The Forum Gazette Vol. 1 No. 5 August 1-15. 1986

7/27/2019 The Forum Gazette Vol. 1 No. 5 August 1-15. 1986

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Vol. I No.5 New Delhi Friday 1-15 August 1986 Formightly Rupees Two

Ahmedabad, Punjab and Delhi's MadnessThe Agony of

Gujarat's CapitalMirai Chatte rjee

ReportsT ension had been buildingup in the old, walled cityof Ahmedabad for daysbefore the event. Would themahants of the Jaganath templealter the traditional route of therathvatra so that it avoided thesensitive Dariapur, Kalupur andShahpul" areas? Would there bea peaceful celebmtion? Or wouldevents follow last year's disastrous course?July 9 : the rathyatra woundits way through the narrowing,winding lanes and poles of theold city. All along the roulesaffron-banded vouths servedwater to the pJ'Ocessionists anddanced to the tunes of blaring

filmsongs. By evening the procession had passed uneventfullythrough the "sensitive areas" of[Jariapur where the populationis mostly MusLim. When itreached Kadia Naka, a mixedbu t predominantly Hinduneighbourhood, all hell brokelose.As curi'ew was imposed inDariapur, Kalupur and Shahpur.there was heavy stone-throwingand -some firing with privatearms . Shops, mainly thosebelonging to Muslims, were ran-A first hand account of ho w Ahmedabad burnedwhile the administration was paralysed, a communalized police force stood by, an d mobs targetted at their will on dle Muslims of the city. MiraiChatterjee, wh o ha s been working with SEWA inAhmedabad and was in Ahmedabad during th e1985 violence, wh o with her coUeagtJes has beentrying to spread the message of "Ekia" betweenthe two communities, gives her impressions an dher n a l y ~ i s .

sacked and set alight by processionists. According to O'le eyewitness account, the policewatched ineffectively, processionists forced a fire-engineto turn back.July 10 : As the city awokeseveral deaths had occurredand the violence in Danapur,Shahpur and Kalupur was onthe increase.July 11 : The poison ha d

spread to the working classneighbourhood outside thewalled city. Raipur, Astodia,Gomtipur and Saraspur weresuddenly enveloped in an atmosphere of violence, ' fear anduncertainty. On this day theHindu Suraksha Samiti. a coali tion of Hindu chauvinist organi-

sat ions, issu ed a call for a statewide bandh, Chief MinisterArnarsingh Chaudhar y's pleaagainst the bandh were pushedaside.To Ahemedabadis a bandh,from last year's bitter experience, is a signal for disaster. In1985's six months of ceaselessviolence (often referred toeuphemistically as "disturbances" by the governmentl every

single bandh proved to be afield-day for looters, arsonistsand murderers. The HinduSuraksha Samiti was surelyaware of this but remainedundaunted, claiming that thisbandh was to protest againstContinued on page 14 col 1

~

Delhi Police Fails Yet AgainA Report from West Dellii

By Forum Gazette CorrespondentsOn Tuesday 29 JuJy, three days after the communalviolence in Delhi of July 26 in TiJak Vihar an d TilakNagar, the a!'ea remains under strict curfew witharmed police, sten guns at the ready, everywhere.NeccessariJy so because tensions ar e running frighteningly high. Accusations an d counter-accusationsbet\veen the Sikh ramilies, victims of November 1984violence, living in TiJak Vihar flats an d the residents ofth e I-Iarijan basti, just across the street. ar e bitterlyrelated to the visitor.T he wildest rumours arerampant and go unchecked, as frightenedpeople, curi'ew bound, withnothing to do but endlessly discuss their wrongs and SOITOWS

- young Sikhs have been killedand injured, Harijans injuredand a few homes looted andburned - feed avidly onrumours and feed their sense ofinsecurity, fear and suspicion.Nearly every face reflects deepanxiety, and hostility. When wewalked through the Hariian

bastL the Sikhs crowded on thebalconies and roofs of the 4 storey tenements, looked down onus in tangible disapproval. Whenwe were with the Sikhs, thebasti residents watched in disapprobation. The battlelines areclearly drawn.

'Hinduon Ka Raj'In Tilak Nagar's Sanatan Dharam Mandir, a short distanceaway, Hindu migrant familiesfrom Punjab crowded aroundBaba Arnte who had rushed to

Delhi from Punjab on hearing ofthe violence. Families fromFatehbad were hungry for news.some of the men were aggressive, the women anxious. In thebig hail housing many familiesseven or eight young men intheir early 20s, sprawled on acharpai. all of them welldressed. one of them in animmaculate Lucknow embroidered kurta and pajama. TheyAlso se c article on page 15

The West Delhi Falloutwere not interested in whatBaba Arnte had to tell andoffered cynical comments, "Hesaid he would sacrifice himselfif there was another OperationBluestar", one remarked "Whatdoes he say now?" We wondered, if they were migrants;they were so disinterested inPunjab news. As the Baba saidhi s farewells, someone in th e

Continued on page 15 col 1

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F8rumM ~ e d i ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; a . ; ; , , ; ; , . . . . . . , W . . . . ; ; , ; , ; a . . ; ; . ; ; ; t c ; . ; ; ; . ; ; ; h ~________GaZettcThe Press and West Delhi Violence

Saturday July 26th. The nationscapital sunk again into a stateof barbarism, this time withoutthe help of the ruling party.

In th e anti -sikh riots thatbroke out following the killingof mainly Hindu passengers in abus in Muktsar, Punjab, the citizens of West Delhi had thehonour of taking the initiative.But they were not as effective asthe police wh o shot three Sikhsinstead of protecting them.

Nobody asked or enquiredinto the burning question.Howcome the police shot andkilled th e victims no t theaggressors?Sunday July 27th. The dailypress is obviously suffering fromanaemia and partial paralysis.Most newsmen dream of riots,wars, coups and other catastrophies which they can reach firstand interview the victims. TheIndian Press concentrated onPolice Commissioner Ved Marwaha 's Press Conference an dHome Minister Buta Singh'sdash to the riot affected areasalong with sundry jeeps an dhelicopters hovering overhead.The coverage of the incidentshas a nimbing sameness as if allthe reporters were in one buson the same round trip, met thesame victims and heard thesame stories.

Happy BirthdayThe only scope was the Timesof India ITOII wh o discovered itwa s somebody"s bil1hday "Binhday surprises are liked by all asa rule, but one. man in this citvwho turned 54 todav must haveprayed that he never has tospend another birthday like thisHappy binhday anyway ... Mr.Ved Prakash Marvvah 126.7.321.

How Did Th eTrouble StartHow did the trouhle stan ,and could it hd\'e been avened')Only the Statesman delves

:TheFOrumGazette/'iJlld u('CIJI)sultillti r-:dirorsJustice \ '_R_ Krishna Iyel"

1.1\. (;ujral. Madhu Nshwar ,Khllshwunl Singh, Jaya Jaitly,Hajni Kothari. Amrik Singh,KlIlclil' \aya,rI,illI-nJiln. HOiJrd ur Editors1.1. (;I!I1. J a ~ j i l Singh ,\urora freld.1Mi/tlil, ;inK fditorHalji! Malik/ : c.JiICm;G.S. Sandhu, Harji Malik,,:l..S. Nal'ang, Jasjit Purewalt\.


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F8rumF _ o _ r _ t r l l _ ~ g _ h _ t F _ o _ c _ u _ s _________________Gazettc____________________________The Agony of Ahmedabad

Why did it Happen?

W w does communal violence occur with suchstartling regularity inthe "Land of Gandhi"? It is noteasy to find answers withoutsounding simplistic. Clearly awhole host of factors. somepeculiar to the city an d olhersindicative of a nationwide trend,are collectively responsible.For a start Ahmedabad haslong been on the "communalmap". Old time!1; remember thehorrors of Ihe partition fiats,then the wanton destruction of1969, 1985 and now Ul86 Y\11alis deeply disturbing however isthe increased frequency ofcommunal violence. largelyHindu-Muslim. but also againstDalits, tfibals and other lowercastes in the last vear. Oneobservor noted recenilv that inthe last one vear at 'least 20communal incidents have takenplace in Nadiad, Bhuj, Palanpur,Veraval, Baroda, Bharuch, Palitana." Godhra, Lunawada,Ahmedabad an d Devgadh. Ofthese towns and cities. Bhuj inKutch had never in its historysuffered from anv c o m m u n ~ 1violence belore. '

The Legacy of 1985SecondJv, last vear's six monthlong o r d e ~ 1 nas'left an indeliblemark on the psyche of the city.Hardliners' positions, on bothsides, have been strengthenedwhile the secular forces seem tobe on the retreat. or at least tobe in disarray. Significantly someof the same people who suflered 111 1985 have been victimsthis time also. Needless to sav itha s been the poor, daily w ~ g eeamers amongst th.is group whohave once again h;en 1,1e worsthit.

Mirai Chatterjee

Economic DeclineIn addition to this long,

communal history, Ahmedabadis an economically depressedcitv. The closure of several textile mills a few years ago,rendering thousands of workersunemployed has resulted in aslump in the city's economy,increased pauperization, desperation an d social tensions.There are few prospects forreemployment or new avenuesfor work.

However illicit liquor brewingan d other illegal activities, popularly known as "Number DoNo Dhando" is on the increase.The power of local dadas an dtheir musclemen has beenfurther consolidated through aJJkinds of unholy alliancesbetween them and local politicians corporators, partyworkers and the like. The 'Iumpenization' of ou r polity, anationwide phenomenon, hasobviously not left Ahmedabadunscathed. Indeed several refugees have reported ooenly thecommunal .role of party workersIBJP, Congress-{l) an d others)an d local bosses with politicalclout. As in the case of theDelhi violence against Sikhs,manv of these characters arestill 'wandeling al'Ound freely intheir neighbourhoods.Fundamenlalism on the March

Finally, fundan1entalism, againa nation-wide phenomenon, isrearing its ugly head. Fundamentalism in both Muslims an dHindus is on the increase. Sincethe Shah Bano controversy,Muslim fundamentalists everywhere, including Ahmedabad,have been organising themselves

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increasingly with "ShariatBachao" meetings an d buildingup their grassroots contacts.However this time, unlike theirHindu counterparts, they havekept a very low profile. In factthere seems to have been verylittle violence retaliation instigated by them. This could beone possible reason why thistime the victims of violencehave been so overwhelminglythe city's Muslim residents.Hindu fundamentalist currentsin Ahmedabad are also on theincrease for various reasons,including the Punjab situation,the Ran1 Janambhoomi - BabriMasjid issue an d the Shah Banocontroversy to name a few. Thisis not the place to enter into anin-depth analysis of the rise ofHindu fundan1entalism, alth oughan understanding of this phenomenon is essential in anyanalysis of the deterioratingcommunal si tuat ion inAhmedabad.For our purposes here it isimportant to note that Hindufundamentalist ideas have had asignificant impact on the mindset of middJeclass Hindus in thecity. Lately a disturbing trendhas become evident. Many lowercaste Hindus have been influenced bv Hindu fundamentalism an d "actively participated inthe killing of Muslims last week.One reason put forward fortheir involvement is that theJagannath Temple has alwaysopened its doors to all Hindusirrespective of caste. Furt her,traditionally, Harijans havealways pulled the chariots inthe rathyatra an d this, thiscelebration has a special significance for them.The role of th e VishwaHindu Parishad is significant.Apart from maldng definitein roads into th e majoritycommunity , the Par i shadopenly distributed pamphletsurging Hindus to boycot tMuslim shops and other establishments. Under th e leadership of Dr Vanilcar th e Parishad have beep organisingpeople in both urban andrural areas. Dr Vanilcar him-

Continuedon page 5 col 5

Where Have All theBridges GoneDespair and Hope in the 'Gandhian' City

Ela Bhatt talks to Kamla BhasinWhen Ahmedabad, a 'Gandhian' city, a city reputedfor its many long-standing philanthropic and voluntary organisations experiences such barbarism andbloodshed, one is left totally numb and helpless, Doesit take just a handful of political miscreants and religious faLatics to dehumanise the p e o p l e ~ to washaway the creative, constructive work of hundreds 01organisations for several decades? How is it that suddenly the power of swaying people one way oranother seems to be in the hands of religious fanatics? Who are these "religious" leaders? l1'hat is their'record of service to the people? Before they startedspreading communal hatred what were they doing?Did they ever help their ovvn community to overcomeeconomic and social deprivation, did they fight socialevils and dogma? Did they talk of national integration? We know for sure they did none of this, thenhow is it that such people become so powerful? Howis it that religion becomes a rallying point for hatred,killings, burning people alive? Are there no sane voi-ces in Ahmedabad with enough moral authority andfolJowing to avoid a repetition of such brutality? Canone r e a l ~ I ' not expect any thing positive and firm tromthe Government the police, the political parties?l1'here should one look for a glimmer of hope?

On some of these issues Ispoke to Ms. Ela Bhatt, acitizen of Ahemedabad,asocial worker/activist of interrMtional repute, the force behindthe Self Employed Women'sAssociation ISEWA) an d a recententrant to the Rajya Sabha. Sheand her co-workers have alwaysvery consciously worked towards the inter-mixing of differen t communities in order tocreate communal understanding an d harmony. But today ElaBhatt does not seem too sure.With a pained look on he r faceshe says "we have tried to rootthe notion of equality of aJJ religions through joint programmes,collective eating, helping eachother. When the Muslim members of SEWA struck work forsome demands, the Harijanwomen provided them food an dvice versa. Just two months agowe had a big Eid Milan. Over2000 of our Hindu and Muslimmembers were present. But thenviolence erupts, refugee campscomE' up and we find 0111'members in both the Hinduan d the Muslim Can1ps. Theother influences are so powerful. We have no control overthem.""During the riots last year ou rmembers played an importantrole. We know of instanceswhen these women physicallystopped their men from goingout on violence sprees, weknow of instances when thewomen gave lists of their ownmen involved in creating trouble to the Am1y. But whetherthat spirit, that courage is stillleft, I am not sure. Each suchevent takes a heavy toll of sanityan d understanding. SEWA'swork is small; we work onlywith a few thousand women.This is not enough".Eta ben, wh y is there nogroup, no individual wh o ca ntry to stop this madness?There ar e hardJy any people

like that left. The work ofcreating people's power, mobilising public opinion, creatingcertain values, it seems stoppedat Independence: it went withGandhi.In Gujarat. till the seventieswe ha d strong and effectiveGandhian groups. You could goto the remotest village an d finda Sarvodaya worker doing something. At the time of riotsmembers of organisations likethe Shanti Sena, the Gandhi'Peace Foundation had the courage an d commanded enoughrespect to physically move intothe troubled areas. But after theEmergency the Congress-I systematically made these groupsineffective. The bigger Sarvodayaorganisations, which neededfunds to survive, gave up theirindependent stance themselves.The result is that today there isa total void.None of ou r political partieshave a cadre which works withthe people and commands theirtrust. In fact all political partiestr y to use these ugly events forpolitical gains. "They tr y to cooktheir rotis (bread) on the fires ofcommunal violence". No wonderthe people sneer at the partyPeace Committees which ar eformed during such conflagrations.

But what about the Gov-eMlment Eta ben?It is naive to expect anythingfrom the Government. It is avested interest. It will not doanything. We can not expect itto play any constructive role.

But then What?Ela ben wasn't too sure howto answer this. She seems to begroping. wondering how totackle the general mood ofdejection and hopelessness. But[ an1 certain a woman like he rwill not give up hope or herwork tu forge people's poweran d build bridges betweencommunities.

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F8rum...;;;..o..;;....ur_Tim...;....----..,;;.e..;;;....s__________GazcttG- - - - - - - - - - - - -

THREE STERLING REPORTS

It is inevitable that the alltiSikh violence in Delhi followingthe Mllktsar terrorist olltrageshould l'el11'e memories of theho/'rors of the carnage ofNovember 1984. The fact thatthis time tbetween Juh' 26 - 28,19861 not three thousand blltonlv seven deaths occun-ed inDelhi, is itself an uncanny pointer to the shaky role of the Stateas a protector of lire and property, It only goes to show that ifthe authorities so desire , thel'can act to curtail the loss or lifeduring civil disorder or chooseto look the other way.The role of the 'State in theNovember '84 carnage was exposed in three t.renchant reponsbrought out by cMl libertiesand citizens' organisations,Baljit Malik's review of theseI t is a sad commentary unou r times that rec ognisedin s titution s of th e St


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How Do You Do ItRaj Thapar::.;...;.-----------

During the recent violence inDellii, it was difficult not tothink of November 1984. Asfar as these photographs ar econcerned - Jldy 86 or Nov'84, they could be used interchangably.Yes. How is it done?You take a stick, \\-Tapsome cloth around it, dipit in a mix1ure of kerosene andsome other deadlv stuff, andvou hurl it into - a Iifetime's

~ o r k , a shop, a taxi. a mu d hut.a scooter. Then vou catch theinmates, you choi) off their hairand amidst gleeful shouting,you hurl them into the ragingfire, one bv one. When a wifecomes out 'wailing at the deathof her husband, vou seize her.vou bash her bones vvith JatiJisan d vou hurl her in as well. Youleave the child because vougloat in the agonised survi\'al ofthat orphan.How do you do il') What sariof monster can do t his'! No onebred on non-violence and meditation and Shanti. So, were allthese meaningless words defeated and buried under the onslaught of the values of todav')Violence, murder, sex. Is thisthe input of ou r progress-inschooL in radio, evervwherc-acriminal lumpenisation.You can't call the killershomo sapiens. It has to beanother mix. Because nowherein the world has it happenedquite in this wa y Hitler organised mass-killing, but kept itaway from the population, training the monsters separately, inTwo friends, a Hindu lIei't) and aSikh IRight) who had to cut his hairin November '84. They co-own an dru n a motor mechanic shop in

a long unending chain ofcommand.

And when you recogniseamongst the vicious faces somebelonging to the ones that ruleyou, and you see the police, orconniving with the killer squads,where do ~ ! O u go"! To whichplace, to which person, to whichwall?Where')This is the story repeatingitself relentlesslv as vou movefrom camp to camp: from tragedy to tragedy. The same

names recur again and againand you begin to wonder. How\ova:, so much kerosen e available,how were so many people(I\'ailable at a moment's noticeto indulge in such uncontrolledfrenzv? Thev were mostlv notneigllbours . Hindu neigliboursdefended their Sikh friends.Manv w'ere not from the area,so ~ v h o brought them there?How did they get there, andhow did they get the implements for these gory deaths?Ho\\" did one leader of the mob,while being dissuaded by neighbours from burning a car becalise the flames might touchthe overhead cables, since nohuman arguments could possibly have swaved that fiend, sav"Don't WOI'l1': we have switchedthis sect ion" off from t he mains.We are not fools". How did heget to the mains to turn theswitch ofl.'Or how did a train arrive atSunlight Colony station, disgorgeits population of monsters, whoburnt and killed and mauledand maimed at breakneck speed,then got on to that wailing

Shakrpur, East Delhi. Their bondshave remained unimpaired despiteth e politician - policeman -lumpen mafia_

train, which set off as the jobwas completed? Who gave theorders for that train, who brought those men, who equippedthem?Or how was the train stoppedat Shahdara stations, Sikhs pulled out and slaughtered. Theysay the station platforms werelittered with the svrnbols of ou rsavagery. up from Madhya Pradesh across the vast lndo-

Gangetic plain, all the way toBokaro.And where did all the politicians go on those dark nights ofNovember? Where they discussing their seats in the comingelections') 01' watching the shiftsin heirarchv as thev stoodaround the shattered body ofthe Prime Minister. Or i s s ~ u i n gstatements. Yet. they had aprecedence of courage behindthem. or Gandhi giving up hislife for just this, of lawaharlalNehru rushing to separate violent mobs with his bare handsin 1947, or Indi ra -Gandhi of yesteryear driving straight out toChandni Chowk the momentshe heard of tension there-in1965.

One can continue in thisrefrain until the sun stops setting, but unless we answerthese questions now, we willhave made Northern India theshame of this land an d forfeitedou r children's future. Let usbegin to look into this-whatcan you call it, it has noname-and punish the identifiable guilty with speed, otherwise the future will remain adark volcano lit up with countless, blazing pyres. And no onewill be excluded. No one. For itis not a Hindu-Sikh problemalone. "Ask not for whom thebell tolls, it tolls for thee".

So, let's get to the job an ddemand an enquiry not as acamouflage set up by the powers that be-because thev failedabysmally at every level. No contingency plan existed althoughthreats had been articulated bvterrorists for long. no decisionfor curfew or shoot-at-sight orcalling the army in until thefires had begun, nothing doneto Station. House Officers whowere cheerfully sitting on stolenchairs, it was a failure whichthreatens the very life of thenation. Let the authorities alsosit up and take note, it is intheir interests as we .1 for theycannot wish to rule over agraveyard. Let them associatethe voluntary organisationswhich sprung up like mushrooms to organise relief for thevictims, all young people untainted by politics or authority.

Tile people of Delhi mustdemand:

I. An immediate enquiry intothe outbreak of violence withthe help of people from theareas affected, government andnOll-government, with a time-.bound frame fa!' action.

2. Suspension of all SHOs ofthe areas that blew up, andcases launched for investigation.3. Immediate compensationwhere means of livelihood havebeen destroyed. If we can spendon fancy armaments, why is thegovernment being stingy onthis? A committee of citizens toguard this operation from sharksand gangsters. Priority release ofvehicles, of building of huts andhomes by the PWD.

The Agony of ...Continued fium page 3 col 3.self works with tribal8 in Jalsarbntha district.Interestingly, Hindu fundamentalists seem to be ilushwith money. According to ValjibhaJ Patel, a prominent DalftPanther leader in the city,Hindu organisadons offered&. 5000 each to DaJit youthsto attack MusHm estabUshments.

Unholy AlliancesFinally, as in the case of otherpolitical groups also, Hinduchauvinist organisations haveno qualms about allying withlocal anti-social elements provided that they have the "cor

reci perspective". While visitingMuslims who had fled from theworking class neighbourhoodsof Asanva, Chamanpura andMeghaninagar, we were repeatedly told the same story aboutLaxmandas, an infamous babacum-goonda. Laxmandas is apparently a ('etired railway policeofficer, currentlv involved in"ganja" and "charas" sellingand other criminal activities. Hehas close links with pro-Hindugroups. "When we expectedtrouble, we begged him to protect us" e x p l a i n ~ d a Muslimwoman whose home with thepainstakingly collected dowriesfor her three daughters, wasrazed to the ground. "We gavehim ",ifts and told him wewanted no trouble, only peace.But still he did not spare us."For those struggling for peace,justice an d secularism inAlunedabad, it has been a timeof reckoning. With widespreadcurfew and disruption of allactivities, it has been hard toobtain facts and a better understanding of all that has enveloped the city. More than everthere seems to be a need forsecular forces to regroup andorganise in the face of theincreased fundamentalist threat.Last week a meeting open to allsecular and progressive groupsand individuals was held andeyewitness experiences an dobservations were shared. Thisweek a meeting to plan furthercooperations is being arranged.In addition various trade unionsin the city have been meeting toorganise efforts to counter thedangerous communal trends.To have faith in these efforts inthe prevailing armosphere is difficult but there is no otheralternative if the city is tosurvive.

Yourtravel

o r g ~ s a t i o nSInce1948



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F8rumR_e_"_e_w__a_nd __e_fl_e_cti_o_n_s_____________ 3 a z e l ~ - - - - - - - - ______________________The Colour Purple

Alice Walker'Womanist is to feminist aspurple is to lavender' saysAlice Walker of her prosewhich she has speciiicaUycentered around being female an d black in therural American South inwhich sh e grewup. "TheColour Purple", winner ofthe 1983 Pulitzer Prize is aspeUbinding tribute to thistheme an d metaphoric ofits tide."Dear God: I am fourteenyears old . I have always

been a good girL May beyou can give me a sign lettingme know what is happening tome .. .' begins Celie, 14, raped bythe man she calls Pa.Lonely andbewildered with no one to talkto but God. Incredible and stoicshe soldiers through her 'womanly' roles of housekeeper, surrogate mother to her brotherand sisters an d the incestuousattacks of her father. Her illgotten' babies are taken fromher and he then turns his attention on her younger sister, Net-tie. Desperate to protect Nettie,Celie ends up being 'givenaway' in marriage to Albert andis now his 'drudge' for hishome, his four children an d hisbed. Nettie runs away fromhome and now Celie has noon e to love. Until Shug Averythe singer and magical womanfrom Albert 's past re-enters hislife. Mesmerized by this fancywoman and her power overpeople in general and Albert inparticular, Celie begins to woo arelationship which ultimatelybrings her face to face with loveand with herself.

She re-discovers Nettie who isin Africa - working as a missionary with a black Reverand,his wife and two children;Celie's children. Through Net-tie's eloquent letters, Celieexperiences a world beyondMemphis; in New York. in England and most importantly thestrange world of their ancestorsin the 'dark continent' . Thepeople of the Olinka; their culture, traditions an d poverty allbecome a part 'of Nettie's worldas does the touching reality of"The Africans don't even see us.They don't even recognize us asthe brothers and sisters theysold."

"The Colour Purple' is a8tOry of women black and'otherwise, who ar e the un-8ung heroines of the battlesof th e 8pirit which ar e re corded nowhere. Of an enemy who begin8 within th econfine8 of a home to 8yStematically 8hackle and crip-

pie the female soul where "Agirl child ain't safe in a familyof men. Of white oppressionits impact on black womenand their bitterness, whichShug summarizes as:- "Ain'tno way to read th e Bible an dnot think God white. When Ifound out I thought God waswhite and a man, I lost inter'est." Of the simple strengthsand weaknesses of humanrelationships. There is no thing pathetic about Walker'swo,uen wh o ar e stolid and.unrelenting to the pettinessan d me n in their lives. Theyturn to each other fo r spiritual, emotional an d even sexual 8trength a8 in Shug andCelie's case, but naturally an dwithout affection.

Alice Walker is a delicate andprecise writer an d the 'ColourPurple' instead of expoundingconventional wisdom is a sensitive account of a personal life.Her prose is uniquely lucid. andshorn of traditional linguisticand grammatical format. it isunerring in its impact. Thestory unfolds through Celies letters beginning 'Dear God' and'Dear Nettie ' a unique andengrossing technique imbibingthe first person effect to perfection.

The economy of he r wordsis nowhere more brilliant andpoignant as when Celie discovering the truth of her background bursts out. "Hut I feelsdaze: My daddy lynch. Mymama crazy. All my little half-brothers an d sisters no kins tome. My children not my sisterand brother. Pa not pa. Youmust be sleep ..

A tale of oppression of a people and of a sex, 'The ColourPurple' emphasizes the tragedyof belonging to both. Yet itremains a journey of liberationand hope leaving the readerwith Diihring's simple truththat, "Every will must regardevery other will as its equal."

Jasjit Purewal

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1/ 1 Rani /hansi Road NEW DEI,HI 110055Phones: 771055, 731075, 777483, 523057, 521932Telex: 31-63016 TREK IN

6 Friday 1-15 AugUst 1986

"Let the Press StopReporting Punjab!""L t the press stop reporting Punjab for a while andperhaps then we couldsee some rays of hope in anotherwise depressing scenario."This is a comment of a Punjabiwho finds it difficult to keep hisspirit up . For, he is a rationalhuman being an d feels his voiceis increasingly getting subduedeither in the print medium orthe radio and television. Notmany share his anguish of notbeing heard . And that is one ofthe biggest failures of the press.The printed word in today'sworld carries much weight andsometimes even the journaliststhemselves do not realise it. Thislack of comprehension has further compounded press's fail-ures in reflecting the reality of astrife-torn state. The journalistscovering Punjab are like theblind men trying to describe anelephant. If it were simpleignorance then perhaps it couldbe righted by persuasion andeducation . But then the selfrighteous lot that the journalistsare they shun learning.Punjab's agony is the creationof the last 39 years of communal,petty an d feudal politics thathave swayed India . Whether it isthe Cong-l'ess or the AkaJi Dal orthe Bharativa Janata Partv allstoked the baser instincts amongthe people and garnered votesto grab power. Medieval intrigue,plain criminality and unabashedhypocrisy have marked the postNehru era of Indian politics. Andthe press, in comfortable alliance ""ith the people in powerand authoritv, has failed in itsduty to point out the suppurating warts in the body politic.This failure has coloured thereporting of Punjab. For thepress, the people of Punjab, likeeverywhere else. were of lessimportance than the dons inpolitics. The leaders, their statements and interests found moreprominence than the real condition of the people. Day after daywe were told what a Bhindranwale or an Indira Gandhi or aTohra or a Longowal said orplanned or threatened to do.There was an d is relativelymuch less on what the farmer,the millhand, the trader, theclerk. the migrant labour thoughtor felt.

There is a plethora of storieson how the terrorists are killinginnocent people but there ishardly any highlighting of thebond that, although under severe strain. still exists betweenSikhs and Hindus in Punjab.While the sten-gun toting terrorists slaying people gets blown-NEWSHOUND

Gautamup coverage the fact that Sikhvillagers imploring Hindus notto leave their homes hardly getsthe same treatment in the newspapers an d magazines.

The lack of a sound perspective coupled with utter insensitivity has greatly contributed tothe alienation between the twocommunities and made onecommunity feel wronged. Forexample, ta ke a recen t headlineof an important newspaper, TheTimes of India. The Times carried a story about Sikh familieswho left Bokaro. Kanpur andDelhi in fear. taking shelterforcibly in some housing boardflats near Chandigarh. The frontpage story's headline was "Sikhs'grab' flats near Chandigarh".Such a wrong and provocativeheadline which dubs the entirecommunity as grabber is justone of innumerable instanceswhere an act by some has beenused to indict a whole community.

instead of exposing the intriguing politicking of people likeArjun Singh or Badal, the pressoften lionised them. Arjun Singhwas made a hero for apparentlyengineering the peace accord.The personalities, and not theissues, are underlined in thecoverage. That is why we findstatements like "if they (theterrorists) kill one. we'lI killthree" from police chief JulioRibeiro. An astounding statementfrom a public servant of ademocratic country. While heshould have been roundly condemned for his mafia-don-likepostures. Ribeiro has beenshowered with praise.Similarly. in search of a story.the press has run after me n likeJoginder Singh. Bhindranwale'saged, senile father. who was

propped up by a section ofdisgruntled men seeking powerby putting up totems like him.With a total lack discerning, thepress created a "Sikh leader" outof an incoherent man. Reportersvied with each other to getexclusive interviews and investedhis vague remarks with so-calledmeaning an d direction. HISphotographs were splashed acrossboth Indian and foreign journals.quotes gave "punch" to a story.Such is the culpable involement ofthe press in fuelling chaos inPunjab.Barring a handful of journaliststhe entire press corps coveringPunjab failed and continues tofail to see the issues and trendsin perspective. The pal-terns;like the duplicity of the government and the AkaJis, the vile useof religion by Sikh leaders. theviolation of democratic nonnsby the police. the rise of belligerent Hindu fundamentalismand its threat. remained faintlynoticeable in the avalanche ofreporting from and on Punjab.The truth is that there aremany in the press who share thesame narrow vision of the politicians and bureaucrats who are

prompted by expediency andwhose actions do not necessarilyserve the larger and longer-terminterests of the country. Oncethis is realised by the press, itcan possibly make a fresh start.And this can be done by thatsmall number of journalists whohave refused to surrender theirreason to venal political designs.Punjab is a dear part of Indiawhose future cannot be left tobe determined by the powerhungry politicians. The voice ofits people who want peace.amity and progress must beheard aloud in the press.

I I I H t : ~ [$DDKfJ> A ~ R M A N E . N TKAliL.- TD MOSCoW AND A-- P E R ~ N ~ N T !


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dl'!. ._T_hl_8_F_O_r_hll_gh_ ' _ s _ s _ r o _ ~ _____________ ~ ________ ~ ________________

W hen killings became rampant and not a daypassed without someincident of murder, I had anirresistable desire that I tooshould be among those killed . Ihad been intimately connectedwith many facets of the life ofthe city. So now when my fel-low citizens were being killedone after the other, I didn'twant to be left behind. With thenumber of my friends heedingthe call of the Mafia, going upevery day, I thought that I toowould soon be obliged by oneof the many enterprising killersstalking the streets of the city.

When no one came for me , Ithought, why shouldn't I go outa? d search for an obligingkiller? So, while coming backfrom my morning walk the fol-lowing day, I actually approached a couple of men and askedthem to relieve me of this terrible anxiety to join my friends .The response of the first one tomy request was "I am sony,you are a little late, I oblige onlyone man a week. which incidentally, I did only a little whileago. From now onwards, for sixdays, I will be doing nothingexcept praying to God. On theseventh day I will again beready for the job . So I canoblige you if you get in touchwith me at the right time."

When I approached the second man with the same request his reply was : "Sony, Ihave no time; I am hurryingdown to the residence of a highgovernment official to bribe himand get things moving in myfavour. You must know thatbribing people is far more profitable than killing them!"Although, my initial attemptsto transcend this world endedin failure, I did not get discouraged. I was certain that 'wherethe:e is a will there is a way'.BeSides, about half a dozen kil-lings a day as reported in thep r e s ~ kept my spirits up . But assheer spirit cannot achievemuch, I continued my searchfor my deliverer. The only problem was where to find one'Not knowing what to do Ibroached the problem to mywife. "Darling, do you knowhow people are being killed inthe city?""Yes I know," she said.Getting a positive responsefrom her I felt encoUI"a8ed an dsaid to her, "Can't we also geti n ~ o the queue? Mind you, I saythiS, because we are Iifepartners . We must live and dietogether. Besides, what's theuse of living in a COlTUpt an ddishonest society. It would befar more honourable to die."Hearing this my wife suddenly plunged into a state of 'tobe or not to be' . But she sooncame out of it and said "I thinkyou are right. I bow before yourdecision. But there is one thingthat comes to my mind. That is,if I too die with you, thenwhere would you find anotherwomen who would beat herbreasts to mourn for you withsuch sincerity of heart? Whowill see to it that all the ritesand rituals sanctioned by ou rancient civilisation are observedin a correct manner. Just think

WANTED A KILLER

about it. utnerwise I wilJ do asyou say."When my wife took coverbehind ou r civilisation, I beganto have serious doubts aboutthe very concept of life-partners.They say, charity begins athome; so where can you gowhen your own people ditchyou? Rubbing my hands in sorrow, I said to her in an angrytone, "Since you are lookingforward to playing the role of awidow, why don't you startpreparing for it right now . I ammyself quite keen to die andcan say with full confidencethat your wish will be grantedsooner than you expect.

Frustrated with my wife's response, I stepped out of myhouse on my journey to death,to life in the next world.Not far from where I livedwas the house of Jagan Nath. AsI came close to it I saw a cardboard hanging on the door.Written on it in bpld words was:Respected Killers,This Is to Inform you thatone member of tbhI famDyhas already been ldDed onlyfive days ago. So yo u arehereby requrested to turnyour attendon to some otherhOU8e .As soon as I read this I feltterribly disappointed. What apityl My house was only a fewyards away an d yet the killerhad chosen to leave it alone. Idon't know what made himchoose Jagan Nath's house. Theonly reason that I could thinkof was that he ha d excellentconnections with a gang ofsmugglers. In fact he was aminor sycophant of a big smug-

Fiquar Taunsvi

gler. Anyway that was of noconsolation to me . An opportunity had passed by my doorand here I was still living onwith hope as a poor deprivedsoul. They say that when youneed a thing really badly yourarely get it !Now, I had not been onspeaking tenns with Jagan Nathfor a long time. The reason wasthat he was a smuggler, and Iconsidered smuggling as not arespectable vocation. But, myproblem was that I wanted toknow the whereabouts and thephysical description of the killer.Now I ha d to talk to Jagan Nath;only he could help me . I was indesperate need, an d a needyman would do anything ... evenfor a smuggler. So I pressed hisdoor-bell .Jagan Nath appeared frombehind the door. I asked him ina solTOWful tone, "Is it true thatyou have lost someone in thehouse?"''Yes,'' he said, " It is myyounger brother. Believe me, hewas such an innocent harmlessperson. It would have been farbetter if the intruder had killedme instead. 1 personally feel heactually came for me, but ".now don't you ask me anyquestions about that? ... Anyway, what happened was ... Thekiller lifted a VCR from ou rhouse. And do you know whathe did? When my brother andhis wife tried to stop hiin, heshot my brother there an d thenand leaving his wife where shewas, escaped with the VCR!I thought to myself that the

seemed to be quite cunrung. He took away the VCR

because it was valuable for himwhile the woman he left behindwas of no use to him .By the way, what was thekiller's name? 1 asked him."He didn't say ", he replied .Just to give an outlet to mygrowing disappointment 1 started lecturing Jagan Nath, "What'sthe use of hanging this noticeon your door? As far as I knownone of these killers can read aword of it!"Not at all! What you say couldbe true of the days gone by. Thekillers of today are not onlyliterature, but are graduates,even post-graduates. What'smore, they don't come on foot.To carry out their mission theycome in cars or fancy motorcycles. And when they reach adeserted spot they simply doaway with the vehicle.""You mean, they eliminatethe car also . Why do they dothat?""For the simple reason that itis not their's. It is a stolen one."

Jagan Nath too disappomted me. What kind of manwas he l The murder ha d takenplace in his house an d hedidn't even as much as try tofind out the name of the killer.

He just registered the F.I .R.against an unknown killer an dthat was the en d of it. And assoon as this incident was over,it was business as usual, thebusiness of smuggling,

It was in such a state ofdepression that I. rang up thePolice Headquarters and contacted a friend o'f mine whohappened to be posted there."Bharatji, 1 want your help, Ithas got into my head that 1 tooshould die . Can I get in touchwith a professional through yourgood offices?""Sony, there is no one aroundright now! Is there anything elseI can do for you?" pat came thereply,For once I feIt like telling him ,"Look here, why don 't you dothis little favour yourself. Afterall, you too have a pistol an dyou know how to use it." Butthen I thought, that would beasking too much from him. So 1dropped the idea. Instead 1asked him, "Do you know thatmany incidents of killings aretaking place all over the city?""Yes, that's true," he replied."Does that mean that youhave not been able to arresteven one culprit.?"He started giving all sorts ofexplanations . YOll don't seem toknow our problems. An incidenttakes place; by the time wearrive on the spot, we find thatthe killers have already escaped!"Does that mean that youalways start late from yourresidence?""Well, what can we do? Ourrules and regulations are socumbersome ... ,"Just to add to my knowledge,1 asked him, "By the way, youmust have come to know bynow why such killings continueto take place at such frequentintervals, His answer was that ahigh-powered committee of fivesenior police officials ha d beenconstituted. This committeewould soon prepare a report onthe background of these incidents."But tell me one thing, whyare you so eager to die?""1 am simply fed up of thisworld ,"

"In that case you should prayto God. He won't di'sappointyou ,""I have already done that. Itseems that he has adopted apolicy of non-interference."He reassured me by saying,"Don 't lose heart, Just wait foranother week or two. 1 may beable to procure the services of acompetent professional to makeyour dreams come true.

Translation:Avtar Singh Judge

Hindustan RefrigerationStoresforKirloskar Hermetic CompressorsDanfoss Controls etc,

2114 ~ e t a j i Subhash MargDarya Ganj. New Delhi-l10002



8/16

:the Minority Rights1 : : ' l o I . . ~ illJ iv i l L ibert iesGr l J I U Equality for Womenaz Democratic Values Environmental Protection

Minorities not for BurningAre the minorities for burning? After the November 1984 killings in Delhi and the latest communal savagery in Ahme

dabad , this question cannot be pushed under the convenientcarpet. Unless it is faced squarely, without equivocation, without delay, the communal virus may spread to proportionswhich could irretrievably affect the body politic. Eyewitnessaccounts from Ahmedabad -one appears elsewhere in thepaper - highlight frightening parallels with the Drlhi carnage.In both cities the administration was seemingly paralysedfor many hours, the police remained passive spectators orwere active colluders, the mobs raged at will and th e minoritycommunity was the victim. In Ahmedabad, as in Delhi, petrolan d kerosene were freely available, an d the savagery of themobs an outstanding characteristic . In both happenings, concerned observers have noted th e indifference of the vastmajority of the Hindu communi ty, otheIWise normal. peaceful.decent human beings, to the violence and the killings. Whilethe sentiment had been openly expressed "they" must betaught a lesson, "they" in Delhi being the Sikhs, in Ahmedabadthe Muslims. A dangerous pattern is recurring, adding a newdimension to communal violence.Ahmedabad was still recovering from last year's traumaticsix months of violence when the anti-reservationist stir turnedinto communal frenzy, when this year's rathyatra sparked offthe madness. Those guilty of murder and arson in 1985 wereagain involved this year, for, only now, a year after th e event.has a commission of enquiry been appointed. Ahmedabadians,horrified at the rapid disintegration of the city's social fabric,question what the commission will find now, and when the1986 riots commission will be appointed. At the next violence,they ask?

The government's failure to recognise the seriousness, ofthe communal situation was highlighted in the Lok Sabhadebate when neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister were present in the House, a lacuna angrily pointed out byMr c.R. Jaffer Sherief, Congress (II MP an d former minister.Mr Sherief also echoed the reaction of many concerned citizenswhen he regretted that neither Mr Rajiv Gandhi nor Mr ButaSingh had thought it necessary to visit Ahmedabad.Have the Delhi killings set another new pattern? Not solong ago India 's Prime Ministers used to deem it their respon-sibility, their duty to visit riot hit communities to restore theirconfidence in the government's commitment and capacity toprotect all its citizens, irrespective of communitv or caste.Delhi became the glaring exception. Perhaps u n d ~ r s t a l 1 d a b l y ,since with the state itself under suspicion, how could itsrepresentatives offer solace? Whatever the reasons, communalor caste killings no longer provoke prime ministerial visits.

Or is it that official sympathy too has double standards?For Sikhs have noted that while Hindu migrant families fromPunjab have been received without delay by th e PrimeMinister, none of the Sikh families, victims of November 1984were offered this consideration. But then earlier this year RSSchief Bala Sahib DeOl'as told the minorities very clearly thatth e 85 per cent Hindus in India's population are the backboneof the nation, and that to ensure the country's security and itsdemocratic order the Hindus must remain an absolutemajority. The pluralistic society, the famous unity in diversity,are given short shrift by the RSS leader.

The assortment of mushrooming Hindu chauvinist organisations, the Hindu Raksha Samitis, Hindu Shiv Senas, Hindumanches and so on, project these ideas, and, increasingly, arevisible wherever communal tensions are on the rise, ready toexploit potential communal sparkpoints In Ahmedabad. Meerut. Punjab. Hyderabad, Kerala, Assam, such organisations are acommon element.Has Ahmedabad brought home to the ruling party that itmay be overplaying the communal hand in the electoralgame? Does Mr Rajiv Gandhi's new trouble shooter minister,Mr Chidambaram, mean it when he tells the Lok Sabha, ' Wewill bring the entire might of the government to control thecommunal situation'" and promises to summon the politicalwill to do so? He tried to pass the buck by blaming the stategovernments for the failure to contain communalism. Guidelines have been issued six years ago, he said, but the states hadnot implemented them. this is mere eyewash.

Since 1980 the rise of communalism is directlv linked withthe CongresslJl's changed electoral arithmetic. Until now theruling party's perception was that it could ride the communaltiger. Does Mr Chidambaram 's Lok Sabha performance indicate a new perception? And is there still. time to get off thetiger's back?8 Friday 1-15 August 1986

Viewpoint

Redistribution ofAgricultural LandPoor Record, Uncertain Future

Bharat DograNo serious discussion onreduction of poverty inIndia can avoid the question of redistribution of agriculturalland.The reasons are not farto seek. Nearly 60 per cent ofIndia 's population, or nearly,450 million men, women andchildren, is dependent onagriculture as the main, often theonly, source of livelihood. Andaccording to the government'sown statistics, 73 per cent ofIndian farmers t ogether cultivateonly 23 per cent of the total cultivated land in the country.

Despite the inaccuracies inthe maintenance of land recordsand difficulties in defining 'big'and 'small" fanners, severalefforts have been made byeconomists to find out theextent of unequal distribution ofland.For instance according toestimates made by four economists II. Ali, B.M. Desai. R.Radhakrishna and V.S. Vyas, seeEconomic and Political weekly,annual number March 1981)nearly 65 per cent of thefanners in India either do notown any land or else own lessthan 2.01 hectares of land.

Together these landless andsmalJ farmers, operate only 19per cent of the total cuJtivatedland. On the other hand farmersowning 8.1 hectares or moreland are defined as 'very large' .They constitute only 8 per centof the total fanners but operate40 per cent of all cultivatedland.Such inequalities would beconsidered bad in any country,but in India, which has 350 million acres of land, and 450 million men, women and childrendependent on agriculture, suchinequalities are inexcusable.

Land Re-distribution EssentialIrrespective of what pattern ofoverall development. includingindustrialisation, India adopts,and to what extent job opportunities become available forlandless, marginal and smallfanners in other sectors, amuch more egalitarian di5lIibution of land than what presentlyexists is a must for anv reduction of poverty in India'. In fact.the present day uneljual distribution of land is also responsible for keeping wages low inother sectors of the economy -

it forces members 1T0m poorpeasant households to migrateto cities in a desperate searchfor jobs which will keep staIVa-tion away. Hence employersfind it easy to force low wageson them.

In principle at least. thegovernment accepts the needfor redistribution of agriculturalland. During the last decades,various 'ceiling' laws have been

enacted in almost all the statesto impose limits on the ownership of agricultural land and forthe redistribution of landdeclared 'surplus' in such away. What is more, these lawshave been frequently amendedto make them, even more 'radicaL at least on paper. Forinstance, in the state of UttarPradesh, the ceiling has beenfixed at 7.30 hectares of irrigatedland and 10.9 hectares of nonirrigated land. Once the lawsare enacted, the administrationis supposed to take over thesurplus land and redistribute itamong the landless and otherweaker sections. From time totime various state governmentshave issued instructions andlaunched special driver to speedup land-redistribution work.

Poor Land ReformsPerformance

What has been the impact ofthis work spread over the lastthree decades or so? Accordingto statistics given by the Planning Commission in October1985, out of the total cultivatedland of 350 million acres in thecountry, only 7.2 million acresof land has been declared surplus and of this only 4.4 millionacres in fact distributed. Therest of the surplus land gotstuck in administrative inefficiency and litigation. Even allthe 4.4 million acres of landshown as having been re-distributed on paper is not effectivelyunder the control of the poorallottees. In many cases the oldlandowners continue to exerttheir hold through the exerciseof muscle power. Moreover, theland declared surplus is usuallythe most difficult to cultivateprofitably as it is of poor 'luality. If they have to part vvithsome land, the big landownersensure that they part with onlythe poorest quality land.

Assuming, however. that bygreatly improving the administrative implementation of ceilinglaws, the entire 7.2 million acresof surplus land is redistributedand successfully cultivated bythe landless and other poorallottees, even then can thisachievement be called s a t i s f ~ c -tory? Clearly, a redistributionthat involves only 2 per cent ofthe total agrir.ultural land-andthat too generally of the poorest

quality can hardly be called asignificant achievement.What has happened is thatthe big landowners have !am-'pered with thei! land-records insuch a way-by making papertransfers of land in the name ofvarious re;atives - that althoughthey continue to hold land wellin excess of the ceiling limit, inthe records this is not shown.Also, they have taken full advantage of the various exemptionsthat have been given in the ceiling laws - for instance land inexcess of the ceiling limit is

allowed in some states fororchards and in other states forplantations and other purposes.Bhoodan Movement

Apart from ceiling laws, therewas another landmark in theland refonns programme. Thiswas the famous 'Bhoodan' (giftof land) movement started byAcharya Vinobha Bhave, soonafter independence for voluntary surrender of land by biglandowners. This work was alsotaken up by several other disciples of Gandhi and receivedofficial patronage. In all , nearly4.2 million acres of land wasreceived in Bhoodan, of whichabout 1.3 million acres was re-distributed. Here again therewere complaints of poor qualityland being distributed, and theallottees being unable to cultivate it on account of threatsheld out by the powerful landowners.Planning Commission's Views

Looking ahead, the documenton the Seventh Five Year Plan11985-90) recently released bythe Planning Commission saysthat '"appropriate measures'"have to be taken for landalready declared surplus butnot yet redistributed. This document also says that estimatesof ceiling surplus land have tobe reassessed, specially in newlyirrigated areas (in view of thelower ceiling limits for irrigatedareasl.

On the whole. this document gives the impression ofbeing very vague about whatexactly needs to be achieved inthis field in the next five vears.This is in sharp contrast io thespecific targets fixed for, say,artificial insemination of cowsor planting of trees. Land to thetiller is ohviously not a part ofthp official strategy to alle\iatepoverty in the country.If the govcl11ment wants toimprove the credibility of itsvarious announcements onreducing poverty, it is necessarythat it should fix high targetsfor redistribution of land in theSeventh Plan, and then go outto achieve them with the co-operation of various organisation of the rural poor, whichexist in some parts of thecountry.


9/16

OpenForum

The Congress Centenary andthe Punjab AccordW he n research scholarsof the twenty first century assigned a projectto cover the tragic and tumultuous events of the eighties ofthe twentieth century look forsource material for their treatise, they could well refer to theattractively produced centenaryvolume of the Indian NationalCongress - 100 GLORIOUSYEARS - 1885 - 1985.See what Chapter X - Diaryof the Century - reveals tothem. We reproduce the eventsrecorded in 1984 and 1985 fromTowards New Goals: 1947-1985."X DIARY OF THE CEN'nJRYMarch Towards Freedom: 1885-1947Towards New Goals: 1947-19851984

January 16 : The Congress IIIgeneral secretary, CM. Stephenpassed away.

April 19: The Congress II)General Secretary, MI. H.L. Bhatia shot at.May 4-6: Meeting of TheA1CCII) Committee at New Delhi's Talkatora Stadium. The twoday session dovetailed into afunction at the Indira GandhiStadium marking the inauguration of centenary celebrations.June 5-18 : P.M. Rajiv Gandhi's visit to U.S. and U.S.S.H.July 18: Amarsinh Choudhari Ministry in Gujarat reachedan accord with anti-reservations.July 22 : Meeting of Congress(I) parliamentary party.July 31 : Congress (I) M.P.,Lalit Maken an d his wife shotdead.August 15: Assam accordsigned.September 29 : 8 Joint Secretaries appointed for the Congress.October 29 : The "Congressjyoti" and "Indira jyoti" receivedin New Delhi.

November 21 : The CongressWorking Committee decided tohold the Congress centenaryplenary session in Bombay onDecember 27, 28, 29.Whilst the "spontaneous" carnage of over five thousand Indians in October-November, 1984could be a non-even: for theauthors of this volume, theresearch scholar is likely to bebafiled by the bland recordingof November 1 1984: 'Sheet atsight orders is sued in Delhi'!Again, whilst the August 15Assam Accord finds a place inthe 1985 diary of events, thePunjab Accord, which won tremendous acclaim for the Congress President, is again a nonevent! We are not suggestingthat martyr Longowal's tragicassassination should have founda place in the 1985 events butthe research scholars are againgoing to b e bewildered!

Don't Let Punjab DownSir,

I wish to congratulate you ongeneral improvement in TheForum Gazette. Every editiongives a lot of useful informationregarding Punjab affairs.In the edition dated 1-15 July86, there was an editorial "ABad Example". This article pullsdown the prestige of Punjab, inparticular the Sikhs. I wish youha d also given similar examplesfrom the happenings in otherstates. Our paper should not letdown the image of Punjab inanyway. After reading. I normally pass my copy to my nonrunjabi friends; this time I hadto hide my copy from them.

In one of your earliest issuesyou had written that the nextissue will contain progress onthe implementation of PunjabAccord, but this has notappeared so far. Most Punjabisdo not even know half theclauses of the Accord. You musteducate us on that.For increasing the sale of TheForum Gazette, [ suggest that it

should be printed in the formof a magazine. A loose sheet,newspaper type magazine forRs. 2/- appears to be expensivewhen other such papers costonly Re . 1 or less.

wg Cdr Surinder SIngh(Retd.)144, Munirka Enclave(Opp. DTC Bus Depot)New Delhl-ll0067.A Sikh Daily

Sir,It wa s a pleaSant surprise toread col. 3 of 'Chandigarh Diary'on page 3 of the Indian ExpressChandigarJ-. dated June 23, 1986to the eftect that The SikhForum ' has started Th e ForumGazelle' a new fortnightly papertram Delhi.

January 27 : Jammu &. Kashmir Chief Minister, Dr. FarooqAbdullah's Ministry won a voteof confidence in the Assembly.June 5 : The security forcesentered the Golden Templecomplex. A total of 59 armymenand 249 terrorists killed in afierce exchange of lire.

Victims of lust for Power

A fortnightly paper is a goodventure. of course. But. it is tooremote to catch the vision of thepeople. A fortnightly cannotmeet the daily needs of the public. Frankly speaking, the leadership has virtually been qualitytowards the community, towardsPunjab. towards the country andtowards the world at large for itsfailure in not having its owneffective press media; and allowing the community to be dubbedcommunal an d sectarian.June 7 : Security forces recovered bullet-riddled body ofJarnail Singh Bhindranwale.October 31 : Prime Minister1ndira Gandhi shot dead by herbodyguards thus tragically ending her 15 years of rule as PrimeMinister.Rajiv Gandhi sworn as newPrime Minister.November I : Shoot at sightorders issued in Delhi .November 3 : Indira Gandhicremated.November 13: Lok Sabhaelections announced.December 3 : Leakage ofpoisonous gas at Union Carbidefactory in Bhopal killed over2,200.December 28 : The CongressIII got three-fourths of the seatin Lok Sabha: 401 out of 508.December 31 : The Congress

p a r l i a ~ e n t a r y party's meetingelected Mr. Rajiv Gandhi asleader.1985

January 7 : The Congress(!1appointed 3 new General Secretaries: A.B.A. Ghani KhanChoudhary. Dalbir Singh and~ l i k . a n t h Vernia.January 28 : Six nation sumlIIit at New Delhi.January 31 : Floor-crossingalmost impossible. Anti-Defection Bill passed.March 2-5: Assembly Elections held. The Congress IIIback in power in 8 states butsuffered a 26% fall in the numberof seats wen by it.NEWSHOUND

There would have been noHindi-Sikh problem after the1947 partition of the Indo-Paksub -continent had the leaders ofthe Punjabi Hindu communityunanimously accepted the factthat Punjabi was indeed theirmother tongue. Now after somany upheavels, when the twocommunities are drifting apart,the leaders again pr-evailed onthe Punjabi-speaking Hindus tostick to their old stand and onceagain declare Hindi as theirmother tongue. So yet anotheropportunity to save India tramdisintegration has been lost.On the other side had theleaders of the Akali Dal been\\-ise enough to go slowly andsteadily. use the Sikh pr-eachingsin a rightful manner. and utilizethe services of the ShromaniGurudwara Parbhandak Committee for religious purposesand less ror political gains, theywould have raised the status oftheir communitv but also increased the n ~ m b e r or theirmembers drawn from the Hinducommunity vl'ho have closeblood relaiions \\-ith Sikhs andarc drawn to the Sikh l'('ligion.After every agitation. costinga high price and sacrinces onthe part ur the Sikh mas:-;e:-;. IheAkali leaders sought some political gains; some 01 them joinedor collaborated with the Con gress. thereby allowing the Congress to \vin back some of theSikh membership it had lost inthe agitalions. Most of the SikhCongressmen including GianiZail Singh, Sardar Swaran Singh.Sardar Buta Singh etc. are pro-

, A ; ~ 1 . I (',AN SAY 15 OUR P ~ R T Y\1AS ~ ~ A Y E e ME.N AND~ ~ V A t - l l '. Al.1.. ARE.MEN",

ducts of the above kind of Akalipolitics.The latest Morcha was originallv started bv Sant JarnailSingh BhindranwaJle on 19.7.1982for the release of Bhai AmrikSingh and other Sikhs arrestedby the Congress Government andto demand that the Governmentstop killing of Sikh youths infake encounters. The Akali DalILongowal1 took this Morcha intoits own hands on 4.8 .82 . on giving the assurance and commitment that the release of Sikhdetenus would be a precondition for any agreement with theGovernment. So it was obligatoryon the part of Sant Longowal toget the r-elease of all detenusapproved, before he signed theAccord.The main allegation againstthe remaining prisoners is thatthey have been involved in casesor Violence. Thousands of Hindus have been involved in violent activities of the worst kindafter the assassination of MrsIndira Gandhi. [f they, in largenumbers, are all free, whv is thissmall number of Sikh prisonerstill behind bars on mere suspicioin ') Is not this single discrimination enough to be exploitedby tlw aggrieved parties amongthe Sikhs:Now what is the crime ofthese people who have beenkilled . wounded , disabled.imprisoned, de serted their ranksand suftered in other wavs: Theyhave been the victims of otherS'lust for power and supremacy.[n a general amnesty survivorsshould be set free. exonerated,By Rap

.. WHICH IS WHY lHE'( 511rWRA;JIV ~ N f ) H l !

compensated and rehabilitatedto the maximum extent possible.Therein lies the only hope toreduce tension and rebuild cordial relations between the twocommunities.

Dr Mehar SinghM.S .E.T. ClinicBazar Baba Attal, Amritsar.

A broad-based press media isessentially required to be established on long term basis.- KuIdip Singh Chopra

654, Phase VI, SAS NagarChandigarh.

Average Sikh DazedSir,Most Sikhs are not in theleallt interested in politics. Therecent events in Punjab-eventswhich have led to the sacredgurudwaras, especially the mostholy "Darbar Saheb" becomingthe Centre of activities whichwere inexcusable in the eyes ofall right .thinking people, irrespective of religion of belief: haveleft the average Sikh dazed an dthe younger generation confused .The older generation, becauseof their implicit faith in God'sgrace and "Guru Bhali Karega"can look forward to the daywhen normalcy will return totheir lives.But the younger generationfinds itself at a cross roads . As itis with so much rapid advancement in science and technologyand improved communicationwhich has brought the alien

cultures of the West right to itsdoor-step, it had begun to question many aspects of religionwhich were implicitly acceptedby the previous generations.The answers are there inGurbani and in our history an dliterature, but no enlightenedscholars to interpret and present these facts in a modemlight are available.A pailel of Sikh intellectuals.thinkers scholars must gettogether and arrange to meetsmall groups of youngsters toguage which are the chiefdoubts and confusions in theirminds; then set about findingways to resolve them.Urgent action must be takenat the earliest else we shall haveonly ourselves to blame for driving away whole generationsfrom "Guru da Darbar".

Inderjit an d BimaI SinghBombay-400011.Attention Advertisers!

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10/16

F8rum_M_8_tt_er_of_P_e_Cr'_,p_le_________Gazettc - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Ela Bhatt: Ahmedabad's Gandhian Feminist

Uniting Women Against the Community Divide

E a Ramesh Bhatt - amiddle aged, mlddle-sized,gentle khadi clad woman.She is mamed to RameshBhatt, a Gandhian economistwho has been a teacher, GeneralManager of Indian Express Enterprises in Ahmedabad, an activistin the consumer movement. Henow acts as a free lance consultant on development issues andthrough the Foundation of Public Interests is organising cooperatives of handloom weavers ihfour districts of Gujarat. TheBhatts have a daughter, 28 yearsold , a China scholar and presently working with the WallStreet Journal in New York .Their son who is 27, is an architect planner presently on ascholarship fqr a Ph.D. M.l.T..U.S.A. Ela ben holds degrees inArts and Law anda diploma inLabour and Cooperative Affairs.A small talented family.It was in 1955 that she joinedthe TLA ITextile Labour Association, the biggest trade union oftextile workersl and left it in1982. In between for seven yearsshe also worked as a labourofficer in the state government.In the TLA she was in-charge ofthe women 's wing. Ela ben isbest known for her pioneeringeffort in establishing SEWA (SelfEmployed Women's Associationlin Ahmedabad in 1972. She hasalso inspired the creation ofsimilar organisations in severalother states of India. Slowly butsurely SEWA is assuming theproportions of a natiomvidemovement. Ela ben was one ofthe first to recognise the plightof millions of poor, self

employed women like vegetablevendors, hand-cart pullers, milksellers, and women doing jobslike bidi-making. stitching sheetsand quilt covers out of rags, andzari work.In India 94 per cent of allworking women are in thisunorganised sector. Almost halfof these women were totallyunorganised and completely atthe mercy of middle-men andmoney-lenders . In fact it wasbelieved that they were not justunorganised, but also unorganisable. How do you organise orunionise women who work asindividuals in isolated units athome or outside and who areperhaps competing with eachother. In just a few years Elaben an d her team workers didthe impossible by helping thesedestitude women to fonn theirown union to improve theireconomic and social life . As anorganised group they becameeligible to get loans from banks.Thus they were able to deal10 Friday 1-15 August 1986

with or even do away withmoney lenders and middle-menand also to increase their income. Once organised, theybecame powerful and articulateenough to be able to speak outon subjects like police harassment and the anti-poor economic policies of the government. As a group it beco1mepossible to take care of theirhealth, sanitation and nutritionneeds as well as their legalproblems. They were able toorganise creches and balwadiesfor their children. And they alsotook up the challenge of opposing wife-beating and alcoholism.SEWA Ahmedabad, with itsalmost 16,000 melT'bers, alsostarted the first all women 'sbank in the country, owned andmanaged by the members themselves. They also have a unitwhich makes video-films fortraining and educational purposes. Imagine a hand-


11/16


12/16

The Good Earth F8ruG a z ~ _________________Indian Rainforests on the Brink

T he present generationha s to decide whether,after some four billionyears of existence, the earthwill have any more existenceat all. For, the precious an dprimary resources base forall life on earth, the rainforests, ar e being irretreivablydepleted at the rate of elevenmillion hectares annuaUy, according to John Seed of th eRainforest Information Centre, Lismore, Australia, wh owa s in India recentJy meetingecologists an d environmentalactivists here to discuss strategies to take up rainforestsas the most important conservation priority of the day.

The urgency is f(reat. saysSeed. as the future evolution ofthp world depends upon thesurvival of this crudal geneticbase. this "womb of life" Leading ecologists have predictedthat in less than one human lifetime rainrorests on earth may becompletely annihilated, .

Concerned people are justwaking up to the devastatingconsequences of such an eventualitv since the rainforest ecosvstem sustains over half the

~ o r l d ' s ten million species ofgenetic material. The International Union for Conservation ofNature. in its World Nature Protection Congress in Bali in 1982.gave a call that rainforests betreated as the ultimate conservation pliority ror the world today,

John Seed of the RainforestIn.annation Centre, Australia.The Director (;eneral of theUnited Nations Environment Pro

gramme, Dr, Mustafa Tolba. inhis introduction to the WorldConservation Strategy. where hediscusses the largescale destruction of species and habitatan d decries the ~ s t r u c t i o n ofgenetic material the destruction of complex informationaccumulated over a timespan ofmillions of ,Years. warns thatunless there is an immediateen d to such destruction andreversal or priorities. "we race. bytile tl1m or the century. anem1'ronmental catastrophe ascomplete and irreversible as anuclear holocaust ",NEWSHOUND

12 Friday 1-15 August 1986

Sadanand MenonJohn Seed and Green

peaceB e s i d ( ~ s working with th('

R a i n f o n ~ s t Information Centre.John Seed is collaborating withotlwr Australian bodies like theRainforest Conse,,'ation Society.tlw Tropical Rainforest Societyanu the Australian ConservationFoundation, He has been part ofsp \ 'eral resistance actionsagainst the mass destruction ofrainforests in Australia, He isalso associated with th edynamic l!cology group 'Greenpca ce'

Forests in Tamil Nadu - on their lasl legs.

Seed leels the Greenpeacekind of spirit of a c t i \ ~ s l 1 l an dcommitment has to manifestiist"f more widelv. Their successes ill storPing atmosphericnuclear testing . undergroundIluclear testing an d killing ofwhales and seals have created avast constituencv for them todavwit hove r 1.5 n'lillion membersacross Nroth America. Europeand Australia. Thev are the onlvthing we can see' that is doubling quicker than the destruction". Seed savs,

Human - RainforestConnection

It wa s onlv five million yearsago that hurnans came downfrom their original homes in therainlurcst trees, Thev are justOnt' of the millions 'of speciesthe rainforests bear and sustain ,But today humans ar e in a position to destrov the cuase of their0\-\-11 e v o l u t i ~ n . "It would beunfortunate if we contribute tothe destruction of the ability ofthe planet to renew itself' saysSeed, \Nhile the living conditionsof the people are of great consequence. it should not be posedas being separate from the unityof the biomass. "Ir we lose tilehuman part of us. we lose livemillion Years. but its retreivable,But ir the biomass is lost. it isirretreivable ". he says,

11 is certainly' possible toameliorate the crisis we are inthe midst of. feels Seed. byactions through wruch mas'sconsciousness can be generatedan d by reducing needs an dsharing resources. "Humans arelike a leaf on a very old tree. Topreserve the lear one can't cuttile tree in the hope of shorttemJ benelits rOI' the leaf ThaI'sjust incorrect understanding".he says,

Destruction in KeralaIn India. the core areas ofrainforests which are largeenough to maintain self-sustaining systems - the only viablerelics of the once mighty jungles- exist in the Westel11 Ghats.Assam. Arunachal Pradesh an dth e Andaman an d NicobarIslands, But the pressure onthese areas from logging. dams,

oil palm plantations. lire. etc . issuch that in five years it wouldbe too late to save' the situation,

"I'm not trying to create hysteria' , savs Seed . " !Jut of all theplaces l\ :e b e t ~ l l to. Kcrala seemsto me the most vulnerahle today,Dr. Satish Chandran Nair in Trivandrum has t ~ x c e l l e n t materialon this, If it can 't make thisGovernment sit up. nothing can,There has been tremendous felling of the natural rainforests.fragmenting them into tiny pocokets and leading to simplification of the svstem. Once therainforest brea-ks down. it leadsto lot of unintentional destlLlction grass grows in its periphery:lire bums grass and leaves thesuriace hare: monsoons comean d wash awa:,' the exposed to rsoil. Hard crvstalline rock is allthat remains: Tens of millions ofyears of a process, i soil f0l111aHon is squandered. And. ironically. human beings a r t . ~ ~ i n g l J 'larly incapable of making soil" ,

India On the BrinkSeed categolises India as

being right on the blink, Threequarters of a ton of top soil forevery person in India is washedto the sea annually, Bv the vear2.000. there will be haii as niuchto p soil left for each person as in1985,'Ethiopia will then be seenas just a minor incident",Seed perceives the Indianenvironmental situation as beingin a mess created hy distorteddevelopmental goals,-The GreenRevolution wa s just a hoax an da lie, Huge irrigation projects an dunrestrained use of high ,vielding valieties created a bit ofwealth by flooding the lands of

poor ral1lwrs \\llw ill turn , wentto tilt' cities tll s\\'(>l1 til!' sluills ."lis just i.l IIWlhotl of rn'i.ltin/,! iJmiddle class at till' e,\pense oftribals and poor peasants ' . hesays,No more Plwrgy call 1)(' putinto t h i ~ kind of thing. Ill! says,We have to cOll\,ince Iwople torelinquish hopes of this socallpd 'good I i ' i of consumptionof eit!ctricit\ ' and commodities ,Life has e x i ~ t ( ' d for so long without electlicity . Its only a recentfanc\' and now we ( ~ x p e I H I it onmundalH:' tllings like bnlshingteeth, Den>lopnlent has to 1)(' on

While th c action!; of mo!;1of these resistance groups ar einspired thp. principles ofGandhian non-violence an dGandhian mp.thodology, SeedRays he feci!; sorry 10 se e"official Gandhian groups inIndia remaining paralysedan d not doing anything. Theyshould either act, or leave th estagc".Hl' /,!ives the example of thl:':'vlaliJ,\'sian group ' Friends of th e

The once lush rainj'nresls of Kerala.biospherf!lJased plinciples. Tosave th e cor(' rainforest areas alot of r g . v has to be put intode\ 'e lopin/,! iJuitt!r areas and. inall this. there must he minimuminteri'erencl' with the lives ofpeople, For this. the problem offooel, fodder and fire\voodshould be tackJed first, Onl,v anunprecedented revolution inconsciousnessnow . can rescue us

Earth ' which along with someBritish ~ r o u p s is carrying on anovel campaigll against the saleof cel1ain varieties of Malaysianwood by the Blitish t(mberindustry, They campaign to con\ince shopkeepers not to stockcertain articles, Thev have alsosuccessfully organise-d the blockade or ships landing tropicallimber at major ports like Brisbane. Sydney an d San Fransisco

You do not have abette. choice


13/16

F8rum_______________________ a z e l ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Implicating Organisations of theRural Poor in False Cases

NFS - IndiaIn various parts of the country, there have

emerged organisations which ar e in the forefrontof struggles against deprivation and injustice. Byand large these organisations have taken to anon-violent path of struggle, though at times therehave been reports of limited acts of violenceagainst individuals. Violence in such cases hasusually been directed against individuals notorious tor their acts or exploitation and repressionof the poor.Yet from time to time, sympathisers of theseorganisations of the rural poor have been confused by reports of acts of indiscriminate violencein which members of these organisations ar eaUeged to have been involved. To what extent ar ethese reports true? An attempt is made to answerthis question here by examining a specific incident of this kind on the basis 01' a visit to th escene of such an incident.B aratpur village .s locatedunder nulhaniva BazarPolice Station "in Patnadistrict of Bihar. There areaboul 400 families in this villageof whom about nearly 100 ownland. and the remaining aremore or less landless. Non-payment of legaUy fixed minimum wages and the legallyfixed dues of share-croppersand illegal occupation of community land by a few 'well connected' villagers are the maingrievances of the deprived section of this village.

The landowning familieshave problems due to poorsupply of canal water. Lack ofrural employment works nearthe village to provide relief tothe poor is another grievance.While most of the poorest families belong to scheduled castes,several other castes are alsorepresented among the poorand landless famlies .On the whol' Bharatpur IS avillage where pmerty and exploitation are w i d e s p r e a ~ l There isobviously a need to organise thepoor against exploitation within the village as there is formore employment and generalimprovement of conditions inthe village. An organisationcaUed Kisan Sabha affiliated tothe Indian People's Front IJPF Ihas been active here for sometime. It has managed to achievea few specific gains such as anincrease in wage for a particulartype of work. It has also enabledthe poor to be less submissiveto injustices hurlcd on them.The Kisan Sabha has also beenactive in neighbouring villagesand on the whole has beenforcing a shift in the balance ofpower between the haves andhave-nots in favour of the latter.II has emerged as a challenge tothose who have wielded economic and political power inthe region so far,In the month of April thisyear three youths of this village:Devi Dayal Yadav, Naresh Yadavand Mahadev Yadav were murdered. This murder carne as abig surprise to most of the vil-lagers as they were widely perceived to be peace-loving andnot involved in any seriousquarrel or faction fight. Anothersurprise for most villagers was

the sub sequent arTest of threeactivists of the Kisan Sabha onthe charge of having been in-volved in this crime: MahajanMochi, Muhammad Rivaz andKedar PasWan. -Sitaram Yadav, the agedfather of Naresh Yadav, tearsflowing down hi s eyes, told thisreporter that he did not tell thepolice anything against thesethree Kisan Sabha activists onthe basis of which thev couldhave been implicated - in hisson 's murder. However, one relative, Raiendra Yadav said thathe had had on with altercationwith a group to which the threesuspects, belonged, and ex-pressed a suspicion that theIhree youths could have beenmurdered as a revenge for this,However, it was also said bypeople present during this conversation that one of theaccused was a good friend 01one of the murdered men .Enquiries regarding the natureof the dispute which RajendraYadav had talked about revealedthat it was certainly not of sucha serious nature as to lead to amurder of three people. Moreover, the murdered youths werenot themselves involved in thematter. If someone was really sodesperate to take revenge, thenwhy would he kill three uninvolved innocent people whohappened to be of the samecaste as the murders real adversary" Further conversation withRajendra Yadav revealed thatapart from this specinc allegation he was also willing toinflict several other charges onthe other group whom he described as 'Naxalites'. His biasagainst this group was all tooevident.When I talked to the fatherof Muhammud Riyaz, one of theaccused, he said that the entirevillage knew that there was noenimity between the accusedand the murdered people. Hesaid that even the familymembers of the murdered menbelieved his son to be innocentand instead they suspectedsome other people of Kharmaivillage. He added that his sonhad no previous police recordagainst him, and his arrest hadcome as a big surprice to allthose who knew him. He

believed firmly that his son wastaken in for his activities relat ing to organising the pooragainst injustice and oppression.In the case of Mochi, anotheraccused, when the Kisan Sabhaactivist for whom the policewere searching could not befound on the day they came tothe village, they arrested hisfather instead. This wasobviously to exert pressure onthe son to give up his acthities.The wife of the arrest ed mantold me that he was beaten upbadly both in the village and inthe police station.Looking at the relationshipsexisting in the village and thelarger context of the work of theKisan Sabha in this region, Ireturned from this village withthe strong impression that thearrested activists of the KisanSabha could not have beenbehind this murder. Their organisation could have gainednothing from such an act. onthe contrary the Sabha 's credibility would have suffered,What seems more likely isthat once the murders lookplace, some vested interestsconspired to involve these activists in the rnurder, this achieving two objectives in theprocess-first Iy securing thearTest of men who were asource of strength for the KisanSabha, and secondly driving awedge between the Kisan Sabhaand the Vadav Community bvspreading the suspicion' th


14/16

F&um-----------Gazc ttc-----------The Agony of ...Continued from page 1 col 2the "vicious attack" on therathyatra processionists.

Th e Violent Bandh.July 14 : \lVhile the bandh

was total an d "successful" as faras the Hindu Suraksha Samitiwas concerned, for the Muslimresidents of the working classneighbourhood of Meghaninagar, it proved to be one of the

!

blackest days ever. In a government housing colony mobs surrounded and threatened Muslim families in the presence ofpolice points. The housing colony is about 200 metres fTomthe Meghaninagar Police chowki.The police claim that faced bythe mob one resident fired hisprivate, licensed revolver. Themob then rushed into the block.stabbed six members of a family, including an old womanand a child an d set them alight.Some have disputed th esequence of events, but whatis undisputed is the role ofth e poUce who were virtuaUybystanders dUring these hoI'rendous events_In addition to these senselessmurders, several Muslim shops,homes and other establishments were looted an d destroyed, by arsonists. The popular Decent Restaurant an d EllisHote\' both owned by a Muslim,\\'pre ransacked and burned inspill' of the Ellis Bridge policestation being just across theroad. Simultaneously violencespread to Baroda an d Broachan d reinforcements of the SRPwere flown in fTom Delhi.

July 15: There wa s absolutely no sign of any decreasein the violence. On th e contrary tw o Musllin visitors toth e Civil Hospital in Meghaninagar were thrown from th esecond floor of a ward an dthen burnt afive. Th e pretextfo r this barbarous ac t wa sthat they had stabbed someon e in the ward, a storywhich several Gujarati newspapers expressed as a viciousrumour without foundation.

New Delhi Takes NoteJuly 16: With the death tollin the state up to 74 the Centresent Sri. P. Chidambaram, UnionMinister of State for personnel,public grievances an d pensions,currently looking after internal14 Friday 1-15 August 1986

security, an d an AICC team tothe city on a fact-finding mission. Violence had bv nowspread to the western bank ofthe Sabarmati, a largely middleclass area. Here again it wasMuslim shops and establishments that were targetted forattack. And all this despite thefact that S4 companies of SHP,CRP, nSf and Home Guards

took positions allover the city.July 17 : A wild rumourwhipped across both banks orthe Sabarmati bringing new anxieties. Police sub-inspector B.I\.Sharma, who was stabbed onthe day of the bandh was.reported to have succumbed toinjuries. Consequently it wasfeared that police in the citywere to go on strike at S p.m.Although this rumour wasquickly dispelled by radio an dTV reports. It did nothing tostop the killings an d arson inthe City.July 18 : Now, a full weekafter the rathyatra, relative peaceprevailed. First reports cametrickling in fTom relief camps.July 19 : There were stillsome isolated cases of arsonand one fatal stabbing in theMirazpur area when curfew waslifted for a few hours.

July 20: The city is free ofviolence but still extremelvtense. Curfew is being liftel!slowly but many fear for theirlives once police points arewithdrawn. The city is limpingback to its normal. bustling selfbut the shock, the grief. the anxiety remain.

Piecing together variousversions of last week's hoI'rendous events several unsettling an d indeed ominousfacts emerge. And importantquestions pose themselves.Why did th e police fail to control th e situation, despite theChief Minister's reassurancesof "fuU poUce bandobast"?Ho w did the poison spread sorapidly?We shall almost certainlynever know wh o threw the f i r ~ tstone. Most Hindus in the cityare of the view that "those people" started the attack. They aresupported by the city PoliceCommissioner, B.K. Jha, wh owas quoted in the TImes ofIndia as having stated that the

procession proceeded smoothly'till it reached Kadia Naka Poleon Jordan Road where suddenly a barrage of stones camepouring down on the processionists from a nearby rooftop.That signalled the beginning ofthe free-for-all and soon the disturbances flared up".What he failed to mentionwa s ttat throughout processionists persisted in chanting".fai .filgannilth.' Mia Cilar" and".fai lHakhan Chor'Mia ne phekido.''' (Throw the ll"luslims oull.

In addition se\eral evewitnesses in the r


15/16

Delhi Police Fails . . .Continued lium page 1 col 5crowd asked why he wasleaving for Punjab 80 soon."He should stay on becausethere would be more deathshere." As we left a womanremarked bitterly "Hlnduan-tha Raj !uti au r Sikh mojhankarthe han." It wa s at thlsMandir, almost a month earlier, when Saba Amte and hisgroup ,1sited the migrants,that they lound hatred an dmilitancy which shocked themby its intensity.In T'ilak Nagar's Singh SabhaGuruclwara the burned GuruGranth Sahib has been replacedand fresh carpets laid on thefloor. But the shattered remainsof the crystal chandelier aremute witness to the mob violence. The burned Takhat andcarpets lie in an adjoiningmom. Mohan Singh, the sevadarwounded by the mob, his head

and arm bandaged, lav in theverandah with A r j u ~ ' Singh.another young sevadar, alsoinjured that dav. The policewere at the corner of the street;there were about 200 of them,accorcting to Mohan Singh. Butthey ctid nothing when the mobof about 2000 people attacked.Avatar Singh, another youngsevadar, said he gave about 20policemen tea at 6. a.m. butthey ruso ctisappeared when themob came a couple of hOllrslater. The mob ransacked theGurum"lra at will, burned theGurud \, ara library next doorand the shop in between.Opposite the Guruclwara is thegutted house of Kulwant Singh,prinCipal of the SulVla K..'la.\saSchool in Fateh Nagar, and hisburned out Maruti car andscooter. The police neverappeared in spite of the policestation nearby

Indisputable FactsIt is clear

The Forum Gazette Vol. 1 No. 5 August 1-15. 1986

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