Sardar Patel’s secularism and Modi - By Ghulam Muhammed

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Sardar Patel’s secularism and Modi

Sardar Patel had a dual personality as far as his critiques can make out. His strong action against Junagadh and Hyderabad states, carried out in the name of the unity and integrity of the new Nation, is more endeared by the likes of Modi and RSS, for its anti-Muslim bias. BJP possibly would have greatly admired his role as Home Minister, when he is supposed to have issued an internal order for all security agencies to wean out Muslims from their midst. The third element that could have to be to the entire satisfaction of the RSS/BJP parivar, is the kind of Congress secularism that accommodated extreme Hindutvadis like Gobind Ballah Pant and Purushottam Das Tandon. Besides, even though Sardar Patel banned RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and jailed Golwalkar, that treatment was only temporary and both RSS and Golwalkar were let off with a mere slap on the wrist. Patel admired may qualities of RSS, among them its internal discipline and dedication to its objectives. There are reasons to believe that throughout Congress rule, all communal riots were organized by Congress with the active collaboration with RSS cadre. Now that activity should include the period that Sardar Patel remained Home Minister. A popular boast is that BJP/RSS’s first Prime Minister of India, was not Atal Behari Vajpayee, but Congress’s PV Narasimha Rao.

Congress is coy in projecting this side of Sardar Patel and just as it proclaims itself as secular, it treats all its leaders too as secular and is ready to defend them, however much that defense in porous. That sometimes appears downright ridiculous, if not fraudulent.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com

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http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/we-need-sardar-patel-s-secularism-not-votebank-secularism-narendra-modi-439799

We need Sardar Patel's secularism, not votebank secularism: Narendra Modi

All India | Edited by Surabhi Malik | Updated: October 31, 2013

Ahmedabad:  Narendra Modi's riposte to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in their fierce Sardar Patel duel came from the site where he is building the world's tallest statue in honour of India's "iron man" today. (Modi's dream project: 10 things to know about world's tallest statue)

Addressing a farmers rally before inaugurating the statue on Sardar Vallabhai Patel's 138th birth anniversary, the Gujarat Chief Minister said, "By aligning Sardar Patel with one party you are demeaning him," referring to Dr Singh's assertion at a public function on Tuesday that Sardar was a Congressman. (PM, Narendra Modi join tug-of-war over Sardar Patel's legacy)

"I am proud and happy that I belong to a political party to which Sardar Patel was attached," Dr Singh had said, as his Congress and Mr Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party do battle over Sardar Patel's legacy.

The PM had also said, "Sardar Patel was totally secular, and believed in the unity of India," seen as a swipe at Mr Modi, who is accused by the Congress of being a "divisive leader."

Mr Modi, who is the BJP's candidate for PM and hopes to replace Dr Singh in Delhi next year, said today that he concurred with the Prime Minister that Sardar Patel was "a true secular."

But, he added, "We need Sardar Sahab's secularism, not vote-bank secularism." The Gujarat Chief Minister pointed out that the "secular Patel who united India...had no hesitation rebuilding the Somnath Temple."

The Sardar statue will be built on an island called Sadhu Bet on the river Narmada in Gujarat, the home state of both Sardar Patel and Mr Modi. Twice the size of the Statue of Liberty in the US, it is seen as a not-so-subtle bid by Mr Modi and his BJP to appropriate the legacy of Sardar Patel, who was associated with the ruling Congress.

Mr Modi has used his ambitious project to undermine his chief rivals, the Gandhi-Nehru political dynasty that heads the Congress. Sardar Patel was first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's deputy and his Home Minister, but often at odds with him.(Modi's Patel statue project: Legacy, politics and controversy)

When he shared the stage with the PM on Tuesday, Mr Modi had said, "Every Indian regrets Sardar Patel did not become the first Prime Minister. Had he been the first Prime Minister, the country's fate and face would have been completely different."

This morning the Congress' Digvijaya Singh tweeted, "Sardar-Humility personified ! Modi-Conceit and Arrogance personified Sardar -United India Modi-Divides NDA BJP and Hindus and Minorities."

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http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/Hisg8JQdIPflijvUnBdlYP/The-curious-battle-for-Vallabhbhai-Patel.html

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The curious battle for Vallabhbhai Patel

There is little resemblance between that Patel and the 182 metre one being constructed on an island in Gujarat currently

Sometime on the eve of Independence, the Congress high command was holding one of its innumerable sessions. Mohandas Gandhi was presiding. Among other things, on agenda was the issue of deciding the next leader of the party. In a casual fashion, Gandhi informed Jawaharlal Nehru that a majority of the Pradesh Congress Committees were in favour of Vallabhbhai Patel. There was a moment of silence in which Nehru did not say anything. Then, Gandhi passed a piece of paper to Patel who, without batting an eyelid, signed it. With that act, he signed away his chance of becoming Prime Minister of India, acquiescing to Nehru’s enthronement. No questions asked.

There is little resemblance between that Patel and the 182 metre one being constructed on an island in Gujarat currently. One was a historical figure; the other is a mythical being, raised for purely political purposes. Usually, appropriation of historical figures is the tactic of weak political leaders who are unsure of their standing. Contemporary India is replete with this sort of “gold dusting”. From that perspective, what is being seen in Gujarat is doubly surprising. The entire exercise is being done by a leader who by most measures should not be insecure: Narendra Modi. Perhaps there is another explanation at hand?

Turn the clock back to the period 1948-1950. By that time Gandhi, the one person who united the temperamentally very different Nehru and Patel, had passed away. With that began the steady disempowering of the Patel faction in the Congress. By 1950, the Sardar had gone and so had most of his like-minded colleagues. By 1962, the last formidable “Patelite”, Purushottam Das Tandon, too, had gone. By that time, the ascendancy of Nehru and his vision—including the disastrous infatuation with economic planning—was complete. Patel has, since then, been relegated to the pages of history.

Patel is not the only leader who has been relegated thus. Since 1970 nationalist icons such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad and Maulana Azad have been aggressively relegated by the Congress party’s leadership. And here one is not even talking of leaders like Madan Mohan Malviya who barely exist in memory. The Congress has no reason to complain about how Patel is being appropriated by Modi.

So why is he being remembered now and why by Modi, of all the people? It is true that not many citizens will be aware of the details of Patel’s career. But they do remember him for one thing: his tremendous resolve in unifying India into a nation from a mere collection of geographically adjacent states. And that memory has contemporary resonance.

In the last 10 years of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s run, the last word than can be associated with it is resolve. A significant number of Indians—especially those living in urban areas, who are educated and who are at the receiving end of India’s economic woes—seek a government that takes decisive measures in solving the country’s problems. Modi, the shrewd tactician that he is, knows this very well.

In a democracy, such appropriation approaches the limits of what is politically healthy. And coming at the hands of a leader like Narendra Modi, who has carefully cultivated the image of being decisive, it is doubly unjustified. It also leaves open a nagging question that if this image building exercise lacks substance. He has, in the recent past, built his credentials on development and growth; his reliance on symbols is thus questionable. But these simple explanations do not explain much except saying “not good”. The Congress party has done much to create the vacuum—historical and contemporary—that has enabled this turn of events. The agreement on part of a significant section of citizens shows that India and Indians long for something they have not seen for a decade, a decisive government. It is interesting that a historical figure should bear the burden of these expectations.

 
Is Narendra Modi only making use of a vacuum created by the Congress party? Tell us at views@livemint.com

Sardar Patel and Nehru should be blamed for partition of India: My comments posted on The Hindu article

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

My comments posted on THE HINDU website over article: Sardar Patel would have made a better PM, says Modi

“Modi lauds Sardar Patel as unifier of India. In fact, Sardar and Nehru should be blamed for partition of the country, even when Mahatma Gandhi had proposed Jinnah as the first Prime Minister of United India, mainly to avoid partition. Is there any difference between Nehru/Patel and Pakistan's Zulfiqar Bhutto, who agreed to partition his country, so that he could be the sole leader of a truncated Pakistan, just as Nehru became the sole leader of truncated India? Our leaders should not treat the people as zombies with their self-serving version of India's tragic history of independence marred by the partition of the nation.”

 

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/sardar-patel-would-have-made-a-better-pm-says-modi/article5285791.ece

Sardar Patel would have made a better PM, says Modi

Darshan Desai

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  PTI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the renovated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel museum in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
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  AP Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the renovated Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel museum in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
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  PTI Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi receives Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Sardar Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Sharing the dais with Gujarat leader, Manmohan Singh counters that the Iron Man was a Congressman

Narendra Modi, the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections, asserted here on Tuesday that post-Independence India would have been different had Sardar Patel been the country’s first Prime Minister. To this, Congress leader and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who shared the dais with Mr. Modi, responded that Vallabhbhai Patel was a truly secular Congress leader who stood for a united India.

They were speaking at a keenly watched function where Dr. Singh inaugurated a renovated and upgraded Sardar Patel Memorial Museum. The function was held under the aegis of the Sardar Patel Memorial Society chaired by Union Minister of State for Mines and Congress leader Dinsha Patel.

The speeches by the Prime Minister and the Gujarat Chief Minister came on the eve of the ground-breaking ceremony for a 182-metre statue of Sardar Patel, a prestigious project initiated by Mr. Modi, at Sadhu Bet, 3 km from the Sardar Sarovar dam site. The museum and statue projects are interpreted as a tussle between the Congress and the BJP to claim the Sardar Patel legacy.

Speaking as the chief guest, the Prime Minister made an indirect reference to a recent claim by Mr. Modi that Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the first Prime Minister, did not attend Sardar Patel’s funeral in 1950 and stated that the Iron Man spoke very highly of Nehru as a “respected friend and colleague” despite differences of opinion.

“[The] Sardar said it was his privilege to be able to advise Nehru on issues of governance and organisation and that Nehru would eagerly have his advice. Both immensely respected each other’s views and this is possible only between those who have faith in each other,” Dr. Singh said.

The Prime Minister went on: “Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were all secular, broad-minded, tolerant, had compassion for the poor and stood for a united India.”

Dr. Singh reminded the audience that “Sardar Patel belonged to the Congress and worked hard to strengthen the party as its president.” And then the Prime Minister said: “I too belong to the same party.”

Speaking earlier, Mr. Modi said it was time to learn from Sardar Patel’s hard work to preserve the country’s unity and integrity and to channel “some misguided youth” to shun “the gun and the bomb”.

“No community or country could benefit from violence, and it is time we take inspiration from Sardar Patel,” the Chief Minister said. He regretted that the Iron Man could not become the first Prime Minister.

The Chief Minister did not miss the opportunity to say that during the last decade, Gujarat has received nearly 200 awards for its achievements, including 90 from the UPA government. He thanked the Prime Minister for this.

Tuesday’s was a rare function in many years when Mr. Modi shared the dais with his Congress opponents, including his one-time BJP senior Shankersinh Vaghela, now Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

It was also an unusual function in Gujarat where Mr. Modi’s photograph was conspicuous by its absence though he was a special guest. The background banner had the photographs of only Sardar Patel and the Prime Minister.

But, in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion, Mr. Modi was seen sharing banter with Dr. Singh as they sat together.

Mushawarat condemns Samajwadi Party report about madrasas in strife-torn Muzaffarnagar and Shamli and warns against any hasty attempt at forcible repatriation of the refugees

ALL INDIA MUSLIM MAJLIS-E-MUSHAWARAT

[Umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations]

D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025  India

Tel.: 011-26946780, 9990366660  Fax: 011-26947346

Email: mushawarat@mushawarat.com   Web: www.mushawarat.com

  

پریس بیان

  Urdu text: [English Text follows below]

مشاورت سماجوادی پارٹی کی رپورٹ اور فساد زدہ مظلومین کی زبردستی واپسی کی کوششوں کی مذمت کرتی ہے

نئی دہلی، ۲۴ اکتوبر ۲۰۱۳: ہندوستانی مسلم تنظیموں کی وفاقی تنظیم آل انڈیا مسلم مجلس مشاورت نے آج یہاں اس رپورٹ کی مذمت کی ہے جو سماجوادی پارٹی کے کچھ لیڈران نے مظفر نگر اور اس کے نواح کے علاقوں کا دورہ کرنے کے بعد پارٹی کے صدر کو پیش کی ہے اور جس میں یہ دعوی  کیا گیا ہے کہ اپنے مفاد کی وجہ سے مدارس فساد کے مظلومین کی واپسی میں بندش ڈال رہے ہیں۔

مشاورت نے اتر پردیش کی سماجوادی حکومت کی ان کوششوں کی بھی مذمت کی جن کا مقصدفساد کے مظلومین کو زبردستی ان کےگاؤوں  واپس بھیجنا ہے جہاں ان کے رشتہ دار قتل کئے گئے اور  زندہ جلائے گئے، جہاں ان کے گھر توڑے گئے اور جلائے گئے اور جہاں اُن کی عورتوں کی عصمت دری کی گئی اوران کی  لڑکیوں کو اغوا کر لیا گیا۔

مسلم مجلس مشاورت کے صدر ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام خان نے آ ٓج یہاں ایک بیان میں کہا کہ اگرچہ مشاورت سماجوادی حکومت کی ان کوششوں کو بنظر استحسان دیکھتی ہے جو اس نے فساد کے بعد مدد مظلومین  کو مدد پہچانے اور ان کو معاوضہ دینے کے سلسلے میں کی ہیں ، لیکن اسی کے ساتھ مشاورت اتر پردیش سرکار کی ان کوششوں کے بالکل خلاف  ہے جوپناہ گزین  مظلوموں کو زبردستی اُن کے گاؤوں واپس بھیجنےکے لئے کی جارہی ہیں حالانکہ ان کے قاتل اب بھی وہاں آزاد گھوم رہے ہیں اوروہ  اپنے گاؤوں میں صحافیوں تک پر حملے کر رہے ہیں۔ ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام  نے کہا کہ وہ پناہ گزین جو محض ڈر کی وجہ سے بھاگ آئے تھے، ان کی اکثریت اب اپنے گاؤوں کو واپس جا چکی ہے، لیکن ایسے  پناہ گزین جنہوں نے اپنی آنکھوں سے قتل، آتش زنی اور عصمت دری دیکھی ہے اور جن کے گھر اور املاک  جلائے گئے ہیں اور جن کی عورتوں کی عصمت دری کی گئی ہے وہ قطعاً واپس جانے کے لئے تیار نہیں ہیں۔  ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام نے کہا کہ یہ حقیقت ہم نے فساد کے بعد مظفر نگر اور اس کے نواح کے تقریباً ایک درجن پناہ گزین کیمپوں کا دوبار دورہ کرکے خود دیکھا ہے اور پناہ گزینوں سے ہماری بات چیت کے دوران وہاں مدرسوں کا  کوئی آدمی موجود نہیں تھا۔

ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام نے کہا کہ اگر اتر پردیش کی سرکار واقعی سنجیدہ ہے تو اسے پناہ گزینوں کی واپسی  کا راستہ ہموار کرنے کےلئے  چاہئے کہ تمام نامزد مجرموں کو گرفتار کرے، پناہ گزینوں کے ٹوٹے اور جلائے ہوئے گھروں، دکانوں اور فیکٹریوں  کو دوبارہ تعمیر کرے اور ہر اس قسم  کے گاؤں،مثلا  لساڑھ، کٹبا۔کٹبی، پھگانا، لاکھ اور بٹاودی ، میں ریپڈ ڈپلائمنٹ فورس یا فوج کی ایک ٹکڑی مستقل طور سے تعینات کرے۔

ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام خان نے مزید کہا کہ مدرسوں اور مساجدنے اس سانحہ کے دوران قابل تعریف رول ادا کیا ہے اور ان کے ذمہ داران بلا تاخیر مسئلہ کو حل کرنے کے لئے اٹھ کھڑے ہوئے جبکہ اس وقت تک صوبائی انتظامیہ خواب خرگوش میں مبتلا تھی۔ ڈاکٹر ظفرالاسلام خان نے کہا کہ ہم مدارس اور مساجد کے منتظمیں کا شکریہ ادا کرتے ہیں اور سماجوادی پارٹی کے دفد کی رپورٹ میں مذکور جھوٹ کو پوری طرح خارج کرتے ہیں ۔انہوں نے کہا کہ سماجوادی پارٹی کا مقصد صرف پارٹی کی شبیہ  کو بہتر بنانا ہے حالانکہ فساد سے پہلے اور فساد کے دوران اس کے سلبی موقف نے اس کا چہرہ کالا کر دیا ہے۔

(ختم)

Mushawarat condemns Samajwadi Party report about madrasas in strife-torn Muzaffarnagar and Shamli and warns against any hasty attempt at forcible repatriation of the refugees

New Delhi, 24 October, 2013: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, today condemned the report submitted by the Samajwadi party delegation after visiting Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas, which claims that madrasas out of their self interest are thwarting attempts to repatriate the refugees to their villages. The Mushawarat also condemned the UP Samajwadi government’s attempts to forcibly repatriate refugees against their wish to their villages where their relatives were killed and burned alive, where their houses were torched and where their women were raped and girls kidnapped.

Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of AIMMM, said in a statement here that while Mushawarat appreciates UP Samajwadi Party’s attitude in taking care of the refugees and paying compensation in record time, it takes very grim view of the UP administration’s attempts to forcibly repatriate the refugees against their will while their killers are roaming free and attacking even mediamen visiting those villages. Dr Khan said while villagers who fled out of fear only have mostly gone back but those who witnessed murder, arson and rape and whose homes and properties were burnt to ashes and where their women were raped and girls kidnapped, are not ready to go back. Dr Khan said, we have ascertained this independently without any intervention or presence of madrasa people while interacting with refugees during two visits to over a dozen of these camps,

Dr Khan said, if UP administration is serious about repatriating the refugees, it should first arrest all those accused by the refugees, get their homes, shops and factories repaired and rebuilt and place a permanent picket of Rapid Deployment Force or Army in each village which witnessed atrocities like the villages of Lisadh, Kutba-Kutbi, Phugana, Lakh and Batawdi, etc.

Dr Khan further said that the madrasas and mosques played an admirable role and sprang to action while the state administration was still sleeping. They provided shelter and food to these victims. 

We thank the administrators of these madrasas and mosques and reject in its entirety the slur made by the Samajwadi Party team whose aim is only to save the face of the party which has been blackened by its passive participation in the riots.

[End]

Issue at New Delhi on 24 October 2013 by

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ALL INDIA MUSLIM MAJLIS-E-MUSHAWARAT

[Umbrella body of the Indian Muslim organisations]

D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025  India

Tel.: 011-26946780  Fax: 011-26947346

Email: mushawarat@mushawarat.com   Web: www.mushawarat.

The bonds that bind Congress with RSS - By Saeed Naqvi - Caravandaily.com

http://caravandaily.com/portal/the-bonds-that-bind-congress-with-rss/

Home / Editor’s Pick / The bonds that bind Congress with RSS

Saeed Naqvi is a former newspaper editor and a widely travelled Indian political analyst and commentator on diplomatic affairs

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The bonds that bind Congress with RSS

in Editor’s Pick, Saeed Naqvi 2 days ago 0 88 Views

Members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh take part in a physical and martial drill with sticks.

There has always been a symbiotic relationship between India’s oldest political party and the Hindutva organization linked to Gandhi’s assassins

By Saeed Naqvi

By triggering a debate on its Op-ed page last week, “The Hindu”, possibly unintentionally, lifted the scab from an old wound for many of us. The debate, initiated by Vidya Subramaniam’s column (October 8), had its locus elsewhere: the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) growing stranglehold on the Bharatiya Janata Party. Her point was that the RSS’s relationship with the BJP violates a commitment the RSS made to India’s first home minister, Sardar Patel, before it was unbanned on July 11, 1949.

Remember, the RSS had been banned four days after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on Jan 30, 1948. But S. Gurumurthy of the RSS, in the course of establishing his rebuttal, wanders into the attitudes of senior Congress leaders towards the RSS. The Congress Working Committee, as is well known, was divided on this issue as it was on the country’s partition. The Congress has historically fudged these issues.

Gurumurthy clinches the fact that the RSS violated no agreement, by quoting then Home Minister of Bombay, Morarji Desai, a Patel acolyte. In a written statement to the Bombay Legislative Assembly Sep 14, 1949, Desai admitted that the ban on the RSS was lifted “unconditionally”.

When, returning from Muzaffarnagar after last month’s orchestrated, piecemeal ethnic cleansing, I heard exactly the same anti-Muslim slogans I had heard during the Gujarat riots in 1969, it did hurt. On that occasion Badshah Khan, the Frontier Gandhi, put down anchor in that city for nearly a month because he could not believe what he saw — 512 people killed in what Justice Jaganmohan Reddy called “largely one-sided riots”. Handbills calling for a “religious war” were distributed “to the rioters by the RSS and the Jana Sangh”. Congressmen joined the chorus that “Muslims were anti-national”. Yes, in 1969.


I had a ringside seat with Badshah Khan that year. “The Statesman” had loaned my services to function as the Frontier Gandhi’s press adviser. This was at Jayaprakash Narayan’s behest. Since Indira Gandhi had split the Congress, Badshah Khan’s utterances were being carefully weighed by both sides. Was he favoring Indira Congress or the Syndicate Congress?

The issue of which way Badshah Khan would tilt was settled by the horrible communal situation in Ahmedabad. He was pained at Chief Minister Hitendra Desai’s alleged communal bias during the riots. And he saw the chief minister, a political descendent of the Patel line. At this stage Badshah Khan had more or less accepted Ram Manohar Lohia’s list of the Guilty Men of India’s Partition.

These “Guilty Men” were, in his book, not terribly averse to association with the RSS as Gurumurthy makes quite clear.


Gurumurthy quotes Patel’s speech in Lucknow in which he chastises his “powerful” colleagues in the Congress who wished to “crush” the “patriotic RSS”.

The “powerful” Congressmen being referred to must be those led by Jawaharlal Nehru. Did this galaxy include Maulana Azad, president of the Congress from 1939 to 46? I doubt it. His prestige has since taken such a beating by sheer neglect that historian Ram Chandra Guha does not even mention him among Makers of Modern India. He considers Hamid Dalwai more worthy of mention.


The Maulana was “powerful” so long the real wielders of power in the Congress allowed him to. Nehru, for instance. But once they had made up their minds that they were full square behind the AICC resolution of June 14, 1947 endorsing India’s partition, Maulana Azad was an obstacle. There could have been no more weak and isolated leaders as Maulana Azad and Badshah Khan.


When Patel suggested to RSS leader Golwalkar that the RSS should join the Congress, the RSS supremo was quick with his response. The two should work separately and “converge”. When, pray, would they “converge”? When Hindu Rashtra has been achieved?


The first Home Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, Rajeshwar Dayal, has in his autobiography, “A Life of Our Times”, this story about Golwalkar and Congress stalwart, Govind Ballabh Pant, UP’s longest serving Chief Minister and Union Home Minister from 1955 to 1961.


When communal tension in UP was high, Dayal carried incontrovertible evidence to Pant about Golwalkar’s plans to create a “communal holocaust in western UP”. Pant was convinced of the plot but he would not permit them to arrest the RSS chief. In fact Golwalkar was allowed to escape, having been duly tipped off.


“Came January 30, 1948 when Gandhi, the Supreme Apostle of Peace, fell to a bullet fired by an RSS fanatic.” Dayal concludes: “The tragic episode left me sick at heart”.

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Till Meat do us apart - By Lakshmi Ajay - EYE - The Indian Express, Mumbai, INDIA

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/till--meat-do-us-apart/1184729/0

eye Sunday Magazine

Till Meat do us apart

Lakshmi Ajay : Sun Oct 20 2013, 00:03 hrs

As a college student in Ahmedabad in the early '80s, Himanshu Desai, 53, from Navsari, was stumped by the unavailability of non-vegetarian food in the city, except for a few run-down places in the older (eastern) part of Ahmedabad. "That changed only after 1999, when a slew of non-vegetarian eateries sprang up in the western part of the city. 

 

When I moved back last year, I saw that the food scene hadn't really changed much even if a few Subways and McDonalds have opened," he says. Desai launched Sandwichworkz, a fusion street cafe in Vastrapur, last September, where every second item is non-vegetarian.

Food in Ahmedabad is more of a socio-cultural marker than a gastronomical experience. The city in the past has shown zero tolerance for meat-eaters, forcing even multinational giants like KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) to buckle under its strict vegetarian code. In 2011, when the American food company launched at a high-end mall in the city, local residents, a majority of who were Brahmins, Patels and Jains, staged a protest. After weeks of stalemate, the brand placated them by including different coloured uniforms for staff members who would serve vegetarian and non-vegetarian items, besides separate counters, cooking areas, oils and even utensils. Pizza Hut and Subway chains too were forced to open their "only all-vegetarian" outlets in Ahmedabad.

The city's 'meat politics' harks back to the '60s. "At that time, there was a huge movement against cow slaughter and this is still the only region where on certain Jain festivals, the slaughterhouses are compelled to remain closed. It speaks of the economic dominance of the Jain community living here. Despite their small numbers, they are very influential," says Ghanshyam Shah, a city-based sociologist and political scientist. The restrictions saw the number of slaughterhouses and eateries serving non-vegetarian food dwindle. Shah speaks of his own experience in 2004 of buying eggs packed surreptitiously in a black polythene cover in Ambawadi, a neighbourhood dominated by upper caste Jains, which had several Jain temples in the vicinity. Things have improved since.

In those days, in post-riot Gujarat, it was difficult going for meat-eaters. Civic authorities would regularly swoop down on roadside shops selling non-vegetarian items; housing societies did not encourage meat being cooked on the premises and slowly meat eaters were pushed to the Muslim-dominant areas of the city across the Sabarmati river. 

Non-vegetarians would have to take recourse to eat-streets like Bhatiyar Galli in eastern Ahmedabad across the Sabarmati, where amidst the din and the bustle of markets, meatshops owned mostly by Muslims provided oily chicken samosas, meat chops and fried fish, while those with heavy pockets could grab a biryani at the local Paramount Hotel or Simran restaurant.

Entrepreneurs who opened non-vegetarian eateries speak of how they were forced to keep their scale of operations small. Swapan Das Mohapatra, owner of Tripti Restaurant in Bodakdev area, who serves a meaty meal for as less as Rs 150, says, "The first year, things were difficult. But it helped that we were located inside a commercial building that saw different kinds of footfalls. Now, more Gujaratis come to eat here, the number of Bengalis or Odiyas are actually less."

Asvin Simon, MD of Bangs Fried Chicken (QSR), that has a 450 sq feet express format outlet in the city, too had a difficult time scouting for location. "It took us six months to find a place as no one was willing to let out space to a non-vegetarian eatery. Finally, we had to settle for a smaller area. Even shopping malls did not initially give us space in their food courts as people did not want non-vegetarian food being sold in the same space as vegetarian ones. But the mentality seems to be changing now. We have doubled our business and have become more visible," he says. The company has plans to open two more outlets in the city by the year-end.

The aversion to meat seems to have mellowed over time. "In Gujarat, we have created a myth that all Gujaratis are vegetarian. If you go by the number of Gujaratis who are non-vegetarians, then one will find that the majority is meat-eating. Vegetarian Gujaratis include a small section of Jains, Vaishnavs and Baniyas, who follow strict dietary guidelines, and even refuse to eat onions, garlic and meat," says Shah.

Economic changes have led to greater migration to the cities and there is now a new middle class, which includes a sizeable section from the OBC — Dalits and tribals, traditionally non-vegetarians — apart from the meat-abstaining Brahmins, Jains and Baniyas. It's an almost cosmopolitan mix and because of this, the demand for non-vegetarian food is only likely to increase. "This demand has to be catered to," says Shah.

Ahmedabad today boasts of a Japanese restaurant, an exclusive Awadhi cuisine restaurant and raw meat shops in west Ahmedabad, which was unheard of before. The real estate boom gave non-vegetarian restaurants a foothold in newer areas developing on the western outskirts of the city like Prahladnagar, 100 Feet Road, and Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway, which once connected Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar but today is dotted with a spate of clubs, malls and swanky automobile showrooms.

A recent report released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM) claimed that the overall official meat production in Gujarat in the financial year 2012 totalled 35,286 metric tonnes (MT); an increase of 62 per cent over 2011's production of 21,723 MT. The report said it had excluded unregistered slaughterhouses from this calculation. Even so, the total production of meat from buffaloes, goats, sheeps and pigs is calculated at 3895 MT, showing an increase of 7.39 per cent over the previous year. The demand for poultry meat, compared to other forms of meat, like mutton, pork, beef and fish, is fast growing due to economical reasons, the study observed.

Entrepreneurs in Ahmedabad want to tap into this demand and are braving the odds to be a stakeholders in this growth. The result: a spate of Lebanese, Mediterranean, Teriyaki, Thai and Awadhi restaurants and bistros that openly flaunt the "non-vegetarian" tag. 

Restaurateur Manbir J Dua, who tasted success with a vegetarian restaurant Mint Route, has started a smaller restaurant called Desi Route which serves non-vegetarian "Indian" Chinese and offers takeaway services. "Initially, we were apprehensive about starting an all non-vegetarian joint, but I knew there was a market for it. So we started small, with a 35-seater and we now have young professionals and Gujarati families who have lived abroad, coming to dine. The more conservative ones order takeaways," he says.

Melanie Pinto, owner of Melange that sells several frozen food meat brands to retail shops in the area, agrees. "We have seen a huge demand for frozen food items like chicken nuggets, tandoori nuggets, keema parantha, prawns, fish fingers, fillets and cold cuts. It's particularly high in the outskirts of the city like Chandkheda and Bopal, where migrant communities are larger. Initially, the retailers we distribute to said the demand was more from non-Gujaratis, but the numbers are evening out now," she says.

Cooking meat at home, however, still remains taboo to most Gujarati families. A self-confessed lover of Middle-eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, 40-year-old singer Umesh Mehta and his wife have to head to restaurants to sample non-vegetarian food. 

"Being a Brahmin household, no form of meat is prepared in our house. Even today, my parents never go to a restaurant that serves meat along with vegetarian food. They don't endorse my eating meat either, but I am a non-vegetarian by choice," he says.

However, the city's truce with meat is yet to percolate to its housing societies that still do not encourage "meat-eating" tenants. "When I was scouting for a paying guest accommodation here, I was told not to bring meat or cook it in the premises. Even now, whenever I get non-vegetarian food packed, I have to eat it in my room stealthily. 

Thankfully, many new non-vegetarian joints have sprung up and there is a whole array of fish and chicken shops one can go to. These are signs that the city is slowly accepting meat-lovers," says Namrata Ghosh, 26, a media professional.

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Moily’s outburst against Putin’s Russia and Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Moily’s outburst against Putin’s Russia and Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb

The worst part in Moily’s effort to come to the aid of Birla in the coal-scam investigation by CBI, is that Moily ---- trying to be original or scholar --- has brought in Russia and Aurangzeb. He projected India on a pedestal by comparing with models that are highly controversial.

Putin faced a palace coup by new billionaires that made their money through Putin’s economic liberalization. Putin had to act tough. Mercifully, that role is not yet visible in the footprints of our robber-barons, who are too busy milking the Congress system of crony capitalism. Though some may suspect, the support to Modi by the Corporates, can be seen as first steps towards a decisive regime change agenda. So how come Moily is helping them?

On the matter of Aurangzeb, Moily might have other political goals, trying to snatch some Hardline Hindu voters from Modi's onslaught. Nobody can now say that Congress is not stirring the communal pot to polarize the nation. Moily seems to have fired the first salvo bringing in Aurangzeb.

His mention of Aurangzeb to defend a corrupt Congress by comparison with Aurangzeb, who used to be widely known for not touching anything from the national treasury and survived on meager income that he earned through stitching of skull-caps and writing of Quran.

Can Moily put any Congress leader to match Aurangzeb in being above corruption? By bringing in Aurangzeb, Moily has deliberately turned the spotlight on Congress corruption.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

<ghulammuhammed3@gmail.com>

BJP and ASARAM By Ghulam Muhammed

Saturday, October 19, 2013

BJP and ASARAM

It is surprising why BJP and Sangh Parivar should be rooting for a alleged sex offender like Asaram. Prima facie, the case against Baba Asaram is so horrifying, that one can hardly ignore such sex exploitation; especially with the mood of the nation becoming most unforgiving after the Nirbhay tragedy. Day in and day out cases in every city, town, village, are cropping up with people boldly exposing rapes and molestations against our women folk. Why all of sudden, Sangh Parivar has made Asaram a test case, to treat it as a communal matter, by plastering posters in all trains in Gujarat, with a strong message by the newly anointed BJP member, the famous maverick, Subramanian Swamy, treating the accusations as something political and proclaiming it as bogus. When was Swamy ever deterred from approaching the courts, even though invariably his plaints were bogus and motivated. Let the law decide the entire matter. After all, Asaram and his supporters have every chance to defend him and his son and other of this entourage, in the court of law. Why should Sangh Parivar feel that they should make it a political issue, when the victims of the accused are so graphic in their characterization of what Asaram’s dalliance with women folk as purely criminal in intent. People in general are in deep shock. It is possible that Sangh Parivar, who is desperate to win the next Lok Sabha election on the basis of religious mobilization and communalization of the polity, treats the matter of Asaram’s prosecution as Congress vendetta and its misuse of government institutions as part of illegal political campaign. That may be true at some level; however all such crimes cannot be ignored, overlooked, compromised, just to create level playing field between BJP and Congress.  Propaganda by Sangh Parivar and/or its supporters are taking very dangerous risk, in supporting people with such gory record as it is possible that facts may prove to be against Asaram and his conviction may rebound on BJP as disrespectful and uncaring of women’s civil and human rights and dignity.

Media better not be part of this dirty game that politicians play. Nation’s integrity and security is at stake.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai