Saturday, December 06, 2008
INDIAN COMMUNALISM IS A BRITISH GIFT - By Akhilesh Mithal - COVERT fortnightly
Itihaas | Akhilesh Mithal
INDIAN COMMUNALISM IS A BRITISH GIFT
The history of British rule in India has yet to be written. The lies told by the alien rulers and repeated ad nauseam by their Indian collaborators have become a staple of the collective memory and continue to mask the truth and distort fact in order to promote fiction. One great untruth is that Hindus and Muslims have been inimical to each other since the advent of Islam in India in the 8th century, and that the British, being Christian were impartial to the conflicting claims of the two communities and gave India a just administration for the first time in a thousand years.
This untruth forms the basis of and is the keystone of the arch of the communal parties in India such as the Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha, the RSS and all the other Sangh Parivar manifestations.
A study of pre-1857 Indian history shows that Indian communalism is a British creation and has been a factor in Indian politics only from the post 1857 period.
In 1757, when Sirajudaulah, the 20-year-old Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, fought the British East India Company’s Robert Clive at Plassey there was no Hindu-Muslim divide. Those who fought for him — and were loyal to the death — were the generals Mohan Lal Biswas and Mir Madan. The betrayers of their salt included the senior commander, Mir Jafar and Diwan Rai Durlabh Bose.
The motives were sincerity and loyalty to the salt in the first case and greed in the second. There was no vestige of communalism.
The next great Indian power to be destroyed by the British, Mysore, was ruled by Tipu Sultan. The manner in which his diwan, a Brahmin called Purnaiyya helped his master during his lifetime and the attempts he made to maintain the traditions of the kingdom after the defeat and death of Tipu on 4 May 1799 are another example of loyalty to the salt being paramount and communal considerations having no effect upon Hindu-Muslim relationships.
The British came to India as Christians steeped in anti-Muslim feelings prevalent since the Crusades of 10th century AD. They were unable to understand the amity in existence among the Hindus and the Muslims of India. The peaceful co-existence of, what for them were two naturally antagonistic communities with differences incapable of reconciliation, and the common enjoyment of the Ganga-Jamuni culture by Hindus and Muslims appeared unnatural to them.
Europe has not given any major religion to the world. It practises Christianity which came to Rome as a source of entertainment for the citizens when its persecuted practitioners were fed to the lions of the Colosseum. This violence became part of the mindset of European Christians. The manner in which the Muslims were driven out of the Iberian Peninsula, and the Counter Reformation and Inquisition that followed, are among the bloodiest chapters of the history of religion.
The differing mindsets of the British and the Indians remained dormant without affecting the situation as long as the British were not in power.
By 1800 there were no challenges left to question British authority in India. Wellesley started the Fort William College to help English recruits to the East India Company’s service. It was found that Hindustani, the language of Hindustan, was written from right to left and that too in the Arabic script. This appeared wrong to the conditioned-to-be-anti Muslim mindset. Devanagari, used hitherto largely for Sanskrit, was installed as a script for the new Hindustani texts to be taught to English recruits of the Company.
THE ABSENCE OF ANTI-MUSLIM feelings among the Hindus was found inexplicable by the British. Sir Henry Elliot undertook his massive History Of India As Told By Its Own Historians in order to highlight the atrocities committed upon Hindus by Muslims. The avowed intention of the work was to prove to the Hindus that the British were the best rulers ever and they should stop indulging in any nostalgia for the period of Muslim rule.
The rout of the British Indian Army invading Afghanistan was a great humiliation. To convert a crisis into an opportunity, the Governor General asked the next army invading the area to raid the mausoleum of Mahmoud in Ghazni and collect its doors as well as the mace [gurj] of the 10th century warrior said to be lying on the sarcophagus. The doors were removed ignoring protests by the guardians of the tomb. The mace could not be found. The doors were mounted on a high platform and covered with a canopy and curtains. They were paraded all over India and at each showing the announcement made that these were the doors of the Somnath temple removed by Mahmoud to “insult Hindu sentiment”. It was said that the English had recovered them to demonstrate their concern for “Hindu sentiment”.
Closer examination revealed that unlike the Somnath doors, these doors were not of sandalwood, but of a timber not found in Gujarat. The doors were relegated to obscurity in storage at the Red Fort of Agra. They failed to spark Hindu Muslim animosity.
Wajid Ali Shah, the richest North Indian ruler, continued writing Rashas dramas where he would be playing the Lord Krishna to be adored through song and dance. 1856 saw the dethronement of Wajid Ali Shah and his exile to Calcutta. His effects were sold by auction.
1857-58 saw 135,000 sepoys and non-commissioned officers of the East India Company rise in revolt against the British. They were joined by Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, Begum Hazrat Mahal, the last Peshwa, Nana Dhondho Pant, the Rani of Jhansi and nawabs and rajas all over North and Central India.
Bloody retribution was visited upon the Indians. From Peshawar in the north-west to Arrah in Bihar, the towns and villages in the path of the vengeful British were depopulated and subjected to massacre, loot and arson.
The trees along the roads and in village squares were festooned with hanged men and the bodies had to rot in situ so that burial or cremation could not take place. No prisoners were taken and over ten million Indians perished.
The culture fracture caused by this trauma opened the Indian mind to British propaganda.
Colonel James Tod’s Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan came out at about this time and was translated into Bengali and Hindustani. This work shows Rajput heroism and the vileness of their enemies, the Muslims. The gentle and suave Ganga-Jamuni culture was ousted by hatred “red in tooth and claw”.
We now have both Hindu and Muslim terrorism and urgently need to revisit the pre British period to regain some sense of decency and normality [¼]
Akhilesh Mithal is a Dilliwala
THE HONEST TRUTH - BY AJIT DAYAL
| An abstract becomes a reality | |
| 2 DECEMBER 2008 | PRINTER FRIENDLY | ARCHIVES |  |  RS |
Terrorism - of any kind - on any one cannot be pardoned.
Bombay has, yet again, fallen victim to terrorist attacks. While the terrorist attacks on South Bombay, specifically in the Taj and the Oberoi/Trident, may not be the "worst" we have had, terrorism is terrorism. Murder is murder. It cannot be condoned.
In March 1993 a series of bomb attacks knocked out the Bombay Stock Exchange, battered the Air India building, but the attacks were scattered all over Bombay. More than 250 people were killed in those attacks.
In August 2003, two taxis filled with explosives blew up in the Zaveri Bazaar area, also in South Bombay: 50 people lost their lives.
In July, 2006 bombs ripped through the trains across Bombay - including those in South Bombay: 209 people died.
10 people die every day on the train tracks in Bombay - that is over 3,600 people every year are killed by an uncaring government entity. That is terrorism of the bureaucracy.
There is one farmer committing suicide every 30 minutes in India; over 50 every day.
There have been 150,000 suicides by farmers in India between 1997 and 2005. One out of every five farmers is from the state of Maharashtra. That is terrorism by the government.
8 people have died every day in Kashmir for the past 18 years.
That is 6,570 days of terror in Kashmir.
Bombay had its 60 hours of terror; Kashmir has had 157,680 hours of terror - and still counting.
While these are larger terrorist attacks - in some cases perpetrated by the failure of government - they were an abstract for most of us living in South Bombay.
A statistical data point that made it to page 5 of the newspapers in South Bombay as we went along with our daily lives.
Till we saw the Taj and Oberoi/Trident in flames.
Now we are in a rage.
"Anger tends to cloud judgement" said Mahatma Gandhi.
So, while we - rightfully - scream for blood, maybe it is time to step back and see what the origins of some of these problems are.
Why fires burn
Any act of violence or terrorism should lead to 3 questions:
1) what caused the person to be violent?
2) could we have protected ourselves from that act of violence?
3) what can we do to prevent this from occurring again - or improving the response?
One can write a book on this.
And still get it wrong.
Some commentators have blamed the surge in Islamic terrorism on the Palestinian issue. Some on Kashmir. Some blame it on the export of the Wahabi version of Islam practiced by the Saudi Arabians who are enriched with petro-dollars. Some blame it on the fact that Muslims in India are at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. Some blame it on lack of education. Some say the Hindu mobs that destroyed the Babri Masjid were frustrated and fed up with the slow government - they were terrorists. Some say the Hindu terrorists who destroy churches are retaliating against the Christians for their forced conversions.
An eye for an eye, said the Mahatma, merely makes the whole world blind.
I have no love for countries that support terrorists - or religious leaders and politicians who mis-interpret their religion so that they can bless violence.
But pointing fingers at Pakistan for everything that goes wrong in India is the easy way out. When we "blame" someone there is an implicit assumption that we are all looking after our own people and this "foreign hand" is messing us up.
Terrorists carry a country's passport as an identity card - to cross borders - not because they believe in the laws.
Has anyone asked Sri Lanka whether they think that India is a terrorist state? There have been reports that training camps in India have helped the Tamil Tigers in their fight against the Sinhalese. Does that make India a terrorist state? Or do we pardon that because we have many Tamils in India? And if we are a "terrorist state" according to Sri Lanka, what are we doing about it? Or do we ignore them because they are a small nation and we are 50 times their size?
Members of the underworld are known to be harboured in many countries in the middle east. Have we banned Indian businesses and labourers from going to those countries? Do we stop the Indian cricket matches that are played there? Are we silent because we need their oil? If Pakistan was to have a huge oil and gas discovery tomorrow and they agreed to sell it to India - would we change the way we view Pakistan?
We have many home-grown terrorists. The Naxalites are fighting for a redistribution of the wealth of land. What is "foreign" about them? The Naxalites have grown in might because the Indian government has not delivered on the promises laid out in the Preamble and the Constitution.
Corruption of our laws
Our governments and systems have been corrupted by the willingness of those governed to break the law - and then buy their way to innocence. It takes two hands to clap. It takes two to be involved in corruption: the giver and the taker.
So, when I see some industrialists and businessmen on TV blaming the government and the politicians the question to be asked is: have you ever been a part of the "system" and been a partner to corruption?
If a politician knows that he needs to generate one business deal a month for his businessmen friend - on which he gets a nice cut - why should he worry about the voters and the people?
When the next election comes, all the policitian needs to do is bribe the voters with a few gifts - which the corruption money can easily buy. The political system is not judged based on what they have "delivered" to the voters every day over their 5 year tenure. They are judged on the spoils they share with their henchmen and the voters in election month.
And they are willing - like an efficient prostitute - to sell their bodies to the highest bidders: many times a day.
Let's take the example of this clamour to protect India's coast line. In 1993, argue those on TV, boats were used to transport RDX that were used in the Bombay blasts. Yet - we are told by these indignant businessmen on the various TV channels - 15 years later there is nothing done to protect India's coast line.
But India does have a law about its coastline. It says that there can be no construction within 500 metres of the sea. The law may not be a good law and it is disliked by many - but it is a law. Drive along the coast of western India and see how many homes and buildings are within this 500 metre zone? The ones that were constructed after the law came into force stand aloof because things have been "taken care of".
Once you have injected a bag of cash into the system, why should the local policeman or local administrator or college clerk or tax officer restrict the cash-taking habit only to the bag of money that you have to offer?
Your willingness to pay a bribe to break the law, has given the administrator the opportunity to set up a parallel business with its own parallel economy.
So, the next time he is asked to look the other way when 2 speed boats head out to sea to pick up a cargo from a ship 4 nautical miles off the coast of Bombay, the only question to be asked is: how much will you pay me?
He does not need to know what the cargo is; or what it is being used for; or by whom.
Just like he does not need to know how large a home you wish to build within the 500 metre restricted coastal zone.
When a college issues a fake identity card, it is because - somewhere in the system - there was a breakdown. Maybe some rich son's kid wanted to go to a bar even before he reached the legal age limit. No problem, he works the system. He hears about how the father works the system every night at home over dinner. Of course, somewhere down the line a fake college identity card may be sold to a terrorist trying to blow up a hotel in South Bombay.
There are rules in Bombay about the time that bars and clubs must close. Like the coastal zone rule, it is disliked. But it is a law. Drive around at night in Bombay and you will see bars open till later than what the law states. Things have been taken care of. The law enforcer has been bought. If the enforcer can be paid to look the other way to keep a bar open beyond legal times, how much would it cost to look the other way as a van or truck winds its way down the roads of South Bombay? Is the enforcer going to ask: do you have Ak-47's and grenades in there? Does the enforcer ask the bar owner: do you declare your earnings to the tax department or do you serve hooch or foreign liquor?
The Special Economic Zones and the large real estate development projects? Were they policies built on a transparent process? Or were these another way of those with good connections getting what they want?
And then we wonder why the Naxalites are gaining power.
Helping people break the law - or create laws that help a few - has become the major focus of many politicians and administrators in modern India: they get paid well for it.
Bribing the enforcers of law has become our birthright. We are Indian.
So, if you really want India to get on the right track: stop paying bribes. In fact, if someone asks you for a bribe send a letter to the editor of all major newspapers in the country naming that person, why they wanted the bribe, and how much they wanted.
And, yes, if the TV channels had to get an honest declaration of "I have never paid a bribe" from people they invited on their shows, there would be a different breed of panellists on the talk shows.
Marginalise the politicians, not the political process
You don't want the rule of the army.
You want a democracy.
So you must not change the political process of elections, but you can change who stands for elections.
There have been many suggestions made by others that sound pretty good:
1) remove all security cover given to every politician - then truly those who wish to serve India will be counted;
2) your state of origin has no meaning in India or in any election speech and if that is the platform of any party, they should be barred from the electoral process - the NSG commandoes and the Marine Corps did not check the id cards of the people they saved to see if they were Maharashtrians, Gujaratis, or foreigners. They went about the job of saving people at the cost of their lives;
3) politicians cannot visit the site of any terrorist attack - unless they are willing to go unarmed and unescorted to meet the terrorists while they are still alive and well armed.
4) every major metro city must have a NSG-type force of 400 people; this will improve the response time for any future terrorist attack. And these units should not be in control of the state politicians - they report directly to head of the NSG, who reports to the head of the army.
5) the 6 Australian commandos on vacation - with no weapons - who rescued 150 people from the Taj Rooftop showed us what a well-prepared local force can do; time to get training from the Israelis, Australians, UK, and US commando units. And if any political party does not like it, send them on a boat ride to Karachi. Equip the boat with a GPS to ensure they reach Karachi.
There is hope
When we saw the image of the joy on the face of the terrorist at the train station, we realise we are not dealing with a human being. He looked like a bowler who had just taken the prized wicket of a star batsman. But the trophy here was the life of an innocent. We are dealing with an unknown army of people incapable of remorse and driven by misguided passions.
But even though we know the raging response this time around stems from the fact that the island city of South Bombay is now officially a part of India, the fact is that there is anger. And anger, channelled with calm thought, can lead to wonderful change.
We need to recognise that terrorism is not going to disappear. But one can lessen the impact by:
1) having the NSG forces in every major metro city will reduce the time factor for the response.
2) allowing the enforcers of the law to freely enforce the law will improve the efficiency of the police and the local governments. They can focus on their work.
3) Giving the media one common, controlled feed from one camera reducing confusion and reducing the risk of educating the enemy. The media will always look for the breathless excitement of breaking news. We saw the same pictures on all the TV channels - they may have shown images that gave the terrorists a clue as to what was about to happen. In a time of crises, the government (through DD) may as well generate a common footage and let the various channels give their independent opinions and have their independent studio interviews. The NSG can give a news briefing every 2 hours. The lack of time stamps on every image drew a fine line between news and "confuse". It seemed like the Taj Palace hotel had burnt down a hundred times.
"Enough is enough" said NDTV and the hundreds of people they spoke to.
Here are a few snippets of what the people said on NDTV and CNN-IBN:
These are symbols of what we stand for...I walked through this hotel just to feel good...and I will be more than happy to help...
If the politicians were to come here today, they would be killed
We are a lawless people; we have no respect for the law.
And my favourite:
Karkare's wife refuses help from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
You cannot eradicate terrorism, but we can defeat it by continuing to live life normally.
And we can help remove the reasons for home-grown or foreign terrorism by eliminating corruption and weeding out the politicians who have debased the political process.
Comments posted on Jug Suraiya's article: Indistan zindabad, published in TOI : Ghulam Muhammed
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Great analysis! Sober and mature; especially coming from a humour writer! However, if, according to Jug Suraiya, Indistan (India+ Pakistan) is the only solution to subcontinent's existentialist problem, the initiative must come from India, the elder brother in the family. It has to show to both Kashmir and Pakistan, that it means well by Muslims and has to demonstrate convincingly upfront by giving its own Muslim citizen, an exemplary and honourable deal. Or the danger is that the US/neo-con axis will replay the Iraqi solution in India, and maneuver a weak government to lord over India as the imperialist power. It may so happen that they may bring together the total Muslim population of India,Pakistan and Bangladesh and hand over power to the 500 million Muslims, as righting the wrong, as they brought Shia, their most recalcitrant ideological foes, to power in Iraq, through an imposed constitution and a managed election. I as a Muslim Indian would be most reluctant to look forward to any such remedies to claim the community right in this land of us all, as I am sure it will entail loss of human lives and material and civilisational properties at much greater level than was the case in Iraq.
Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai
www.ghulammuhammed.wordpress.
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Indistan, zindabad
Today there is not one but too many Pakistans for that bedevilled country's own good and for the well-being of the international community. There is the Pakistan of President Asif Zardari who claims that the Mumbai assault was mounted by 'non-state actors' with no affiliation to Pakistan and almost immediately gives the lie to his own statement by adding that no terrorists originated in "my part of the country", implying that significant parts of his supposed bailiwick were in fact beyond his jurisdiction.
There is the Pakistan of the Taliban-controlled North West Frontier Province which is a law or rather, a lawlessness unto itself. There is the Pakistan of Sindh and Baluchistan, where separatism is rife. There is the Pakistan of the army and the ISI, a so-called state within a state. There is the Pakistan which is an economic basket case with not enough in its coffers to support itself for 30 days. There is the Pakistan where 2 per cent of the elite own 98 per cent of everything. There is the Pakistan of a painfully emergent professional middle class seeking to create a civil society based on democratic values.
Which of these many Pakistans to deal with, and how? Internationally coordinated military strikes at terror training camps located within Pakistani territory? Global pressure diplomatic, economic and moral brought to bear on Islamabad to stop its covert support of terrorism?
Today, let alone the world not knowing who or what Pakistan is, Jinnah's dream nation has awoken to a nightmare in which it doesn't know itself. For far too long some would say since its very inception Pakistan's sole raison d'etre has been its adversarial role vis-a-vis India.
Not just India, but the world as a whole, can't afford a failed Pakistan with all the disastrous ramifications it would entail, not the least being Islamabad's nuclear arsenal falling into rogue hands. What Pakistan needs is a miracle cure, an instant evolution from fragmented feudalism to cohesive democracy.
Pakistan needs to radically rethink itself. And what more radical than to rethink Partition and think about reunification with India, the world's most populous democracy and the world's second fastest growing economy? Preposterous idea, of course, for mortal enemies to come together. But is it any more preposterous than the risk of nuclear war of 60, or 600, more years of so-called 'proxy warfare' which neither country can afford?
Instead of its constant demands for a plebiscite in Kashmir, Islamabad should hold a plebiscite within Pakistan to see how many would like to review Partition in favour of a united Indistan. It wouldn't work, of course. But then, neither has Partition.
secondopinion@timesgroup.com
