kept a meeting in front of the Church where their speaker said, 'Jesus was scarcely a God, he was killed by the people themselves.  He did not even have weapons.  How will he protect you? Rama has weapons, he has bow and arrows.  He will protect you. Christians eat the flesh of cows, they have come to entrap you, they will rule over you and will confiscate all the land'".

  The plan of the VHP-Bajrang Dal could not succeed in Pipalwara because the police and the Collector took stringent measures and kept the provocateurs in check.  But overnight, the Collector, who refused to bow before communal elements, was transferred.  This incident of Pipalwara demoralized the govt. officers and subsequent incidents are witness that generally govt. officers have laid down arms before VHP-Bajrang Dal.

PADRA VILLAGE

  On March 2, 1998, local and foreign priests gathered at Padra village in Baroda Dist. were attacked by a violent crowd and the priests were brutally beaten.

VADODARA CITY

  On March 4, 1998, the four day Jesus Mahotsav organized by the Pentecostal Church in Potho Gardens at Vadodara City had just started when 200 activists of the VHP and ABVP entered inside.  They broke mikes, set fire to the stage and beat up whoever they could lay their hands on.

AHMEDABAD

  On May 28, 1998, activists of Bajrang Dal attacked the St. Mary's school run by the Protestant Church at Ahmedabad and ruined it.  They alleged that this school was backing western culture and Sanskrit was not being taught there.  According to Times of India of 29.5.98, the rioters threw down a picture of Mother Mary and broke the frame, broke windowpanes and beat up the staff.

DHARAMPUR

  In Dharampur, activists of VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS took out a violent rally and forced Christians to abandon their homes and properties.  These families have still not returned out of fear.  Says Father Jayanti Meckwan, who himself witnessed the terror of VHP in Dharampur (District Valsad), "They have broken down all the small churches in Dharmapur.  Wherever there are 2-3 Christians families in adivasi villages, they are being terrorized to become Hindus.  They are surrounded and pressurized to throw away the Cross and photographs of Jesus Christ and then they are taken to the river in a procession for purification. Our vehicles are stopped.  Trees and stones are placed as barricades across roads.  They stone Christians. Now we do not go and complain to the police because the police turns around and harasses the Christians. They give a straight answer that problems occur only because of the Christians, that is, those who are bearing the oppression are the guilty.  Those who are attacking the Christians and indulging in violence are openly roaming.  In Dharampur it is an open secret that there are such people employed in schools and govt. offices who are taking wages from the govt. but work full time for RSS and VHP".  He does not forget to add that the money VHP receives from NRIs has also increases its aggressiveness.

DISTRICT DANG

  In the Dang District of South Gujarat, the VHP, Hindu Jagran Manch and Bajrang Dal have staged a destruction campaign against the Christians. I n village after village their churches and prayer houses have been burnt.  Christians have been attacked and have been forced to leave their villages.  On June 29, 1998, a big Hindu Sammelan was organized in Dang and scores of Christian adivasis were converted and made Hindus.

KAPADWANJ

  In Kapadwanj in Ahmedabad, a Christian named Samuel died on 6th July 1998. When his family had buried him in the Christian graveyard in Gopalpura, the same day VHP and BJP activists dug up his body from the graveyard and placed it in front of the Methodist Church. With this terror spread throughout the Christian minority community.  Later when the condition of the body began to decay, permission was given to bury Samuel's body in the non-Christian burial ground on the condition that no Christian grave yard would be made.  People have built houses on the Christian grave yard and now they do not want to allow anyone to be buried there.

ZANKHVAV

  65 km south of Bardoli, in the adivasi majority areas of Surat Dist, is situated Shanti Niketan High School in Zankhvav.  This is being run since 1984 by Loyola Education Society, which is a Christian missionary establishment.  It is said that on the evening of July 16, 1998, a VHP leader of Zankhvav and a shopkeeper, Dinesh Surti, tried to seize the school. With a tractor and a group of 25-30 people raising provocative slogans against Christians, they reached the football ground of the school to prepare it for sowing. They also damaged the school building.  According to Dinesh Surti, he had filed a tenancy dispute since 1983 claiming that the school land was his, which had been decided in his favour by the court, and now he had arrived to take possession.  In the entire story the most surprising thing is that when in 1984, a Hindu businessman named Shantilal Shah had made a gift deed to hand over the land to the Christian missionaries as he was troubled by the condition of his own school, (the school had become a topic of debate due to corruption, poor results and sex scandals), it would have been necessary to take clearance from the Government Depaertment of Land Records, an advertisement would have been published so that nobody should have any objection, and permission would have been taken from the Charity Commission. When all this had been done, no Dinesh Surti's name was found on the record.  This issue was never raised for even the past fourteen years, and now suddenly after the current BJP Govt. came to power, a claimant to the land of the Shanti Niketan school has arrived on the scene.

  People associated with the Loyola Trust say clearly that his name has been admitted in the govt. records to deceive the court. The significant thing is that the dispute between Dinesh Surti and Shanti Niketan school is an ordinary dispute between two parties over the custody of a piece of land.  Nobody is willing to answer why the Bajrang Dal, VHP and BJP got associated with this fight. That the dispute over this land has been created with bad intentions is proved by the fact that the Hindutva forces have run a ferocious and poisonous tirade against Christians and the Shanti Niketan school with the help of newspapers and sympathetic officers, alleging that the school is a centre for religious conversions.  Hindus are not given admission here, and the Christians have seized the land of adivasis via the school.  From this one sided propaganda this much is clear, it is to raise such issues that the dispute over tenancy was created.  Many Gujarati newspapers have taken a very low down attitude on this issue (Please refer section on role of Gujarati newspapers in instigating communalism).

  Father Albert, manager of the school, who along with the school became the main target of the attacks of Hindutva forces, says, "The issue of the Shanti Niketan school shows that the VHP can use any method to trouble minorities.  Such an atmosphere has been created to close this school which is engaged in the service of adivasis, in which it is difficult to distinguish whether there is any difference between the VHP, the administration, the police and the lower stratum of judiciary.  If any govt. official adopted a non-communal attitude he was removed".  He continues,"The VHP tried to project this as an issue between adivasis Hindus and Christians whereas the truth is that we want to run this school primarily for adivasis but the VHP, Bajrang Dal, and BJP leaders of Zankhvav, who stand for the welfare of Hindus and in them too, of the shopkeepers and other well off Hindus, actually want the adivasi students to be taken out of the school, which we will never allow.  By attacking the Shanti Niketan school they have actually once more clearly shown to the people their actual anti-adivasi character".

  Father James, Principal of the Shanti Niketan school at Zankhvav (he too was arrested on the complaint of the VHP) reads out some important facts, "When we got the school, adivasis students, were 56.7% of the total students, whereas today they are 76.1%.  Only 40 of the total of over 700 students are Christians. Despite it being a Christian missionary school the number of teachers who are Hindus is fourteen and there are only 7 teachers who are Christians.  Before we began running this school the pass percentage was 33% but in the past few years, the percentage of successful students is 94% to 100%".  The Principal says emphatically that the VHP of Zankhvav and Surat District. do not want the adivasis students to study in this school.  Now Zankhvav has become a big market where rich non adivasis come to organize business. The VHP now wants this school for these rich.  When the question is put that VHP is showing a lot of concern for the adivasis, Manu Behn of Zankhvav, who is an adivasi, tells, "Yes, they are making 'Bhajan mandalis' for adivasis, opening ashrams for them, as they all must be made Hindus. When we pass through the market they swear at Christian and say adivasis are Hindus.  That is why they give us poor quality goods at high prices and money at whatever interest rate they chose.  Father Albert says that instead of swearing at Christians it would be better if the VHP was to try to educate the adivasis and make them conscious concerning work linked to their daily bread, but they have become champions of the well to do Hindus against the adivasis".

  Prof. Babubhai Desai says that the VHP is attacking Christian schools in adivasi dominant areas because "the adivasis boys who are studying in them are rising in life; they are becoming teachers, they are becoming lawyers, they are learning about life, now they are not ready to do 'begar' (forced labour) and put up with atrocities.  They question when adulterated and poor quality goods are given to them, when they are cheated over prices, when their mothers and daughters face misbehaviour, the VHP is well aware that if all this happens the adivasis will not remain in control. The issue is not just votes.  Their regret is that if all these slaves become free what will happen to the loot that has been on for generations? Lakhs of acres in adivasis are as have been seized from the adivasis by fraud by city people who are mostly Hindus. The VHP is not concerned about this.  But for one Dinesh Surti they came to take custo dy of the school. I am of the opinion that if the Christians put the Shanti Niketan School in the name of the children of the rich Hindus of Zankhvav and surrounding areas, the VHP will stop having objections".

BONFIRE OF BIBLES

  A major incident in the chain of violence against Christians by VHP-Bajrang Dal in Gujarat occurred in Rajkot.  In contrast to other incidents of atrocities, the news of this spread all over the world.  Rajkot is situated in that region of Gujarat which is called Saurashtra, and earlier it used to be the Capital of this region.  On 20th June 1998, 150 males forcibly entered the IP Girls Senior Secondary School which is run by Christian Missionaries and is 103 years old. There they tore up 300 copies of the New Testament (Section of Bible), performed a victory dance on them and then set them afire.  All this occurred in the presence of the police.  The people in the crowd held flags of VHP, Bajrang Dal and ABVP and chanted provocative slogans against Christians.  A student of Class XII who was present there on that day, described the events she saw thus, "On 20th June our class was on when at about  8:15 am the school bell rang.  The girls in the class could not understand why the bell rang because it was not time for it to ring.  Our Madam told us to remain within the Class room and to bolt the door from within because shouts could be heard from outside. Madam went towards the Principal's office.  We could hear calls of Jai Shri Ram. We opened the door and started looking outside.  About 25 people came running towards us, and told us to leave the room and run and go home.  They also said that we should tell our parents to remove us from the school. This school will forcibly convert you into Christians, they said. They will marry you to Christians. Run from here.  When we did not run they threatened to burn us. They also broke the windows of our classroom.  Many of us fainted. We were very frightened".

  Her classmate, another Hindu student, took up the tale, "They seized copies of the Bible from students of the primary school and began trampling on the books. They danced on them. They kept on chanting Jai Shri Ram.  After that they sprinkled kerosene oil on the books and set them on fire.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  If this was the Gita, would these people have behaved in the same way?"

  A Hindu teacher of the school who teaches Social Sciences and Gujarati said, "When all this happened before my eyes I began crying.  That night I could not eat. It was all so shameful and saddening.  I can never forget the unfortunate incident, never."

  The crowd that burnt the Bibles says that copies of the Bible which were distributed in the school bore the statement - "Christ is my saviour and I also believe it", and the students were told to sign the same. The truth is that these copies were distributed free by Gidion, an international organization, and some children had taken more than one copy thinking it to be a diary.  As far as converting to Christianity by distributing Bibles is concerned, even today over 90% of students in the school run by Church of North India, are Hindus.  In its existence of over a century, the same trend has continued.

  We met Ela Ben Mehta an ex-student of this school who had passed her Xth Std. in 1960 from here.  She told us, "We were told about the Christian religion.  But nobody ever told us to change our religion.  No body asked us to believe in it either.  I was a Hindu when I entered the school and when I left I was still that.  If anyone could become a Christian by Bibles being distributed then in history all literate girls in Rajkot would have been Christians because there is no other school here for girls".

  In Rajkot itself there was another incident. The Church of North India had set up its stall of religious books in the Lok Mela which ran from 13 to 18 August, 1998. Two policemen in civil dress were also standing there.  On August 17, at about 9:30 p.m., four boys of the Bajrang Dal came and tore up the New Testament along with some other religious books on display.  When Pastor A. O. Sawera asked them why they were doing so, they said these are not our books.

DADRA NAGAR HAVELI

  There is a Union Territory adjoining Maharashtra in South of Gujarat called Dadra Nagar Haveli. In a way it is a part of Gujarat.  Here the BJP has adopted a new tactic for fighting the Christians.  On 10th August, a child named Prashant Yadav came to Father Angelo High School situated in Silvasa and was busy along with his class mates in playing with his colourful rakhi while his English teacher, Mrs. Zoya Das, was teaching.  The teacher's attention kept getting distracted.  She told Prashant that from the next day he should come to school without the rakhi. This was just said and the entire city was engulfed in an anti Christian atmosphere.  Dadra Nagar Haveli's BJP President Deepak Jaghav gave it the status of "attack by Christians on Hindu culture and a conspiracy to harm it".  The hue and cry increased to such an extent that the collector had to issue orders that no teacher should repeat such an act.  Teacher of Father Angelo school, Mrs. Zoya Das, told us about this incident in her own words, "Look, I am myself a Hindu.  My aim was not to hurt anyone's feelings.  I only said what I did for the discipline of the class, because the child was playing with it and not paying attention to his study.  That is why I said that take off the rakhi when you come tomorrow. The school administration had never told me to say this.  This was the instruction of a teacher".

  This punishment by a teacher has been spread by Gujarati newspapers along with VHP and BJP as the most burning example of attack on Hindu religion.  For days together the newspapers opened up a new front against Christians using this incident.

USE OF RAKHI FESTIVAL FOR ATTACKS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

  The VHP has even used festivals like Raksha Bandhan as weapons for troubling Christians in adivasi areas of Gujarat.  On August 7, males belonging to VHP and Bajrang Dal went to adivasi areas in Surat and other cities to tie 'rakhis' (traditional wrist-bands) around the wrists of adivasis.  Usually sisters tie rakhis on brothers, but this time men belonging to VHP went to tie rakhis.  While doing so these people kept on inquiring about the Christian population and the location of their homes in villages. These people tried to forcibly tie rakhis on Christians too.  After this rakhi tying campaign, these people destroyed photographs of Jesus Christ or the Cross wherever they saw them. They also tore up a Bible in Umar Kheri village.

NARODA: AHMEDABAD

  On the way to Himmatnagar from Ahmedabad is located a basti named Naroda.  On the orders of the Nav Naroda Gram Panchayat, a big Church built on land owned by the Church was demolished on April 16, 1998.  Hundreds of people from outside had come for this demolition which was being carried out under official orders.  They raised slogans against Christians and also participated in the demolition.  The Gram Panchayat said the Church was built without getting the plans approved.   M. V. Joseph, who is also the legal advisor of the Church, says, "We had applied both to the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) and the Panchayat to get the plans approved. These two kept putting the responsibility on each other.  When we went to AUDA they would say that over 6,000 houses and 15 temples in Naroda have been illegally constructed. Why are you bothered? Despite this we constructed the Church after completing the paperwork.  The Church was demolished just one day after we were given a show cause notice.  We were not given a chance to even present our case".

  Father Thomas, incharge of the (demolished) Church, says that along with the new building even the old Church which has been in existence for a number of years, was demolished.   It should be noted that the BJP has control of the Naroda Gram Panchayat.  On going to Naroda it does not take time to see the fact that on the Naroda Katwada Road there are scores of buildings and temples built in an unplanned manner. The demolition of the Church does not appear to be only an administrative action. The owner of a provision store next to the demolished Church, Bhola Singh, who originally hails from UP, says, "This is the only place in Naroda demolished for the lacunae in papers".  Two neighbours say, "Hundreds of people had come to demolish the Church. They were private persons.  They were mostly outsiders." Filing his report from Gandhi Nagar, Manas Das Gupta wrote in the national daily, The Hindu on 9th August 1998, "There seems to be an unwritten law not to allow any new construction of minority places of worship under one pretext or the other, while Hindu temples are coming up in their hundreds.  A Christian missionary, on condition of anonymity, said the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority recently rejected a building plan because it could be identified as a church from the cross it showed in the design. When resubmitted after removing the cross, the same plan was given the go-ahead".

SANJELI

  On August 15, 1998, the VHP and associated organizations violently attacked Muslims in Sanjeli. But very few people are aware that on the same day Christians there were also attacked.  Father Joe Vaz's own words describing what he and his Akhand Vani Mission went through in Sanjeli. "For the past two months they had been daily troubling on one pretext or the other, but on 15th August about one thousand people of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal attacked the mission.  They were breaking down whatever came their way. Entering through the door into the mission, they started hurling stones and bricks and destroyed whatever they could see with swords and axes, and showered arrows on all sides.  I kept watching from within. Some of them entered right inside and climbed onto the statue of Mother Mary and some others began digging at its foundation.  They threw down the statue but it was still unbroken.  Then they broke it with axes and hammers. While doing this they were raising slogans of Jai Shri Ram. The police came at midnight and as the saying goes that after the horses had bolted, they came to lock the stabledoor.  They did the paper work and left".

DOUBLE STANDARDS

  We met a youth of Pinpur village in Umarpada Talluk, Hari Singh Versawa.  He is a college going adivasi.  When talk starts about the dispute at Zankhvav, he puts forward a question, "A question arises in my mind that when missionary establishments run schools in cities there is no opposition. Why is it, because there are people of upper caste there? They only are leading in studying in schools of these establishments and when missionary establishments open schools for education in adivasi areas, then there is opposition in the name of religion, the RSS person comes with some opposition or the other".  He also says, "When we celebrated Adivasi Diwas on 10th August they opposed it and said the Christians are getting it done.  Our religion is neither Hinduism nor Christianity.  We worship nature.  The reality is that nobody is concerned about the sorrows of the adivasis of Gujarat".

  The truth that separate from all established religions, the adivasis have a belief in nature, is being hidden under the announcement of adivasis being made Hindus and the allegations that they are being made Christians. They are repeatedly asking the question that whether or not they would be allowed to live in their own way?

  We met some adivasi students while on our way from Bardoli to Zankhvav.  They tell about a discussion with VHP which took place in their village.  When VHP persons from Surat came to their village, these adivasi village boys told them, "Our lives and the state of the village are very bad. Why do you come here? All of us are Hindus.  We will go to Surat and live in your homes, where there are all comforts and facilities.  We will stay there as your brothers.  On hearing this much these brothers of ours became very angry and said we will teach you a lesson".

MASSIVE HINDU TEMPLE BEING BUILT IN CHICAGO, AMERICA, BUT NO CHURCH CAN BE BUILT IN GUJARAT

  We met Suresh Konkani on 25th August itself at Pipalwara in Vayara Taluk. He is an adivasi and is concerned about the attacks on Muslims and Christians by VHP, Bajrang Dal and Hindu Jagaran Manch. He had with him the Gujarat Mitra newspaper of 25th August  1998.  On the first page itself is a bold headline, "Now a large Hindu Temple will be built in Chicago too. " There is a long news-item below this. He reads it out in Gujarati, "After the construction of Swami Narain Temple in London, now a large and beautiful temple will be built in America too.  The foundation stone was laid in Illinois, Chicago.  When this temple is constructed it will find a place in the Guiness Book of World Records because it will be the largest traditional Hindu temple to be constructed outside India i.e. abroad, in modern times and will be the first massive temple of its kind in America".

  According to the newspaper, the Counsel General of India, Jagdish Sharma said, "Much is known about the temple at London and in the same way the temple in Chicago will get unprecedented success in which all Indians and Americans can fell pride".

  After reading out the entire item Suresh wants to know that if massive Hindu temples can be constructed in England and America, which are Christians countries, if Hindu religion can be preached there, then why are churches, Christian priests and religious books slowly being banned in Gujarat in India?  The question of Suresh is actually an important question being asked from Indian secularism.

FUNDS FROM NRIs TO HINDU COMMUNAL ORGANIZATIONS

  Father J. Stanny who stays in Surat and is involved in free-legal-aid work, says that communal organizations like VHP are expanding also due to huge funds being provided by Indians overseas. He regrets that NRIs, who are financing organizations like VHP in India, "are the people who had left their homeland and went to Europe, America or other countries for facilities and comforts, and talk of strengthening democratic structure and liberal values in those countries; and it is correct to do so.  But why are they helping organizations in India who want to stifle democracy, rights of minorities and the aspirations of the poor?  While NRIs want to preserve their beliefs and cultural values overseas, which they should, they should also know that their generous contributions to the VHP and associated organizations, are only used to deprive the minorºities of their rights?"

  Motorcycles abound in adivasi areas of South Gujarat today.  In the route from Bardoli to Zankhvav.  We counted 23 motorcycles which were being driven by saffron clad people. We got to know that these were 'bhakts' and the VHP had given them the motorcycles.  Their task is to keep an eye on the activities of Christians.

TALK WITH THE BISHOP OF RAJKOT

  On the morning of 29th August we met the Bishop of Rajkot, Gregory Karotemprel, in his office.  He was very worried regarding the attacks on minorities in Gujarat.  When he was asked why all this is happening, he said all this is being organized by some higher ups.  He told us that when he went to Kutch on 20th August to inaugurate a school for blind and handicapped children, people belonging to VHP raised a big hue and cry.  There were only 15-16 elder people in the VHP crowd and the rest were children.  They broke down one tent. The Chief Speaker at this programme was the ex Chief Minister of Gujarat, Suresh Mehta. "I want to tell the VHP to run such schools instead of cursing us," the Bishop says very sadly yet without any trace of anger. "Here our own people are very frightened.  They do not even tell their Christian names.  They want to hide their identity. There is open discrimination even in jobs. In this country Christian sisters are being raped, but they do not tell anyone what has happened with them.  In Gujarat also one such incident has occured, but I do not wish to discuss it.  A priest was murdered in Bangalore.  A prayer meeting was held in his memory.  It was natural that many nuns attended the meeting.  Hindu communal organizations announced outside the prayer meeting that they would rape a nun every day.  Within two weeks, when two nuns were waiting for a bus, these people forcibly took them away in a car and raped them.  After this the Bishop passed an order that no nuns would go out after 6:30 p.m. This is continually going on. Many such incidents are not even reported by the newspapers."

  Bishop Gregory also informed that earlier the schools run by missionary establishments were, like other schools, exempted from municipal taxes. Since 1998, orders have been passed for schools run by the missionaries to pay taxes worth lakhs of rupees.  He said that the St. Xavier School and St. Ann School in Jamnagar have been told to deposit a total of 50 lakh rupees and this threat has also been given that if the money is not immediately deposited, they will be attached. The Bishop feels that such actions are machinations to trouble the Christians.  He said that in Jamnagar there are 25 other schools and they have not received such notices.

ADMISSION BY THE POLICE CHIEF OF GUJARAT

  The attacks on minorities in Gujarat by VHP and other Hindutva organizations were so many and so fierce that it was not possible for the Govt. to ignore them.  On 28/7/1998, the Union Minister of State for Social Justice, Maneka Gandhi, told the Lok Sabha in answer to a question that incidents of atrocities on Christians in Gujarat and Maharashtra have increased. ( She did not give any detailed comment on the atrocities being heaped upon Muslims in Gujarat because no question had been raised about the situation). The Chief Minister of Gujarat also kept giving statements in the press that his Govt. would not allow discrimination against anyone on the basis of religion or caste.  The State Minister for Home kept repeating that the government would not remain a spectator to such incidents.  But how false these statements were can be judged from the fact that attacks on minorities continued.  Finally, at a Press Conference in Ahmedabad on August 4, 1998, the Chief of Police, Gujarat, C.P. Singh, had to acknowledge the fact that VHP and Bajrang Dal were attacking minority communities.  He said clearly, "Activists of VHP and Bajrang Dal are taking the law into their own hands which is endangering peace in the state".  He also denied that Muslim boys were forcibly marrying Hindu girls.  About the incident at Sanjeli, he said the girls had gone with the Muslim boys of their own will.  And one of them has married the boy whom she loves.  He also stated in the Press Conference that the story which had been spread through local newspapers of Muslim boys molesting Hindu girls at Petlad close to Nadiad, has proved to be completely false.

ATTACKS CONTINUE

  Despite these announcements and admissions, attacks on minorities in Gujarat continue because Hindutva organizations here do not believe in the sanctity of the law and this is their announced agenda which they have to implement.  The result of all this is that attacks on minorities continue. A fresh incident of these kind of atrocities to which we were also witnesses is related here.  On August 26, we had gone to the St. Xavier's Social Society to get information about the violent attacks on minorities. We were just talking to some activists when a person came running to tell us that people of Shiv Sena were occupying the land of the St. Xavier Trust at that very moment.  When we reached the place after finding out its location, we saw that the place where the Staff Quarters of the employees of St. Xavier College were situated - on the Drive-in Road in Mem Nagar (the Shiva Sena had breached the boundary wall and put up its board on August 25) -, a foundation was being dug. Goonda type people of the Shiv Sena were not allowing anyone to go anywhere near the area.  Gesturing towards a small temple on the side of the road one of them said with great pride that we had made that too on the land of the Christians and the second temple will also be built on their property.  It was learnt that the name of this sevak of the Shiv Sena was Sanjay Brahmbhat.  We wanted to take a photograph but were prohibited to do so by the Sena activists. We tried to tell them that we were journalists, and would prepare a report on how fast the Shiv Sena was expanding in Gujarat so that they let us photograph the site.

  Later, Father Joseph, who is the legal advisor of the St. Xavier Trust, told us, "When we were putting barbed wire around our property, they removed it yesterday and put up a board of Shiv Sena and announced the construction of a temple.  When I told them not to do this, they said, 'Now we are in power.  We will do what we want'.  I ran to Satellite Police Station to lodge a report, but it is shameful that I was told by the people of the Thana that you should move from there.  A fight is occurring only because of you all.  This is very strange.  Our place is being occupied and we are being told to vacate".

AHMEDABAD BECOMES AMDAVAD

  Ahmedabad city was established by Muslim kings during the medieval period (14th century) and was also the Capital of Gujarat before a new capital was made at Gandhinagar.  This city being linked to a Muslim name is irritating the Hindu communal forces.  Whenever an attempt has been made to change the name of this city the people of Ahmedabad have opposed the move. That is why another method has been found to non-Islamize its name.  Its name on all the milestones on the National and State highways coming towards it, has been changed to 'Amdavad'.  Here the important point is that National highways come under the Centre.  If the National highways also have milestones with the changed name, it means the Central Government has acquiesced with the Gujarat Government and given its consent to the de-Islamization of the name of the city.

MUNICIPAL SCHOOL FUNCTIONING ON FOOTPATH OF AHMEDABAD SINCE PAST YEAR

  On August 27, we were presenting a programme of street plays and songs against communalism and religious fundamentalism in an area in Ahmedabad when some people suggested that if possible, we should come to the Municipal School No 20, the next day at 8 p.m.  This school is situated in the Methakali area where classes were being conducted on the footpath.  This school has been functioning for about a year on the footpath, because the place where this school ran has been given to some Ideal Foundation located in France to make an International School.  The Ahmedabad Municipal Committee had ordered the children of the School no. 20 to go to School no. 4 situated far away from their area. But many educationists, Gandhians and cultural activists decided to support the opposition of students and their guardians and started teaching the children on the footpath outside the school. The whole thing was very surprising.

  The next day, we had very unhappily reached the Meethakali school No 20 which is now functioning on the footpath.  But all unhappiness vanished on seeing the enthusiasm with which the children|s classes were on, and we began feeling pride in the volunteer teachers.  Despite storms, rains and winds they were keeping the flame of knowledge alight on the footpath. These people were the University's Head of the Dept. of Mathematics, Head of the Dept. of Theatre, and many other social workers. Since the day the school building was taken away from the schoolchildren, this school has been functioning continually surmounting all difficulties. The teachers appointed by the govt. left the children and went away due to the compulsions of their jobs, but the volunteer teachers selflessly teaching were full of enthusiasm and were running seven classes.  When it rains this school shifts to the garage of the Anurag Society located in front, because the people there also sympathize with this struggle. 95% children in this school are Hindus. Neither the Hindutva Govt. at the Centre, nor the Hindutva Govt. residing in Gandhinagar is concerned about these childrens' plight, and nor are the VHP and its other associated organizations concerned about the childrens' future.  Seeing the state of this school one feels that the slogan of danger to Hindus and danger to Hindu religion are only for remaining in state power.

MISBEHAVIOUR WITH THE TEAM OF NATIONAL MINORITIES COMMISSION

  The Hindutva elements in the state power in Gujarat allowed their hate and violent tendencies towards minorities to be more overt at the time when an Investigation team of the National Minorities Commission reached Gujarat with the aim of investigating violent attacks against minority communities in Gujarat.  The team of Minorities Commission toured Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Sanjeli etc., from August 10, 1998.  This team consisted of four members: Merzwan J.A. Patrawala, Javed Ahmed, Yusuf Muchala and John Dayal.  The reason the National Minorities Commission gave for sending the investigative team was that Muslims and Christians in Gujarat were living in great terror and oppression, news of which was regularly coming in newspapers, and therefore, by sending the Investigating team the Commission wanted to reaffirm the faith of the minorities in the secularism of the Indian Democracy.

  The Investigative team of the National Minorities Commission had an official status and was a representative of the Central Govt. but the unfortunate part is that the ruling BJP, the RSS and their associated organizations in Gujarat tried to insult and humiliate the team in every way and just fell short of beating up its members.  Wherever the team went, organizations linked to BJP and RSS put together a crowd and continually tried to humiliate the team, raising slogans like, "Minorities Commission go back", "Minorities Commission Quit India¸ ", "Whoever confronts us will go straight up", and some slogans which were directly against minorities.  For example, "MUSLIMS ARE TRAITORS", "ANTI-NATIONALS QUIT INDIA", "TRAITORS QUIT INDIA", "MUSLIMS QUIT INDIA", "MUSLIMS GO TO PAKISTAN", "CHRISTIANS QUIT INDIA", "BREAK CHRISTIANS, BASH THEM".

  With their violent stance these people were repeatedly outlining that those sympathizing with the minorities being tormented in Gujarat could be only foreigners and anti-nationals.  Says Father Meckwan who went to Surat to meet the Investigation Team on behalf of the Christians, "The Investigation Team could not meet those people whom it had come to meet.  The Collector Ramesh Shah, was himself present there.  But he also seemed interested that anarchism should continue to prevail.  On the one hand the representatives of the minorities had to pass three checks by police officers and three barriers and then suddenly police allowed a group of women to enter the hall.  They were led by Sharda, the Mayor of Surat. These women were raising very rude slogans which can also be called swearing. The Collector stood silent.  Those representatives of the minority communities who wanted to meet the Investigating Team had been instructed to raise one issue which they should give in writing to the team.  Here, this crowd was mocking this order of the Collector himself.  They made a noise for about half an hour and then suddenly went away.  With this the time schedule of the Investigating Team for investigating in Surat had also finished.  This is what those people wanted.  This was quite interesting.  The Investigating Team of the Minorities Commission came to Surat also and the victims of atrocities could not even tell them their whole story".

  Prof. Babubhai Desai had also gone to give a memorandum to the Minorities Commission's Investigating Team on behalf of the Movement for Secular Democracy.  He says, "An activist of our organization, Mrs. Sonal, had also gone with us.  There was a bindi on her forehead. While we were standing outside waiting for the Investigating Team, a policeman in civil dress came up to Mrs. Sonal and said, ' Our people are in Room no. 29 and 30. There is arrangement for snacks and resting there'.  Actually, the Surat administration itself had made arrangements in the same building for those protesting against the Investigating Team.  Since women were made to create the pandemonium during the presence of the Investigating Team, that is why on seeing the bindi-wearing Mrs. Sonal, the police thought that she, being a Hindu must have come in support of the majority community, so she should be told the place where the 'opposers' were to assemble".

  Prof. Desai is of the opinion that by showing a hostile attitude towards the Investigating Team, the BJP and the RSS have clearly shown that they have nothing to do with democracy.  In Ahmedabad too the Investigating Team had to face the same unfortunate situation.

  Dwarikanath Rath, who had gone to submit copies of some reports regarding atrrocities against minorities, said, "80% of time of the Investigating Team was, in Ahmedabad, taken up by the RSS people. The administration stood silent before them.  People harassed by atrocities and the victims of communal violence could not tell their story.  People like us were sitting there, representatives of the minorities were there, the Investigative Team was there, but these people could have not talk with each other.  Only RSS people kept shouting and then bid goodbye.  Hindu communal organizations were very proud of this fact that they did not let the Minorities Commission function in Ahmedabad.  But I feel these are very bad indications for democracy".

SHAMEFUL ROLE OF THE VERNACULAR PRESS

  Unfortunately, there is a significant contribution of some vernacular newspapers in the attack being let loose on the minorities in Gujarat.  It is as if these newspapers had decided beforehand that Muslims and Christians are antisocial elements and it is necessary to teach them a lesson.  These newspapers have continuously printed opinions, thoughts, and advertisements of the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and all other similar organizations in such a manner as if these were the opinions of the newspapers themselves.

  Reading the headlines and descriptions by these newspapers of those incidents in which the VHP and associated organizations attacked minorities it becomes difficult to understand whether these incidents have another side of the story.  It has been repeatedly proved that all the facts mentioned in these newspapers have come straight from the hand-outs and press-briefings of the Hindu communal organizations.  The headlines given to the news of incidents are so anti-minorities, that they are sufficient to provoke attaks on minorities.

  The most shameful aspect has been that, these papers have not felt it necessary to present the side of the minorities at all.  The Loyola Missionary Trust which runs Shanti Niketan High School at Zankhvav had to pay thousands of rupees to place their advertisements in these newspapers, because they refused to present the point of view of the Christians.

  Prof. Babubhai Desai says, "The Bardoli incident, which I went to investigate as a part of the Investigating Team of Movement for Secular Democracy (MSD), could have been avoided if the local newspapers had not displayed irresponsibility.  These newspapers also showed no interest in publicizing the conclusions of the MSD Investigating Team.  If this goes on, today it is the turn of the Muslims and Christians, tomorrow it will be the chance of dalits and adivasis and then Hindu women, intellectuals and democratic values will become casualties of this poisonous propaganda".

  Rafat Nayeem Quadri has been a journalist for the past eight years in Gujarat.  She says, "It is unfortunate that in Gujarat the opinion regarding minorities is being made on the basis of the false and mischievous reports of the newspapers.  Here, Hindus have been living in amity with their Muslim or Christian neighbours in their residential areas or at their place of work and never felt problems. But every morning, every newspaper carries some such report that makes out that Muslims and Christians are Satans. This is constantly going on.  All this has a psychological effect on the people.  Reports of such nature have played an important role in spreading hatred against Muslims. They have immensely hurt the psyche of Gujarati Hindus, Muslims and Christians".

  There is a lot of truth in Rafat's words.  After our various performances of songs and street plays against communalism, fundamentalism and dehumanization, we always held discussions with people.  Our audience, largely Hindu, usually viewed minorities with the poisonous outlook which is being propagated. They would say in the beginning of the discussion, "The population of Christians and Muslims is increasing", "Christians are increasing their number by conversions and Muslims by marrying four wives", "They do not love the country", "They are being appeased".

  However, when we asked these people why these communities (Christians and Muslims) had not turned into majority in the past one thousand years when Muslim and Christian rulers ruled India, they were speechless.  We also enquired how many people they knew had four wives? Their answers revealed that the number was insignificant.

  Moreover, it arose in the discussions that even if for an argument's sake, it is accepted that Muslims have four marriages, it could not by itself increase their population.  If each of the extra three wives of a Muslim man had married other persons, would they not borne children? After heated debate, the audience would realize that their information was not correct.  During discussions, the issue of foreign spies working in India, also arose.  It became difficult for people to refute the fact that most of the spies who are arrested, happen to be Hindus.

  The discussion would then come to the issue of Ravana, who abducted Sita and Kauravas who disrobed Draupadi.  It would soon be realised by the audience, that these were neither Christians, nor Muslims.  Our audience would also realize that something was certainly wrong with the information earlier supplied to them.  On the question of appeasement, it was asked how many Muslims and Christians are capitalists, officers, doctors, engineers, govt. servants, or live in posh or even middle class colonies or are listed in the telephone directory.  The audience would find it difficult to find such names.

  The most important incident is of 29/8/98 at Ahmedabad Railway Station. Following our performance there, a discussion was on regarding the population growth of Muslims and Christians.  A youth named Deepak Gadani asked the spectators that if the population of Muslims and Christians increases will there be a problem? "Are Muslims and Christians not Indians? Do only Hindus have the right to live in this country?"

  Being a journalist, Rafat is saddened over the fact that, " Local newspapers are playing the role of partners of the VHP in making small disputes appear sensational and giving them a communal character. I t is said they are doing so to increase their circulation.  For whatever reasons they may be doing so, the reality is that they are doing great harm to this state and to the country.  They are doing such a work which only increases hatred".

  Rafat also believes that, "Gujarat is one of those states of the country where there was no linguistic or cultural difference between Hindus, Muslims and Christians. There was no communal divide here, unlike North India. People of all religions were full of Gujaratiyat.  But what the recent events have targetted the most is this sense of Gujaratiyat. Now we are not Gujaratis, - we are Hindu, Muslims and Christians".

  Rafat draws attention towards one more fact and says, "Despite the attacks of VHP, the minorities of Gujarat have maintained their balance and patience.  This is Gujarat's good fortune that despite these attacks they have not adopted a communal attitude.  They have not begun a religious consolidation in reaction but Hindutva elements consider this their weakness though by doing this the minorities are proving that they are true Gujaratis."

 Prof. Desai also tells what kind of antics a vernacular newspaper is upto to spread sensational rumours. "There are journalists with a Hindutva agenda but if these newspapers have adopted a brazen stand in favour of communal Hindu organization it is because of the pressure of the owners. There is a flood of such newspapers in Gujarat. There is cut throat competition between them. These papers can go to any extent to pick up their sales.  Some intellectuals believe that these Hindutva organizations are rolling in money into these newspapers, which are in turn working under their influence."

  In this context, an important fact is that English newspapers in Gujarat have been working generally free of communal pressures. The fact is that it is these English newspapers which have exposed the atrocities being heaped by the VHP and the associated organizations. This is probably why the Hindutva Govt. of Gujarat and the communal Hindu organizations say that English newspapers are anti-Hindu.  On August 13, 1998, Gujarat Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel himself stated that it is these National dailies (English newspapers) who have raked up the violent incidents.

  The Movement for Secular Democracy has collected the baseless, mischievous and provocative reports in Gujarati newspapers and sent it to the Press Council of India.  One feels sad not angry on reading what is printed in them. The role of these newspapers in breaking up the Gujarati society will never be forgotten in history.  For examples see the following:

Fabricated News:-

  On July 27, 'Gujarat Samachar' published a four column report with a long headline, "Muslims retaliate in Gujarat: Disgusting attempt to set fire to three small children.  Attempt to rape woman, idol of Ganapati was broken".

  Dabkar (27/6/1998) gives a four column bold headline: "In Bardoli attempt has been made to set fire on Halpatiyas and Maharashtrians at midnight", "Fifty Muslims went at midnight to Mangifalia with tins of kerosene and arms". (This was an attempt to instigate Hindu workers and Scheduled Tribes against Muslims).

Twisted Reporting:-

  On June 25, Hindu communal organisations held a meeting at which, according to the leaders of the RSS and BD, themselves, 500 people were present.  On the day when places of minority community were attacked in Bardoli, the masjid (mosque) of that place was handed over to the police.  However, on 26/6/98, Dabkar gave an eight coulmn headline, "Bardoli burns as stones were thrown from the Varvad Mosque on the rally organized by VHP".  In a four column long headline it also stated, "Four naked swords sparked near mosque with 'Allah-o-Akbar' and 'Pakistan Zindabad¸ slogans".

  On 26/6/98, Gujarat Samachar gave an eight column headline, "Riots break out in Bardoli as stones were thrown from the mosque at rally of Hindus".  In the same paper an item heading read, "Muslims keep on chanting peace and throw stones".

Reporting by newspapers of provocative speeches:-

  How the ugly speeches given by people of VHP-Bajrang Dal against Muslim and Christians to incite Hindus against Muslims are reported in these newspapers is shown below by some examples.  On reading them one cannot make out whether they are the opinions of the Hindu communal organizations or of the newspapers themselves.

  On 25/6/98 Sandesh said in a four column headline "Hindu Tolerance has become timidity. They have to come out of it.  On the same day, Dabkar ran two headlines, "Muslims shouuld be stripped naked and beaten" and "Crush like mosquitoes those Muslims who kidnap Hindu women". This headline was repeated by this newspaper on 26/6/98.

  On 29/6/98 Sandesh ran a headline, "There will be a question mark on the security of Muslims in the state - if they do not improve their behaviour - Dr. Togadiya of VHP".

  On June 27, Gujarat Samachar published an unsigned write up which looks like a news item, "In Bardoli some Muslims systematically trap Hindu girls by cajoling, bribing, cheating and made them their begums.  The number of such incidents has reached five.  Despite this, though it is bitter, but the true fact is that organizations like RSS, Bajrang Dal, VHP have not been able to do anything concrete ... As they could not do any concrete counter-programme, Muslims got open ground and two more incidents took place".

  Nav Gujarat Times ran an eight column headline on July 4, "If now even one cow is butchered, two Muslims will be killed - Bhago Bhai Bhakar".

  Headlines in Nav Gujarat Times on 18/7/98 - "Terror of Christians in Zankhvav: Attacks on Shops, Homes of Hindus", "Pointers to peoples movement against conversions in the name of Christian mission establishment in Zankhvav".

  Reporting on the organization of a Hindu Sammelan in Pipalwara in Vayara in the holidays, Nav Gujarat Times ran a headline on 16/12/97,  "13 thousand crore budget for religious conversions- all conveniences for priests and one lakh in wages".

  Sandesh ran two headlines on 18.7.98, "Hold of Christian Missionaries on Govt. apparatus" and "Why no admissions for Hindu children in Missionary school? Anyone who says this is a target".  Gujarat Samachar put a headline on 18.7.98, "Loyola Education Trust could not bear sorrow of losing case of land of High School: Terror of Christians in Zankhvav.  Attacks on shops and homes of activists of BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal."

  On 24/7/98 Gujarat Samachar ran a headline, "Open battle by Bajrang Dal against tendency for religious conversions in Zankhvav: Christian missionaries will have to regret."

  There was a headline in Gujarat Samachar on 26/7/98 "There will be Sammelans to bring back adivasis to Hindu religion."

   A headline in Nav Gujarat Times on 21/7/98, "Anger of VHP on Christian missionaries heaping atrocities on tribal Hindus."

  Gujarat Samachar on 17/7/98 put two headlines, "Christian adivasis attack Hindu adivasis and break heads of five in Songarh Lambi village." "When adivasis installed Ganeshji, Christian adivasis got a stomach ache: Attack on finding pretext."

  On 29/6/98 Gujarat Samachar ran two reports. According to one, "There is apprehension that Muslims of Kaodod, Balod, Malekpur, Vayara and Nandarbar will spread riots."  According to the other, "It is believed that there is an international conspiracy that a Muslim who marries a virgin Hindu girl receives 60 thousand rupees and a Muslim who marries a married Hindu girl gets one lakh rupees."

  Sandesh published a report on the same day, "Hindu girls are sold in Muslim countries and are exploited- Hindu girls are entrapped with the help of Indian samudrik shastra."

  On the same day Dabkar gave the news, "Four lakh Hindu women have been victims of this conspiracy. "Whatever has been extracted above from newspapers are but few examples. I t is necessary that there should be serious research over the attitude, thinking, aims and language with which some news papers are engaged in the dirty work of spreading communal tension. The way newspapers of regional language are spreading communal poison in Gujarat can also be seen in other parts of the country.  All are acquainted with the attitude of most of Hindi newspapers in North India before and after demolition of Babri Masjid. The shameful role of the Hindi and Punjabi newspapers in making Hindus and Sikhs fight in Punjab is not hidden from anybody.

GUJARAT: A LABORATORY OF RSS FOR RELIGIOUS CLEANSING

  Whatever is happening in Gujarat today is actually a part of a well planned strategy for cleansing of minority communities which the Hindutva elements have been advocating for a long time.  The Hindutva wave of cleansing of minorities in Gujarat is actually an experiment at a micro level, to be applied later at a macro-level, throughout the country.

  The first phase of this experiment has already been implemented in the days of the demolition of the Babri Masjid.  The Sangh gang (which is also called Sangh Parivar by some people) is not so innocent that it does not know that the Muslims can not become a majority by a few hundred Hindu girls marrying Muslim boys.  They are also well aware that this country has remained a Hindu majority one despite seven hundred years of unbridled rule by kings with Muslim names and two hundred years of colonial rule of rulers with Christian names.  How a country which could not become Muslim or Christian in one thousand years, will change its religious character in future is not understandable.

  It is true that in the last elections the adivasi majority areas gave a resounding defeat to the BJP and in order to compensate, it is playing the Hindu card. But to hold that the holocaust against Muslims and Christians is being organized only for thirty to fifty seats is not the whole truth. Actually the Sangh Parivar has such violent hatred towards Muslims and Christians because these minority communities of India were either part of the Hindu Dalits or today are seen working to give respect to Dalits and minorties.  How correct or wrong this is, is a different matter.  The Hindu communal thinking can not forgive these communities for rebelling against the Brahamanical order and loot and dreamt of giving themselves social equality.

  It can be asked why Gujarat specifically has been selected to conduct these experiments. R. K. Mishra, senior journalist of Gujarat, says in Gandhinagar, "The RSS can not get a better place than Gujarat to wipe out the minority communities to establish a Hindu Rashtra. There has been a lack of class consciousness and democratic thinking here.  This area has been a heaven for businessmen for centuries.  Businessmen are the main social base of Hindutva communal thinking.  Apart from this, the caste configuration of Gujarat is such and the way in which people linked to upper castes have spread all over the world and are sending crores of rupees to Hindutva organizations, all this does not let there be much problem in implementing a Hindutva strategy here.  In Gujarat the RSS has no problem in collecting both people and means."

  The campaign of cleansing of minorities in Gujarat is not an event taking place in isolation but is the part of the envisaged future of a Hindu India. This can be easily estimated by knowing the opinions of RSS philosopher and guide M.S. Golwalkar and other thinkers. IN THE COLLECTION OF GOLWALKAR'S OPINIONS - "BUNCH OF THOUGHTS"- WHICH THE RSS ACTIVISTS CONSIDER THEIR BIBLE, IS A CHAPTER (WRITTEN MORE THAN 25 YEARS AGO), "INTERNAL THREATS". IN THIS CHAPTER, THREE CONSTITUENTS (OF INTERNAL THREATS) HAVE BEEN MENTIONED : (1) MUSLIMS, (2) CHRISTIANS AND (3) COMMUNISTS.

  Golwalkar writes about Muslims, "Even to this day, there are so many who say now there is no Muslim problem at all.  All those riotous elements who supported Pakistan have gone away once for all.  The remaining Muslims are devoted to our country.  After all, they have no other place to go to and they are bound to remain loyal.... it would be suicidal to delude ourselves into believing that they have turned patriots overnight after the creation of Pakistan.  On the contrary the Muslim menace has increased a hundred fold by the creation of Pakistan which has become a spring board for all their future aggressive designs on our country". (pp. 177-178)

  Further, under the subheading, "Countless miniature Pakistans", he says, "In fact all over the country wherever there is a Masjid or a Muslim Mohalla, the Muslims feel that it is their own independent territory". (p 184)

  And further, he writes, "The conclusion is that in practically every place, there are Muslims who are in constant touch with Pakistan who are the transmitter, enjoying not only the rights of an average citizen but also some extra privileges and extra favours because they are minorities". (p. 185)

  Golwalkar goes to the extent of saying that in our country minority communities are more dangerous than foreign aggressors.His opinion about Christians is, "Their activities are not merely irreligious, they are also anti-national ... Such is the role of Christian gentlemen residing in our land today out to demolish not only the religious and social fabric of our life but also to establish political domination in various pockets and if possible all over the land". (p. 190-193)

  Warning the Christians, he says that if they "refuse to offer their first loyalty to the land of their birth and behave as true children of the heritage and culture of their ancestors, they will remain here as hostile and will have to be treated as such". (p. 194)

  Even in the preamble of the "Bunch of Thoughts", it has been pointed out in clear words that Muslims and Christians are second class citizens. According to the imagination of the RSS regarding Hindu Rashtra , "IT HAS ROOM FOR ALL MINORITIES ON CONDITION OF THEIR WHOLE HEARTED SUBMISSION TO THE SUPREME VALUE OF THE NATION IN THEIR LIVES ... THE MENTAL COMMITMENT SHOULD BE FINAL AND SUPREME .... THE MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS AND JEWS ETC. HAVE PERFECT FREEDOM OF WORSHIP SO LONG AS THEY DO NOT SEEK TO DESTROY OR UNDERMINE THE FAITH AND SYMBOLISM OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY. THEY SHOULD SUBORDINATE THEIR EXCLUSIVE CLAIMS FOR FINAL AND SOLE REVEºLATION VIS A VIS THE NATIONAL SOCIEºTY. THEY COULD BEAR WITNESS TO THEIR FAITH IN LIFE AND SPEECH, BUT THEY SHOULD NOT INDULGE IN ANY UNFAIR AND UNSPIRITUAL MODE OF CONVERSION". (pp. XIV XV)

  In another book of his, WE OR OUR NATIONHOOD DEFINED, Golwalkar describes Muslims and Christian as foreigners and prescribes the following formula for solving the minority problem in India. They have "Either To Merge Themselves In The National Race And Adopt Its CULTURE OR TO LIVE AT ITS MERCY SO LONG AS THE NATIONAL RACE MAY ALLOW THEM TO DO SO AND TO QUIT THE COUNTRY AT SWEET WILL OF THE NATIONAL RACE. THAT IS THE ONLY SOUND VIEW ON THE MINORITIES PROBLEM. THAT IS THE ONLY LOGICAL AND CORRECT SOLUTION". (p. 47)

  For Golwalkar, Hindus belong to the National race and , "FROM THIS STANDPOINT SANCTIONED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF THE SHREWD OLD NATIONS, THE FOREIGN RACES IN HINDUSTAN MUST EITHER ADOPT THE HINDU CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, MUST LEARN TO RESPECT AND HOLD IN REVERENCE HINDU RELIGION, MUST ENTERTAIN NO IDEA BUT THOSE OF THE GLORIFICATION OF THE HINDU RACE AND CULTURE THAT IS OF THE HINDU NATION AND MUST LOSE THEIR SEPARATE EXISTENCE TO MERGE IN THE HINDU RACE, OR MAY STAY IN THE COUNTRY WHOLLY SUBORDINATED TO THE HINDU NATION, CLAIMING NOTHING, DESERVING NO PRIVILEGES, FAR LESS ANY PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT, NOT EVEN CITIZEN'S RIGHTS" (p. 47-48)

HINDU NATIONALISM AND THE ISI OF PAKISTAN

  R.K. Mishra is very concerned about one fallout of the cleansing campaign against minorities being carried out by the Hindutva organizations. He says, "By doing all this the VHP and its assistants are finishing off the secular structure of India.  The people of VHP can say that they do not believe in secularism, so far as they are concerned, anything can happen to it.  I want to tell them that they are out to finish the very unity and integrity of India over which they create such a hue and cry.  People of VHP shout a lot about Pakistan and its intelligence agency, the ISI.  They say that anti-nationals are conspiring to spread unrest in our country.  They repeatedly point out how such forces are causing unrest in Gujarat, Kashmir, North East, Rajasthan and Punjab.  And what is the VHP doing? By pitting the Hindus of Gujarat against the Muslims and Christians is it making the country strong? Are they not doing the very thing which ISI wants to do? The VHP is playing such a game in India which will divide every city, every village.  The reality is that with the VHP and its assistants around, the ISI does not need any other agents for spreading unrest and disturbing peace. The VHP has taken this responsibility upon itself.  As the soldiers of the VHP step forward the task of the ISI becomes easier. History will stand witness that the seed which the VHP is sowing, the result of that will only be useful for those who want to break the country".

DEMOCRATIC VALUES REAL TARGET

  Mishra emphasizes, "The democratic people of this county should not see the events in Gujarat and sit down thinking that the Muslims and Christians are the final targets of VHP and its associates. They actually are only starting their battle against plurality in thought, outlook and values by finishing off the minorities.  Why do we forget that in Gujarat in this very month of July, Hindutva elements stripped and beat up postgraduate students belonging to Kerala who had taken entry to B. J. Medical College Ahmedabad through entrance exams. They were beaten to such an extent that they left the city. This goondaism was resorted to because these forces who talk of  all Hindus being Bhai Bhai want that only local students should get admission in the medical college. In the same vein these forces attacked the Centre for Environment and Planning Technology at Ahmedabad with knives and lathis, and kept beating the students and teachers for hours, and knifed many people.  All this happened in the name of preserving Hindu culture.  We should not forget that these forces do not believe in any democratic values or democratic organizations. That is why when their leaders embark on any political campaign there use 'raths' as were used by kings. In their speeches they refer to themselves as kings and use the term m praja| for people. These people did not have even a distant relation with the freedom struggle of India. We do not have to save only the minorities from these people but we also have to protect the rights of Hindus, women and dalits". (Annexure 2, open letter from Dean of CEPT)

MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS: ONLY A BEGINNING