12) NO TO MODI: SOCIAL JUSTICE ACTIVISTS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN AGAINST HINDU RIGHT IN CANADA

From Radical Desi News Bureau (abridged)

            As Indian voters are poised to elect a new government, a campaign to stop an arch‑Hindu nationalist leader from becoming the Prime Minister of the world's largest secular democracy has picked up in Canada.

            Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the Gujarat state of India and the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting two ridings, including Varanasi, one of the centers of Hinduism.

            Modi is known as a hardliner within Hindu right‑wing circles. But he is credited for development in his state by his supporters, and some polls indicate that the BJP and its allies are likely to emerge as the single largest political formation, albeit short of a majority.

            But a group of social justice activists of Indian origin in this part of the world are not ready to give up. A campaign through social media, such as Facebook, has been launched by radical South Asian activists in Toronto. Support for the "No to Modi" campaign continues to grow.

            Ponni Arasu, a vocal critic of Modi and the Hindu right, is in the forefront of the campaign. She is not only challenging the "sectarian politics" of Modi, but also the "myths" of development and progress in Gujarat, which are being positioned to sell his image.

            Arasu is associated with the Center for South Asian Studies of the University of Toronto. She is a queer feminist researcher who has been involved in many social movements.

            Since the Congress‑led coalition has lost credibility due to a leadership vacuum and allegations of corruption and massive scams, there are high hopes among supporters of the opposition BJP and its allies for Modi, who is seen as an "effective and efficient leader with powerful oratory skills" and a "solid alternative" to the Congress leaders.

            Arasu warns that people need to follow what is being said in the mainstream media with skepticism. "Those who make such statements must ask themselves what is he determined to do," she says. "Is he going to turn India into another Gujarat?"

            Modi's government is accused of engineering large scale violence against Muslims following an alleged attack on a train carrying Hindu pilgrims in Godhra in February 2002. The train was burned, leaving 59 people dead. The Gujarat government has claimed that it was a terror attack by Muslim extremists, while one commission of enquiry found that it was an accident, perhaps caused by a cooking gas cylinder used by the Hindu pilgrims aboard.

            The pilgrims were returning from a disputed site in Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Ram, who is widely revered by Hindus. The Hindu fanatics had razed an ancient mosque built in Ayodhya in 1992, in the presence of the BJP leaders. The Hindu revivalists claim that the mosque was deliberately built by Babar, an Islamic ruler, after demolishing the Ram temple. The BJP election manifesto released in April has clearly stated its mandate to rebuild the Ram temple at the disputed site. Many top notch BJP leaders were accused of inciting the mobs that razed the mosque.

            Eyewitness accounts of the 2002 events suggest that there was a fight between Hindu pilgrims and some local Muslims at the Godhra station before the train was burned. The Hindu fanatics belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an extremist religious group, were given a free hand to murder innocent Muslims following the episode. Modi reportedly told the police to let the Hindu protesters vent their anger, and BJP leaders were seen leading the mobs. According to the statistics of the government, 975 people died, of which 713 were Muslims. Human rights watchers believe this was done to win the next assembly election by whipping up anti‑Muslim emotions. In fact, Modi was re‑elected to power, and never convicted for these crimes. Maya Kodnani, a former minister in his government, was convicted in 2012 for involvement in mass murders. Notably, Modi has been repeatedly denied entry to US and Canada for these incidents. 

            Much before this violence, the BJP government was also accused of shielding Hindu extremists, who targeted Christian missionaries in tribal areas of Gujarat during late 1990s. The Christian missionaries have been frequently accused of mass religious conversions by the Hindu fundamentalists. 

            As if these incidents were not enough, recently Sikh migrant farmers from Punjab in Gujarat were physically attacked for not vacating land they were allotted years ago by the state government. This was done to ensure that the barren land close to the Indo‑Pakistan border in Gujarat was transformed into fertile agricultural land. For this the enterprising Sikh farmers from Punjab were invited to settle down there. The government is now forcing the farmers to vacate on the grounds that they are outsiders.

            Arasu explains that there is nothing surprising behind the attacks on non‑Hindus in Gujarat, as the BJP subscribes to the philosophy of Hindutva or exclusionist Hindu nationalism. "Do not forget that the BJP cannot be separated from the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), the most influential ultra Hindu nationalist organization which was established with a clear objective to form Hindu nation", she notes. The two still remain inseparable; she believes that even any moderate face within the BJP won't make any difference. "Anyone other than Modi will be equally harmful if the BJP gains a brute majority."

            Most BJP leaders were groomed by the RSS in their volunteer camps. Modi himself is an RSS member. He recently acknowledged that he is indebted to the RSS, which makes no bones about its disliking for secularism.

            The group was banned following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the passive resistance movement leader against British occupation who believed in a secular India. His opposition to the killings of the Muslims after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 on religious lines had irked the Hindu extremists, one of whom, Nathuram Godse, murdered him.

            Arasu feels that the Congress party, in spite of its official support to secular and democratic policies, has also failed to protect secularism. It has rather used faith based politics for narrow political ends. "Two examples are good enough to judge the role of the Congress in protecting India; one is the imposition of Emergency and its involvement in the 1984 anti‑Sikh pogrom".

            But sectarian politics is not the only cause of worry. "The myth of development in Gujarat is also problematic", according to Arasu. She says the development model of Gujarat has benefitted only a few rich people, while the manual scavenging by the so‑called untouchables and lack of nutrition among the tribal children in Gujarat proves that the development is incomplete.

            Nishrin Jafri Husain ‑ who lost her father, Ahsan Jafri, in the Gujarat massacre ‑ agrees with Arasu. Jafri was a former Congress Party MP. He was burned to death by the mob even though he tried to seek help from high officials to protect Muslims who took refuge in his house. His influence did not work; he also became a victim of the bloodshed that resulted in at least 35 deaths in that single locality. Allegations that Modi was directly involved in the incident that led to Jafri's death have not been proved in the courts so far. He was given a clean chit by the Special Investigation Team in 2012.

            A resident of Delaware, Husain was in US when the tragedy occurred. "I am pleased that there are some justice loving people in Canada who have taken up this cause. India is going to go through a bad period if Modi becomes the Prime Minister... He has no credentials to prove that he can represent a country like India."

            Modi is not off the hook yet, she says, as investigations into the massacre are still pending.

            Chinmoy Banerjee of SANSAD, the South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, a group which has consistently opposed Modi's policies and also the communal politics of the Congress, says the group supports the initiative launched by Arasu. Describing Modi as a "hate monger", Banerjee says, "he will be terrible for minorities."

            He believes that the corporate world and the media in India are creating a false image about Modi, since the growth rate in Gujarat is no better than some other prosperous and developed states of India. "There in an unequal development in Gujarat under him as the poor continue to live in terrible conditions," says Banerjee.

            Husain also questions the claims of development in Gujarat: "There is no development in Muslim areas. The localities where the minorities live lack amenities, like gutter system and roads. Aren't they Indians?"

            She also expresses her disappointment over the changing attitude of the US government. Nishrin has been closely following the activities of the groups, including Coalition Against Genocide, which have been in the forefront of the campaign to block Modi's entry to US. Former US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell met Modi in February, raising speculations that he may eventually get a chance to visit the US.

            "This is a pure mockery," Husain says. "First you raise a hue and cry about religious intolerance and then you change your position for economic and political considerations."

            The Indian American Muslim Council, an advocacy group and founder member of Coalition Against Genocide, expressed its outrage in a powerfully worded statement which criticized the US administration's outreach to "infamous Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, banned from entering the US for his egregious violations of religious freedom".

            Sunil Sharma, a volunteer with Sikh Nation, which organizes annual blood donation camps in Canada in memory of the victims of the 1984 anti‑Sikh carnage, also supports the initiative. "This is not a time to shut our eyes," he says. "We must stand up and question people with right wing background and involvement in politics of genocide."

            However, Overseas Friends of the BJP recently organized a public event in Vancouver to show its support for Modi's candidacy. Interestingly, a few prominent supporters of the ruling Conservative Party of Canada were in attendance. It is pertinent to mention that the Conservatives represent right‑wing politics in Canada much like the BJP in India. The organizer of the event, Aditya Kumar Tewatia, says that Modi is best suited for India to ensure overall development of the country.

            He hopes that Canada, which has also denied entry to Modi in the past, will invite him to visit once he is elected as Prime Minister.

            The chorus on both sides of the fence is likely to grow in Canada as the election results come. Whether Modi becomes the Prime Minister or not, the big fight in India has already spilled over and reached North America, creating both anxiety and excitement.

(The above article is from the May 1-15, 2014, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading socialist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)