Discrimination and Persecution Marxist
Palash Biswas
(ContAct: Palash Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551
Bengal was traditionally a land inhibited by Indian Mool Nivasis, the indigineous Non Aryans. Upto Mahabharat it was no where in the aryavarta geopolitics. Brahmins treted it as a forbidden state. Pal Dynasty rulers were Dalits. Then enters Karnataki Vijay Sen who imported Five Kanykubj Brahmins who transformed entire Bengali populations including the Buddhists Shudra Hindu. It was great Bangla Shudrayan. Since Bengal won, Barhminical ruling classes enjoy non challangeable status and they were able to snatch statepower from British Rulers, whom they cooperated most while people always resisted Imperialism, partitioning India and evicting out Dalits , Tribals and Muslims eighty five percent majority population out of margine. Meanwhile, during thousands of years History of Manusmritio Rule, some Indian traditions have reflected some measure of anti-Brahmanism. In Buddhism, one was required to become a true Brahmin and attain Brahman before one could call themself a Brahmin, and the sangha accepted many Brahmins. Ambedkar, the founder of neo-Buddhism in India was ambivalent towards the Brahmins, knowing they were not really the oppressors. However in the past two decades the neo-Buddhists have turned increasingly hostile towards the Brahmins.
The Brahmins have historically served as Hindu philosophers, authors, teachers and priests. However, historically, in Hinduism, these roles are not exclusively reserved for Brahmins. Prominent non-Brahmin Hindu religious personalities have existed from ancient times to today.
Anti-Brahman pseudohistorians falsify accounts into beliefs that Brahmins are Aryans who came from Europe-Middle Asia and tried to conquer native Indians called Dravidians who were free from religion. Aryans said to be more physically weaker and mentally cunning have decided to conquer Dravidians through the "divide and rule" techniques (such as varnashrama) they invented, later known brahminism and then hinduism. Aryans wrote epics and other scripts in which they occupied higher positions; also when they pacified Dravidians towards their religion. None of these accounts are supported by reputable historians of any related discipline.
In Indian Christianity, although the claim (for example, in her book The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy whose mother is a Syrian Christian) that the Syrian Christians are descendants of Namboothiri Brahmins of Kerala, is not historically supported, it is widely made.
Christian missionaries in India observed with anger, the respect commanded by the Brahmins among Hindus, thus they tried to convert Brahmins, but with extremely limited success. A Jesuit missionary Roberto de Nobili (1577-1656) started claiming to be Brahmin, when he realized that his claim of being a Kshatriya has not been very effective. In the past couple of decade, some of the missionary organizations, having given up on Brahmins, have started focussing on the dalits and the tribals, and have initiated an active anti-Brahmin campaign.[citation needed]
The nonogenerian, ex Zamindar, ex Chief minister of Bengal Jyoti Basu supports Buddhadeb on farm land acquisition because both of them sustain the brahminical supremacy in Bengal. Basu happens to be the mastermind to engage communist party and government in internationally acclaimed land reforms in Bengal and he is backtraching. Why? It is no wonder. basu was the man who invited Dandakaranya Bengali rehabiliated partition victims to MarichJhanpi, Sundervana. He adderessed a public meeting in Bhilai. But when the refugees flooded Marichjhapi and Bengal, meanwhile, Basu was in Power, thde Chief Minister. His minister Ram Chatterjee was personally monitoring the influx.
I have talked to the leader of the refugee movement Satish mandal in Mana Camp. My father Pulin Kumar Biswas as a refugee peasant communist leader had the experience of communist betrayal in Dhimri Block and was shocked by telengana experience. He was against Marichjhap March. he tried to convince the refugees there not to believe Basu. Since he had good relations with the centre as a north India refugee leader , he was not believed. The Mana people accepted, ` We wanted to kill your father but he was saved by police.’
No one turned to Marichjhapi fro UP, Uttaranchal, Delhi, Hariyana, Rajsthan, Bihar and Assam - the refugee population under my father`s influence.
Refugees from MP including 36 Gargh, Orrissa, Andhra and Maharashtra reached marichjhapi and lost everything behind and forward.
Now in Mana Camp and around, they have lost every thing. Only satish Mandal has an empire of industriesand only he gained from the movement which led to gross human rights violations and massacres and gangrapes numbering thousands. You may read the articles by Sunil Gango who gave details of the atrocities then. You may read `Hungry Waves ‘ by Amitabh Ghosh. You may go through `Marichjahapi’ by Jagadish chandra Mandal. You may see the articles on web googling MarichJhapi.
Mahashweta Di was the first person recently quoted from Marichjahapi and warned , ~There is no differenc between basu and Bahttachary.’
Darmatist Bibhsh chakrabarti has also referred to Marichjhapi recently.
Thus, no wonder, Veteran Marxist leader and CPI(M) politburo member Jyoti Basu today came out strongly in support of West Bengal government's policy of acquiring farm land for industry while slamming the Opposition leader Mamata Banerjee for 'creating problems.'
"Agriculture is important but industry has also to be set up. We recognise there is some misunderstanding and that is why we have taken upon ourselves the task of explaining this to the people", the 93-year-old Basu, former West Bengal chief minister told newsmen as he came out of the weekly state committee meeting of the CPI(M) at the party's headquarter.
When Basu's attention was drawn to Calcutta High Court's ruling against imposition of prohibitory orders at Singur where the Tata Motors small car project is to be set up, he said, "The government thinks it has done right and if required it will be done again. The party supports the government." Responding to the threat by Banerjee that she will not allow industry on farm land, the former chief minister said, "She always creates problems. Creating problem is her religion and politics."
Discrimination and persecution of Dalits, Tribals, Minorities and refugees have been the doctrines of Rulers after partition and Bengal enhanced the decrimination with Marxist and scientific flavours.
The Framers of the Indian Constitution wanted to dismantle the structure of social discrimination perpetuated by the caste system (a system of social hierarchy) and also the possibility of religious discrimination in independent India. The existing social prejudices resulted in the continued exclusion of some caste communities from the social and public life. Hence the Constitution envisaged a system of protection of smaller communities by providing reservations to Scheduled Castes and Tribes and special rights to minority communities. Minority rights are seen as an instrument for ensuring equal treatment by overcoming structured patterns of discrimination, for protecting their interests, and also for enhancing cultural diversity.
In separate Articles, the interests of minorities are protected (Article 29, Clause 1), such as the right to conserve their language, script and culture. No citizen can be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them. (Clause 2) They have their right to establish and to administer educational institutions, and the State cannot discriminate against any of them in granting aid on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language (Article 30, Clauses 1 & 2).
Critics say that though the concern for rights of minorities is a justifiable liberal concern, it has triggered off a process of splintering. For instance, the Hindu right-wing was unhappy over the special treatment given to the minorities. They have often felt that the 'minority rights' granted under the Fundamental Rights of the Indian Constitution undermined and discriminated against the majority Hindus and their culture. And freedom to propagate religion was considered "a charter of Hindu enslavement, the blackest part of the Indian Constitution," which "pave(d) the way for the complete annihilation of Hindu culture, the Hindu way of life and manners." Some of their leaders called this Constitutional 'guarantee' given to the minorities as "pseudo secularism."
The Constitution also guarantees "equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within its territory" (Article 14). It prohibits "discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth" (Article 15) and advances special protection for women and children, and for those that are socially and educationally backward classes of citizens, for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Freedom of Speech (Article 19, Clause b and c) allows citizens "to assemble peaceably and without arms and to form associations or unions." But the State can "reasonably" restrict the citizens' right to free speech in case the security of the State, or public order, decency or morality, defamation or contempt of Court or incitement are called into question.
There were periods in West Bengal and Kerala in the 60's and 70's when the communist parties encouraged the lawless activities of these "cadres" since they refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the "bourgeois" governments and also because they believed that such recourse to violence would prepare their followers to acquire the requisite revolutionary temper. As the simmering tension in Karnataka and West Bengal shows, the opponents of the governments have little stake in stability and the process of dialogue even if they cannot be sure of where their disruptive tactics would take them. They seem to live only in the present with little thought of the future, hoping to utilise the existing grievances to strengthen their bases of support even if normal life is affected.
The CPI, a major partner of the Left Front government in West Bengal, today opposed the multi-product SEZ and chemical hub proposed to be set up here. "We have submitted a memorandum to the State Government that the SEZ should not be set up here and only industries demanded by the local people should be allowed to come up," CPI state general secretary Manju Majumdar told a public meeting here. "The CPI will take action if the government does not take steps," he said adding the development of the SEZ will not be possible as people do not want it. The party in its memorandum had also demanded guidelines for the proposed SEZ and that the people be taken into confidence, he said. Criticising the alleged violence by CPI-M and Bhumi Uchhed Protirodh Committee (BUPC), which is spearheading the agitation against the acquisition of farmland, Majumdar said the party had demanded that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government ensure restoration of peace in the area and strict action against the perpetrators. The on-going violence was a turf war and "this must be stopped," he added.
Asserting that the charges of coercion of farmers to part with their land for Nandigram SEZ were without basis, CPI(M) today said no land would be acquired against the wishes of the people for the project.
"There is no question of any land being acquired for the SEZ projects, as in Nandigram, against the wishes of the people. As a policy, our government will not take land from those who are not ready to part with it", party General Secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here. "There is no basis" for the allegations that people were being forced to part with their land in Nandigram, he said, adding that issues relating to compensation, if any, could be discussed and sorted out.
Barring those already cleared, other SEZ projects "will not proceed" till amendments to the SEZ Act and rules were carried out on an all-India basis, he said.
The two-day Polit Bureau meeting endorsed the stand of the Left Front government on the Tata car project in Singur.
The state government has taken "necessary steps to ensure that a fair compensation package is devised for those displaced from the land in Singur," he said.
Karat said the Polit Bureau concluded that West Bengal government should apply the criteria for land conversion based on the land use policy adopted by it. "Proper evaluation and pricing of land and rehabilitation for all those affected should be worked out". He reiterated the party's demand for review of the 1894 Land Acquisition Act to ensure protection of the right of the land holders and those dependent on the land as well as adequate compensation and rehabilitation.
An advertisement identifying areas where the SEZ and the chemical hub might be set up had triggered violent clashes in early January in which six lives were lost. Sporadic clashes have erupted again between the CPI(M) and BUPC from Friday night.
Chittodas Thakur, CPI District Secretary also stressed on discussions with local people to decide on setting up of industries and castigated the ongoing violence.
Fresh violence broke out over the proposed special economic zone (SEZ) at Nandigram in West Bengal, with those against land acquisition clashing with ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists.
“There has been trouble since last night and some houses were damaged. We are yet to ascertain if those belonged to CPI-M supporters,” Raj Kanojia, inspector general of police (law and order), told said yesterday.
According to reports, the violence broke out at Nandigram, 150km from Kolkata, in East Midnapore constituency and the nearby Khejuri border area, which is under CPI-M control.
The Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to Resist Eviction from Land), which is dominant in Nandigram, allegedly attacked CPI-M activists. The government has proposed to build the SEZ with Indonesia’s Salim group.
Firearms and bombs were used in the clashes and the houses of CPI-M members were torched, though Kanojia said no deaths were reported.
“We are trying to find out if firearms were used,” he said, adding that a heavy deployment of policemen had been made.
Nandigram has witnessed continuing violence since January against the acquisition of land, leaving six dead early last month. Recently, the daughter of a CPI-M supporter was also found murdered.
The villagers in Nandigram dug up roads, threw logs and moved with arms to prevent the entry of police or administrative authorities in a violent resistance movement against acquisition.
In a damage-control exercise, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Feb 11 distributed pattas (land ownership) to landless farmers in and around Nandigram area and assured that not a single inch of land would be acquired by force.
“We will not do anything by force. We will not take an inch by force,” Bhattacharya said at Khejuri.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was to address a rally at Kamarkundu in Singur after prohibitory orders under Section 144 were lifted following a Calcutta High Court reprimand to the state government.
Heavy police deployment has been made at Singur, about 40km from Kolkata, to prevent any untoward incident in the area that is witnessing violent protests over a Tata Motors small car project over 997 acres of farmland.
Earlier, CPM has asked the government to announce the rehabilitation policy on SEZs soon so as to remove the freeze on them. Unlike other parties and its own Left allies, the CPM appears prepared to take the political risk of going ahead with the contentious land acquisition for SEZs.
This is despite the fact that it was partly the Singur and Nandigram episodes in Left Front-ruled West Bengal that prompted the Manmohan Singh government to stall further clearance of SEZs.
The party had then welcomed the Centre’s decision to put SEZs on hold. However, polit bureau member Sitaram Yechury had said that “the rehabilitation policy should be announced soon as it has put the entire process on hold.”
He said the rehabilitation policy should be comprehensive and reach out to all displaced people. Yechury demanded that land owners should be granted compensation based on existing market prices and people affected should be provided with appropriate training and skills for alternative livelihood.
But the rehabilitation policy has little to do with SEZs that will be on less than 400 acres of land, which means that more than 50% of SEZs would be outside the ambit of the policy. Besides, the CPM, despite its claims of giving “adequate” packages, has faced flak over the land acquisition deals in Singur.
Yechury said the amendments that the party wants in SEZ regulations have been communicated to the government.
“The Government has said it will consider the suggestions and we expect the policy to come out as soon as possible as it has put the entire process on hold,” he added.
Incidentally, the RSP had recently come out strongly against the West Bengal government’s policy on SEZs and sought the scrapping of the projects.
Meanwhile, combining histrionics with humour, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee yesterday described West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as a “heartless emperor without clothes” out to rob the farmers of their land and the state of its democratic rights.
Addressing her first rally at Singur after withdrawal of prohibitory orders, she alleged that the government had struck a secret deal with the Tatas, who are to set up a small car factory there.
“The chief minister is a heartless person. He does not have a heart. In Bengal people have no democratic rights. He is like emperor without clothes,” Mamata said as farmers protesting acquisition of land gathered there brandished their land ownership papers. – Agencies
Trinamool Congress chief Mamta Banerjee on Sunday underwent a successful surgery for removing stones from her gall bladder at a private nursing home in Kolkata."The Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy was done successfully to remove stones from her gall bladder. She is now keeping well," TC Mahila Congress president Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and the nursing home sources said.Banerjee was admitted to the hospital on Sunday morning following acute pain after which doctors suggested an immediate gall bladder operation, Dastidar said.The hospital sources said that Banerjee had no other major complaint and she might be released the day after tomorrow.Banerjee was admitted to a hospital on December 28 at the end of a 25-day hunger strike she had undertaken to protest against "forcible" acquisition of farmland in Singur for a Tata Motors small car plant.At the time of her release from the nursing home on January 17, the attending doctor Dr Sudarshan Ghose Dastidar had said that she had developed gall stones, which would be surgically removed at a later date.
Addressing a rally at Singur on Saturday, Banerjee said she would take a break for health reasons and would be back soon to take charge of the Singur and Nandigram agitations.
‘Heartless’ Buddhadeb out to rob farmers land, charges Mamata
Singur West Bengal • Combining histrionics with humour, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee yesterday described West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya as a "heartless emperor without clothes" out to rob the farmers of their land and the state of its democratic rights.
Addressing her first rally at Singur after withdrawal of prohibitory orders, she alleged that the government had struck a secret deal with the Tatas, who are to set up a small car factory there.
Targetting Tata Motors and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, she said: "I love the street dog in my neighbourhood more than Ratan Tata" as "he is out to destroy about 10,000 families in the name of a Rs100,000 car".
"The chief minister is a heartless person. He does not have a heart. In Bengal people have no democratic rights. He is like emperor without clothes," Mamata said as farmers protesting acquisition of land gathered there brandished their land ownership papers.
"Raja tor kapar kothai (Where are your clothes, king?)," she shouted, referring to the "ways" of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
"If you disrobe people, you will also be without clothes."
"He is one without even common sense. The CPI-M (ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist) is playing with fire, which will singe them," she said.
"Why were the Tatas given this land? I am not an economist but it is plain and simple that if you subsidise a company with power, water and Rs10bn then it can roll out a car for Rs100,000 for a limited period of time," Mamata said.
"No wall of the Tatas raised by imposing Section 144 Cr PC (prohibitory orders preventing assembly of people) can stop you. The wall is not important, the people are important, their wishes are important. Those among you who have not given land, don't give. It is a battle for honour, for your mother (land), for your pride, for democracy," she told the gathering to a resounding affirmation.
The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday struck down the imposition of prohibitory orders in Singur, terming it "misuse of power". The prohibitory orders were promulgated following violence in the area over land acquisition.
Mamata said it was not her responsibility always to maintain peace and held that "for any violence the responsibility will be of the chief minister".
"We are not against industry. We want industry on wasteland and agriculture on farmlands," she maintained.
"I hear the Tatas are going to collaborate with Italy, so is this going to be a 'Tatali" (Tata and Italy) project," she commented, as people burst into laughter.
"Singur is not alone now. We are with you," she said.
Singur, about 40km from here in Hooghly district, has been chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project on over 997 acres of land. The deal triggered a violent face-off between the state government and farmers, led by civil society groups and parties like Trinamool Congress.
SEZ Nandigram case: CPI (M) houses torched
Description
Fresh violence broke out over the proposed SEZ, with those against land
acquisition clashing with ruling CPI-M activists.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes
com/NEWS/India/SEZ_Nandigram_case_CPI_M_houses_torched/RssArticleShow/article
how/1633181.cms
COMMUNAL POLITICS AND ABUSE OF RELIGION IN INDIA:
WAYS TO PEACE
Vincent Sekhar, S.J.
India's Plural Setting:
As the largest democracy in the world, India sustains a political system of 24 Federated states and 7 Union territories as "the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic," journeying with nearly 4,700 ethnic communities speaking over 300 languages and dialects. And as the cradle of several major world religions, India holds the majority 82% Hindus (out of which 24.5% belong to Scheduled Caste - the "untouchables" - and Scheduled Tribes) with divisions and sub-divisions based on doctrinal differences, details of rituals and spiritual paths. 12.12% are Muslims, 2.34% Christians, 1.94% Sikhs, 0.76% Buddhists, 0.40% Jains as per 1991 Census of India. There is considerable interaction between their world-views, rituals and customs and, by and large, the different religious communities have lived in peace and harmony for centuries.
But because of its pluralistic nature, it is also more easily vulnerable to any disturbance caused by provocations. History shows that the meaning and the functioning of institutions and politics based mainly on religious difference have led substantially to communalizing of the whole Indian society and polity with the consequent intolerance and religious hatred. Several "rightist" ideological groups and parties with their affiliation to particular religious communities have swayed the Indian political scene in the last one century: the Muslim League, founded in 1906, is active in Kerala and the Akali Dal, founded in 1920s, in Punjab. The Hindu Mahasabha, founded in 1907, became the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951, and emerged as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980, which held the power at the Centre in the 1990s. Its growth has been tremendous.
There are a number of religious and cultural groups supported by the BJP, such as the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS), founded in 1925, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), in 1960, the Shiv Sena, in 1966, and the Bhajrang Dal. Their major goal is to establish "the Reign of Rama," ("the Rama Rajya") or "the Land of the Hindus" ("the Hindu Rashtra"). It recalled the ancient Vedic (Golden) Age, and wanted the minorities to assimilate Hindu culture and language, revere Hindu religion, and glorify Hindu 'race' and culture.
Constitutional Guarantee:
Given the plural background, India chose to be a secular, democratic country after long debates during the time of independence. That was to be its political identity. A secular state is usually defined as a state which guarantees individual and corporate freedom of religion, deals with the individual as a citizen irrespective of his/her religion, and is not constitutionally connected to a particular religion, nor does it seek either to promote or interfere with religion.
In its intent it is similar to the American constitution. The founders of American Constitution unanimously rejected the state support for a national faith. Attempting to impose a uniform faith through government action would offend the many citizens who subscribed to different faiths, leading them to excessive violence and passion. In many of the key religion-state issues in American life, the Court conceded to the interpretation of phrases such as "establishment" and "free exercise" according to the changing social conditions and religious diversity. It ensured the full freedom of religious groups to practice their faith and perform activities related to their faith, especially of the minorities.
Indian Constitution and Law Code on Freedom of Religion (Article 25) assures to all persons the freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, subject to public order, morality and health. The State is permitted to make laws regulating or restricting any activity that may be associated with religious practice or providing for social welfare and social reform. Article 26 similarly guarantees religious denominations and their sections a right, subject to public order, morality and health, "to establish and maintain religious and charitable institutions, to manage their religious affairs, to own and to acquire property and to administer it according to law." Article 27 prohibits the state from compelling any person "to pay taxes, the proceeds of which are specifically appropriated in payment of expenses for the promotion or maintenance of any particular religious denomination."
In general, the Indian government has not been indifferent to religion but has attempted to treat and foster each religion in the country equally. For instance, a number of educational institutions run by the different religious communities have received public support and are aided by the State. In India, Gandhi's model of secularism in the sense of 'positive respect to all religions' has taken precedence over the Nehruvian model of secularism in the strict sense (strict separation of Religion from the State). "Advocates of secularism in India," says Ainslie Embree "always insisted that far from being hostile to religion, they valued it."
Growing Communal Identities:
Pluralism naturally pushes people to construct and consolidate their identities. Already in 1937, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his Presidential address to the All India Great Assembly of Hindus (Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha) held in Ahmedabad laid the foundation for Hindu Nationalism. He said, "The Hindus… possess a common country, a common language… Their ancient and modern history is common. They have friends and enemies common. They have faced common dangers and won victories in common…. Hindus are welded together during aeons of a common life and a common habitat. Above all, the Hindus are bound together by the dearest, most sacred and most enduring bonds of a common Fatherland and a common Holy land… the Hindus must be entitled to be recognized as a 'nation' par excellence."
On September 17, 1944, Muhammad Ali Jinnah wrote a letter to M.K. Gandhi: "We maintain and hold that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any definition or test of nation. We are a nation of a hundred million, and, what is more, we are a nation with our own distinctive culture and civilization, language and literature, art and architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, legal laws and moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions-in short, we have our own distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all canons of international law we are a nation." This was a major component that led to the partition of India.
The aftermath of partition (India-Pakistan) in the late 1940s was a savaging disaster "analogous to war," as Jawaharlal Nehru described it. The resentments toward one another grew especially during the India-Pakistan war in 1965, Bangladesh's separation in 1971, conflicts in Kashmir, war in Afghanistan and also whenever there was either an Islamic revolution in other parts of the world or whenever their communities came out in protest against attacks on them.
The Muslims ruled India for over five centuries (13-17 Cent. A.D.), leaving a lasting impact on the people and their culture. Similarly, the British ruled this country for nearly three centuries (18-20 Cent. A.D.), introducing British system of administration, British law and order, English education, and Western medicine. They imparted a distinct (western) culture, which affected the various aspects of Indian life. The activities of the Christian missionaries, especially conversion, were all perceived as efforts at establishing their own churches and missions and topple the traditional Indian culture and Indian world-view. Such and other things have provoked the Hindu fundamentalists to make statements like this: "We were slaves for 1000 years, and now we have opened our eyes… I demand that the government of India throw out these people (Christian missionaries) who are out to convert Hindus and ruin our culture, language and attire." Such efforts at constructing strong community identities have often been exploited by political parties in India to politicize their sentiments and use them in their greed to power.
Gandhi - did he really promote non-violence?
By Nalinaksha
Gandhi's Ahimsa was meant to defuse struggles by masses against the imperialists. Never once did Gandhi ask the state to be non-violent. All his sermons of non-violence were reserved for the exploited masses when their anger tended to coalescese into movements.
Once in the 1930s two platoons of Garhwal regiment were stationed in Peshawar. They were asked to fire upon unarmed demonstrators. They refused. They were court martialled. Gandhi SUPPORTED THE ACTION OF THE BRITISH GOVT. Let us also not forget that Gandhi actively recruited for British war effort during the First World War.
Gandhi was also the first one to introduce religion in India's body politic through a retrograde Khilafat movement. It is not taught in our history books that Jinnah was one of the persons who advised Gandhi against this. This is not to be taken as a defence for Jinnah who had his own agenda and who later used the same tool that the "Mahatma" had introduced-religion. Gandhi had a stranglehold on Congress and had the least amount of regards for following democratic conventions. Netaji Subhas Bose's departure from Congress was due to this stranglehold. Fifty years later we stiil see that the oldest political party in India, Congress, lacks inner party democracy and this was also a creation of Gandhi.
People who want more details on the aspects I have mentioned are requested to read:
1. India and the Raj - Suniti Kumar Ghosh
2. The sole spokesman - Ayesha Jalal
3. Partition of India-Legend and Reality - H.N.Seervai.
In particular, I would recommend "India and the Raj" by Suniti Kumar Ghosh.
The thesis of the book is that Gandhi and other higher echelons of the Congres
