Comment by Riaz Haq on April 4, 2017 at 8:59pm

What is Hindutva?
A.G. NOORANI

https://www.dawn.com/news/1301496/what-is-hindutva


Savarkar wrote, “... Hindutva is not identical with what is vaguely indicated by the term Hinduism. By an ‘ism’ it is generally meant a theory or a code more or less based on spiritual or religious dogma or system. But when we attempt to investigate the essential significance of Hindutva we do not primarily — and certainly not mainly — concern ourselves with any particular theocratic or religious dogma or creed”. His concern was politics; the political mobilisation of Hindus into one nation.

If not religion, what, then, is the basis for the divide? With crystal clarity, he wrote, “To every Hindu … this Sindhusthan is at once a pitribhu and a punyabhu — fatherland and a holy land. That is why in the case of some of our ... countrymen, who had originally been forcibly converted to a non-Hindu religion and who consequently have inherited along with Hindus, a common fatherland and a greater part of the wealth of a common culture — language, law, customs, folklore and history — are not and cannot be recognised as Hindus. For though Hindusthan to them is fatherland as to any other Hindu yet it is not to them a holy land too. Their holy land is far off in Arabia or Palestine. Their mythology and god-men, ideas and heroes are not the children of this soil. Consequently their name and their outlook smack of a foreign origin”.

The divide cannot be bridged except by obeying Hindutva’s demand for conversion to Hinduism. Savarkar exhorted, “Ye, who by race, by blood, by culture, by nationality possess almost all the essentials of Hindutva and had been forcibly snatched out of our ancestral home by the hand of violence — ye, have only to render wholehearted love to our common mother and recognise her not only as fatherland (Pitribhu) but even as a holy land (Punyabhu), and ye would be most welcome to the Hindu fold”.

Gandhi’s assassination put paid to Savarkar’s ambitions, but the RSS picked up the baton. Its supremo, M.S. Golwalkar, drew inspiration from Hindutva and coined its synonym, ‘cultural nationalism’, in contrast to ‘territorial nationalism’ in his book, A Bunch of Thoughts (1968). Everyone born within the territory of India is not a nationalist; the nation is defined by a common ‘culture’ (read: religion).

Golwalkar wrote, “... here was already a full-fledged ancient nation of the Hindus and the various communities which were living in the country were here either as guests, the Jews and Parsis, or as invaders, the Muslims and Christians. They never faced the question how all such heterogeneous groups could be called as children of the soil merely because, by an accident, they happened to reside in common territory under the rule of a common enemy … The theories of territorial nationalism and of common danger, which formed the basis for our concept of nation, had deprived us of the positive and inspiring content of our real Hindu nationhood ...”

This explains the RSS’ ghar wapsi (‘return to your home’) campaign, simply a repeat of the past shuddhi (‘purification’) movement. Nothing has changed; an unbroken ideological thread binds Savarkar’s Hindutva, Golwalkar’s ‘cultural nationalism’ and the RSS-BJP policies today. On Sept 24, 1990, BJP president L.K. Advani launched “a crusade in defence of Hindutva”, which culminated in the demolition of Babri Masjid, in his presence, on Dec 6, 1992.

Since 1996, the BJP’s election manifestoes for Lok Sabha elections pledge to espouse Hindutva in these terms: “The cultural nationalism of India … is the core of Hindutva.” This explains the Modi government’s systematic purge of educational and cultural institutions. It is a quarrel with history. As scholars Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph remarked, modern hatreds are supported by ancient, remembered wrongs, whether real or imagined. The RSS-BJP combine rejects the concept of composite culture that Jawaharlal Nehru and others propounded.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 3, 2017 at 8:09pm

#India sends back 50 #Pakistani children after threats by #Hindu extremists. #Modi

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/india-sends-back-50-pakist...

Around 50 Pakistani students, visiting India along with their teachers at the invitation of an NGO, were sent back to Lahore after they received threats from extremist organisations.

Routes2Roots, a Delhi-based NGO, had invited 50 students from Pakistan as part of their Student ‘Exchange for Change’ Program, according to Indian media reports.

The students, who reached India on May 1, were sent back home only within a day, after Hindu nationalist Shiv Sena threatened the host NGO for inviting the students.

The students were a part of the cultural exchange programme and on a five-day visit to India. The students after the intimidation from extremists were terrified and remained inside their rooms.

They reached Wagah border safely on Wednesday.

The NGO has been advised by Indian government officials that “the time is unfavourable for the exchange programme”, the Deccan Herald reported.

“An NGO had invited Pakistani school students here. They came to India on the same day when the barbaric and inhuman act of killing and mutilating our soldiers happened.

“The ministry advised the NGO that it was not an appropriate time for such exchanges after we learnt that the children had crossed over to India on May 1,” Gopal Baglay, a spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said.

India has accused Pakistan of killing and mutilating the bodies of two Indian soldiers across the Line of Control.

Pakistan Army categorically rejected Indian Army’s accusations.

“Pakistan Army did not commit any ceasefire violation on the line of control or a BAT action in the Buttal sector (Indian Krishna Ghatti Sector) as alleged by India. Indian blame of mutilating Indian soldiers’ bodies are also false”, an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement had said.

The Pakistani students were scheduled to go on a day-long trip to Agra today and participate in an exchange of experiences with Indian students tomorrow at the Pakistan Embassy in New Delhi.

Expressing regret over the return of the delegation, Routes2Roots said that the trip had to be shortened and the students and teachers have been sent back to Lahore.

“Around 50 students aged between 11-15 years along with their teachers arrived in Delhi from Pakistan on May 1 and were supposed to meet their Indian pen friends and hosts of other programs which had to be cut short.

“Keeping in view the security and sentiments of fellow Indians the delegation has been sent back to Lahore safely,” Rakesh Gupta and Tina Vachani, founders of Routes2Roots, said in a statement.

In October last year, a similar programme by the NGO was cancelled after the announcement of surgical strike by India along the LoC in September.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 10, 2017 at 10:35am

BBC News - #India's 'cow vigilantes' hotel in the clear. It was #chicken, not #beef. #Modi #GauRakshakTerror http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-39872080#

 

A hotel owner in the Indian state of Rajasthan has expressed his frustration over the fact that his hotel has been closed for weeks over false accusations that it had served beef on the premises.

Police on Tuesday said forensic tests on meat seized from the Hayat Rabbani hotel in March showed it was definitely not beef, but chicken, the Hindustan Times reported.

Cows are revered as sacred animals among India's Hindus, and there are strict laws on their slaughter and consumption in several parts of the country, including Rajasthan.

"From the very first day, I have been saying that it was chicken but no one from the administration listened to me," hotel owner Naeem Rabbani told the paper. "The report confirms all allegations levelled on us were false."

The hotel was closed after a group of "cow vigilantes" protested in front of it for hours in March, chanting nationalist slogans.

The Indian Express website cited a member of the group saying they had gathered there after reading about rumours of a beef party at the hotel on WhatsApp, allegedly sent by Jaipur's mayor.

Such vigilante groups have been involved with several incidents of violence in India, particularly after the Hindu nationalist BJP party came to power in 2014. Last month, police investigated the death of a Muslim man who was attacked by a vigilante group while transporting cows in Rajasthan.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 27, 2017 at 7:46am

#India bans sale of #cows for slaughter, a move designed to appease conservative #Hindus. #beefban #Modi #BJP

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-india-cow-slaughter-20170526-sto...

The Indian government has issued a nationwide ban on selling cattle for slaughter, the toughest measure yet imposed to protect cows, an animal that conservative Hindus regard as sacred.

Under new rules issued this week, the government ordered that no cows or buffaloes could be traded at a livestock market without a signed declaration by the owner that the animal was not being sold for slaughter.\

----------

Hindus form an overwhelming majority among India’s 1.3 billion people, and many of them eschew beef out of respect for the bovine.

But beef, which is cheaper in India than many other sources of protein, is a major part of the diet of Muslims, Christians and Hindus from the lowest rung of the ancient caste system, known as Dalits, or “untouchables.”

The leader of the southern state of Kerala, which has a large Christian population, criticized the move as “fascist” and a “clear attack on our plurality.”

Pinarayi Vijayan, the state’s chief minister, tweeted that the law would rob hundreds of thousands of people of jobs, cripple the leather industry and affect the diets of millions of people.

----------------

“The aim of the rules is only to regulate the animal market and sale of cattle in them and ensure [the] welfare of cattle” in the markets, Vardhan said, according to the Press Trust of India.

But the meat trade in India, a $4-billion industry, is centered on animal markets and dominated by Muslims and Dalits, who would be most affected by the change.

In the western state of Maharashtra, where a government led by Modi’s party banned the slaughter of cows in 2015, thousands of butchers have lost their jobs and many meat shops have closed.

In the city of Aurangabad, Mohammad Qureshi, 31 — part of a Muslim community that has traditionally slaughtered cattle and sold the meat for export — said his family’s beef business has dwindled. The business has survived because the state ban did not include buffalo meat, but now buffalo cannot be sold at markets for slaughter either.

“What are we supposed to do?” Qureshi said. “I have a family to look after and this shop is all I have. By imposing these rules, the government is making lives difficult for minorities.”

The nationwide rules would also prevent farmers from selling aging and unproductive cattle to be slaughtered, which many farmers have typically done to raise money and avoid the expense of maintaining an unproductive animal.

Many observers criticized the government for imposing new layers of bureaucracy and paperwork on cattle traders, many of whom are poor and uneducated.

Anyone seeking to sell cattle at a market would need to furnish identification documents — both for himself and the animal — creating what one commentator called “a cow bureaucracy in the 21st century.”

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 29, 2017 at 4:46pm

NY Times Editorial: Vigilante Justice in #India. #Hindutva #gaurakshak #beefban #Islamophobia #Muslims #Lynching

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/opinion/vigilante-justice-in-ind...

A shocking rise in vigilante violence is threatening the rule of law in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is partly to blame for encouraging Hindu furor over the slaughter of cows. Underlying the problem is a lack of faith by many Indians in the ability of the police and the judicial system to deliver justice.

Mob killings of Muslims and Dalits, members of India’s lowest caste, suspected of killing cows or eating beef have occurred with alarming frequency. Seven people were killed recently in two separate episodes. In both cases, the attacks were blamed on a message circulated on WhatsApp warning of child abductors in the state of Jharkand.

Yet, in one case, local strongmen intent on preventing the victims from buying land may have helped stoked the crowd’s anger. Even worse, one survivor said police officers egged the crowd on. In the other case, the three victims were Muslim cattle traders, casting doubt on that theory as the only motive.

A shocking video, widely circulated last week on social media in India, shows a man in one attack covered in blood, cowering on the ground and begging for his life before a mob kicks and beats him to death. Two officers in charge of police stations in the area have been suspended, some 20 people have been arrested and an investigation has begun.

Meanwhile, many of India’s police officers are poorly trained, underpaid and corrupt, and the country’s judicial system is staggering under an enormous backlog of cases. More than 40 percent of high court judgeships remain unfilled.

Prime Minister Modi spoke out last August against right-wing Hindu cow vigilantes after four Dalits accused of killing a cow were brutally beaten by a crowd, but he has remained conspicuously silent since, despite an alarming increase in mob violence. Mr. Modi and senior members of his party need to condemn rumormongers bent on mayhem, many of them connected to local politicians and Hindu militant groups. Mr. Modi also needs to bring the same zeal to overhauling India’s policing and judicial system that he has brought to other issues, lest law and order in India give way to the bloodlust of the mob.

Comment by Riaz Haq on May 31, 2017 at 7:48am

#Australia #beef experts doubt #India's #beefban on cattle slaughter will last. Huge losses will force end. #Modi

 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2017-05-31/australian-beef-experts...

 

There are doubts about whether India's ban on the slaughter of cattle and buffalo will last.

 

The ban has sparked widespread protests in India as well as claims that millions of jobs will be lost if the government stops the nation's $4 billion beef export industry.

 

The ramifications are being watched closely in northern Australia with Indian buffalo meat becoming a serious competitor to Australia's live cattle trade to Indonesia.

 

'Too much commerce at stake'

Industry consultant Ross Ainsworth, who is based in Jakarta, said he doubted the ban would last.

 

Dr Ainsworth said he visited India in December last year and was told at the time that buffalo would not be included in the ban, as they were not held in the same religious regard as cattle.

 

"I would be very surprised if what appears to be a ban on buffalo is actually real when all the detail of the ban rolls out," he said.

 

"I think there is too much commerce at stake for the ban to stop [slaughter of buffalo].

 

"The cattle trade is very tiny in India because it has always been a restricted situation but the buffalo trade has risen to be the world's largest meat trade.

 

"There is about 2 million tonnes of buffalo meat consumed in India and about 2 million tonnes sold internationally.

 

"If you took that out of the system, it would be a spectacular disruption to the world meat trade.

 

"It would cause the biggest disruption [to the world meat trade] since the Second World War, so I can't see it happening."

 

Ban could increase demand for Aussie beef

In the last 10 months, Indian buffalo meat has proved a fierce competitor in Indonesia, as the country has looked for cheaper forms of protein and slowed the importation of live Australian cattle.

 

CEO of the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association, Stuart Kemp, said India's ban could see more demand for Australia beef.

 

"What we've seen in the last six to 10 months is turnoff from feedlots and slaughter numbers down 40 to 50 per cent, since the introduction of Indian buffalo," Mr Kemp said.

 

"But if that competition is not there, you would like to think that would make trading a bit better for importers and feedlotters.

 

"[However] there is a lot of product [Indian buffalo meat] in the supply chain that will take a long time to filter through, so if there is an impact on our trade it will still be some time away."

 

Having said that, Mr Kemp went on to say detail around the ban was scarce.

 

"More demand for Australian product is always a good thing, but I wouldn't be high-fiving myself just yet, there is a lot of water to go under the bridge," he said.

 

"This may be a thought bubble, it may be serious policy, we will just have to wait and see."

 

Dr Ainsworth said he expected the Indian government would release more information on the ban sooner rather than later, given the size of the industry.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 1, 2017 at 8:01am

BBC News - Eight held in #India over calf slaughter. #beefban #Modi
https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/870293234345312257

Police in the southern state of Kerala have arrested eight men who publicly killed a calf to protest against a ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter.
The group, including three from the main opposition party, are accused of animal cruelty and unlawful assembly.
The federal government announced the ban last week, saying it would "stop unregulated animal trade".
But critics say the move is aimed at protecting cows, considered holy by India's majority Hindu population.
The men, who killed the calf on Saturday, said they wanted to represent people's anger against the federal government's decision.
The Congress party, the main opposition to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), opposes the ban, but it suspended the three members of its youth wing, saying the act was "thoughtless and barbaric".
The ban has sparked protests from a number of state governments. There are several states where beef is part of local cuisine and critics say the order will hurt farmers and major industries like food processing and leather.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the central government was "encroaching upon state matters" with its ban. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the order violated "the basic right of a person to freedom of choice regarding his food".
Many states, however, have actively started enforcing bans on cow slaughter since the Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014.
The western state of Gujarat passed a law in March making the slaughter of cows punishable by life imprisonment. Vigilante groups who portray themselves as protectors of cows have also been active in several states.
These groups have even killed Muslim men they suspect of killing cows, including high-profile cases in April and May.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year criticised the vigilantes, saying such people made him "angry". However, this has not stopped attacks against cattle traders.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 15, 2017 at 9:27am

Ban on Slaughter of #Cows Hurts #India's #Leather, #Meat Industries | #Muslims #Dalits #BJP http://Fortune.com http://fortune.com/2017/06/14/india-cattle-leather-industry/ …

In the backstreets of Agra's Muslim quarter, where shoes have been made for centuries, small-scale manufacturers are firing workers and families cutting back on spending as a government crackdown on cattle slaughter ripples through the community.
The election of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) three years ago has emboldened right-wing Hindu groups to push harder for protection of the cow, an animal they consider sacred.
Authorities in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, started closing down unlicensed abattoirs in March, immediately hitting production and sales in the Muslim-dominated meat industry.
Last month Modi's government also banned trading cattle for slaughter, including not just cows, whose killing was already outlawed in most states, but also buffalo, an animal used for meat and leather.
Now the squeeze is spreading to others in the Muslim minority and to lower-caste Hindus who cart cattle, labour in tanneries and make shoes, bags and belts—including for big name brands such as Zara and Clarks.
Frequent attacks by right-wing Hindus against workers they accuse of harming cattle have further rattled the industry.
Social Tensions
Much of India's meat and leather trade takes place in the informal economy, meaning the impact of the closing of illegal abattoirs and ban on trading for slaughter is hard to measure.
But cattle markets are reporting a big slowdown in trade and tanneries a shortage of hides.
Abdul Faheem Qureshi, a representative of India's Muslim Qureshi community of butchers, said in Uttar Pradesh some markets trading 1,000 animals last year were now down to as few as 100.

The decline in production means fewer jobs for two of India's poorest communities, and risks inflaming social tensions at a time when Modi has vowed to boost employment and accelerate economic growth ahead of the next general election in 2019.
Some large leather manufacturers support the Uttar Pradesh state government's move, arguing that allowing only licensed abattoirs to operate will clean the industry's image.
Bigger exporters also say they have enough leather as they source hides widely, including from abroad.
Still, millions work in the meat and leather industries, which are worth more than $16 billion in annual sales.
When Reuters visited the narrow shoemaking lanes of Agra a crowd of Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast gathered, shouting angrily that they were no longer safe to trade buffalo, buy cow leather for shoes or to do work that their community has done for centuries for fear of being attacked by Hindu vigilantes.
"They want to weaken us. They want to snatch our bread," says 66-year-old Mohammad Muqeem, whose workers stitch $3 shoes in his cellar, referring to the closure of slaughterhouses and recent attacks on cattle traders.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 17, 2017 at 9:57pm

#India to ease #CattleSlaughterBan following backlash. #BJP #Hindu #Modi #Cow GauRakshak http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-17/india-to-ease-cattle-slaughte... … via @ABCNews

The Indian Government has this week bowed to widespread pressure and promised to ease an outright ban on selling cattle for slaughter, which has jeopardised billions in exports and ruined livelihoods.

In New Delhi's mainly Muslim district of Nizamuddin the butchers have sat idle, surrounded by rows of empty hooks for two weeks now, ever since the ban was imposed.

"You can see the situation by yourself — it's bare," Mohammed Javed Qureshi said as he gestured at his shop.

Generations of his family have been butchers. Mr Qureshi, 36, says unless the ban is revoked, he will go broke.

"It will finish completely," he says.

It is believed $14 billion in meat and leather trade are under threat.

The Government now concedes it did not anticipate the impact of the ban, which has been condemned as religiously-motivated and an unconstitutional attack on freedom of religion.

Stung by the criticism, environment minister Harsh Vardhan — who is responsible for the regulation — is promising changes.

The decree, made on animal cruelty grounds, requires bovine buyers to guarantee in writing the animals will not be killed.

The feeling among Muslims is that India's Hindu nationalist government is targeting them in a religious quest to protect cattle revered in Hinduism.

"These rules are in violation of the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution of India to the citizens of India," lawyer Abdul Faheem Qureshi, who is challenging the ban in India's Supreme Court, said.

The regulation is being contested on the grounds it denies people a right to livelihood and impinges on freedom of religion.

Mr Qureshi said because most slaughtering and cattle handling was done by Muslims and lower caste Hindus, the "religiously motivated" ban had the effect of "targeting particular communities".

Hardliners cheered the restrictions

In India's north-east and south, beef-eating Christians, Muslims and Hindus are also angry over what they see as a government attempt to dictate what they eat.

In Tamil Nadu, the state's top court has stayed the ban for four weeks.

Hardliners within and linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government had cheered the restrictions, which they saw as reflecting their desire to see India's culture and institutions more closely aligned to Hindu values instead of secular ones.

However, the Government's promise to revisit the ban in the face of deep and widespread anger is now being seen as recognition that the religious right had overstepped.

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 28, 2017 at 7:31am

BBC News - Why are #Indian #women wearing #cow masks?Because #cows are respected in #Modi's #Hindu #India!

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-40404102#
A photography project which shows women wearing a cow mask and asks the politically explosive question - whether women are less important than cattle in India - has gone viral in the country and earned its 23-year-old photographer the ire of Hindu nationalist trolls.
"I am perturbed by the fact that in my country, cows are considered more important than a woman, that it takes much longer for a woman who is raped or assaulted to get justice than for a cow which many Hindus consider a sacred animal," Delhi-based photographer Sujatro Ghosh told the BBC.
India is often in the news for crimes against women and, according to government statistics, a rape is reported every 15 minutes.
"These cases go on for years in the courts before the guilty are punished, whereas when a cow is slaughtered, Hindu extremist groups immediately go and kill or beat up whoever they suspect of slaughter."
The project, he says, is "his way of protesting" against the growing influence of the vigilante cow protection groups that have become emboldened since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, came to power in the summer of 2014.
"I've been concerned over the Dadri lynching [when a Muslim man was killed by a Hindu mob over rumours that he consumed and stored beef] and other similar religious attacks on Muslims by cow vigilantes," Ghosh said.

In recent months, the humble cow has become India's most polarising animal.
The BJP insists that the animal is holy and should be protected. Cow slaughter is banned in several states, stringent punishment has been introduced for offenders and parliament is considering a bill to bring in the death penalty for the crime.
But beef is a staple for Muslims, Christians and millions of low-caste Dalits (formerly untouchables) who have been at the receiving end of the violence perpetrated by the cow vigilante groups.
Nearly a dozen people have been killed in the past two years in the name of the cow. Targets are often picked based on unsubstantiated rumours and Muslims have been attacked for even transporting cows for milk.

Some people also contacted the Delhi police, "accusing me of trying to instigate riots and asking them to arrest me".
Ghosh is not surprised by the vitriol and admits that his work is an "indirect comment" on the BJP.
"I'm making a political statement because it's a political topic, but if we go deeper into the things, then we see that Hindu supremacy was always there, it has just come out in the open with this government in the past two years."
The threats, however, have failed to scare him. "I'm not afraid because I'm working for the greater good," he says.
A positive fallout of the project going viral has been that he's got loads of messages from women from across the globe saying they too want to be a part of this campaign.
So the cow, he says, will keep travelling.

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