March 19, 2015
India: 19 March Citizens Protest & Release of Report Documenting Hate &
Violnce Under Modi's 300 days
<http://communalism.blogspot.in/2015/03/india-19-march-citizens-protest-release.html>
"Exposing 300 days of Modi’s rule" was the banner of a rally and dharna
jointly organised by many groups and political parties at Jantar Mantar,
Delhi, on 19 March 2015 to draw attention to the assault on democratic and
secular rights since May 2014.
[Executive Summary from the Report:
{{300 DAYS
Documenting Hate and Communal Violence under the Modi Regime
JOHN DAYAL}}
(With inputs from Kiren Shaheen, Liris Thomas, Mansi Sharma, Shabnam
Hashmi, Shahnaz Husain, Tehmina Arora, and Vijayesh Lal)
The rape of a 70 year old Nun in West Bengal in an attack ona convent and
school in February 2015 sent shockwaves throughout India, and the world.
“Protect not just Cows, but human beings also,” said Cardinal Baselios
Cleemis, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference. At least 43deaths in
over 600 cases of violence, 149 targeting Christians and the rest Muslims,
have taken place in 2014 in India till March this year, marking 300 days of
the National Development Alliance government of Mr. Narendra Modi. The
number of dead is other than the 108 killed in Assam in attacks by armed
tribal political groups on Muslims. Desecration and destruction of
churches, assault on pastors, illegal police detention of church workers,
and denial of Constitutional rights of Freedom of Faith aggravate the
coercion and terror unleashed in campaigns of Ghar Wapsiand cries of Love
Jihad. Since May 2014, there has been a marked shift in public discourse.
There has been a relentless foregrounding of communal identities, a
ceaseless attempt to create a divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The BJP
leaders guaranteed to abuse, ridicule and threaten minorities. Hate
statements by Union and state ministers, threats by Members of Parliament,
state politicians, and cadres in saffron caps or Khaki shorts resonate
through the landscape. But most cases go unreported, unrecorded by police.
The Prime Minister refuses to reprimand his Cabinet colleagues, restrain
the members of his party members or silencethe Sangh Parivar which claims
to have propelled him to power in New Delhi. Mr. Modi calls for a ten-year
moratorium on communal and caste violence. His government soon declares
Christmas to be a “Good Governance Day” in honour of the BJP leader and
former Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. There are fears at a
severe whittling down of the 15 Point Programme for Minorities, a lifeline
for many severely economic backward communities, and specially their youth
seeking higher education and professional training. Anyway, Mr. Modi’s
“assurance” to religious minorities is challenged and countered by Mr.
Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the powerful Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, who
asserts, repeatedly, that every Indian is a Hindu, and minorities will have
to learn their place in
the country.Speaking at the 50th Anniversary of foundation of its religious
wing, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS Sarsanghchalak
bluntly stated that “Hindutva is the identity of India and it has the
capacity to swallow other identities. We just need to restore those
capacities.” In Cuttack, he asserted that India is a Hindu state and
"citizens of Hindustan should be known as Hindus". Sadhvi Prachi, a central
minister, Members of Parliament Sakshi Maharaj and Adityanath are among
those urging measures to check Muslims, including encouraging Hindu women
to have from four to ten children each. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Rajasthan and other states, the terror, physical violence and social
ostracizing of Dalit and Tribal Christians, in particular, continues.
The 300 days have also seen an assault on democratic structures, the
education and knowledge system, Human Rightsorganizations and Rights
Defenders and coercive action using the Intelligence Bureau and the systems
if the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act and the Passport laws to crack
down on NGOs working in areas of empowerment of the marginalized sections
of society, including Dalits, Tribals, Fishermen and women, and issues of
environment, climate, forests, land and water rights. This report is
focused on issues of communally targeted violence and the politics of hate
and divisiveness that emanates from a thesis of religious nationalism.]
Read the FULL REPORT - 300 DAYS HERE
<http://sacw.net/IMG/pdf/reportonmodi-300days-19mar2015.pdf>
POSTED BY C-INFO AT THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015
<http://communalism.blogspot.in/2015/03/india-19-march-citizens-protest-release.html>
<http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=5008042&postID=5745872946970976980>
LABELS: BJP IN POWER MAY 2014 ON
<http://communalism.blogspot.in/search/label/BJP%20in%20Power%20May%202014%20on>
, PROTEST <http://communalism.blogspot.in/search/label/Protest>
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