WASHINGTON – The National Press Club’s Journalism Institute last evening hosted a condensed showing of the controversial BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question. The two-part documentary banned in India tells the story of the 2002 riot that saw Hindu extremists attack the Muslim section of Gujarat killing thousands of Muslim Indians. The riot took place in the aftermath of an[Read More…]
Bilkis Bano, then 19 years old and pregnant, was gangraped in the 2002 infamous communal violence of Gujarat. 14 of her family members were also killed including a 3 years old daughter. Case was registered after the intervention of National Human Rights Commission. In 2004 the trial was moved to Mumbai by Supreme Court. In 2008, 11 accused were convicted.[Read More…]
This holds true for millions who have fallen victim in their quest for their rights and for peace. And also for thousands targeted – killed and raped- during Gujarat-carnage in 2002. What else is suggested by “news” linked with what happened in Gujarat during 2002 hitting headlines once again? Notwithstanding the measures taken to prevent public screening of BBC documentary[Read More…]
Past the halfway mark in the BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’, Episode 1, is a clip of the BBC reporter interviewing Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat, soon after he had called for elections in a state still seething with the fresh wounds of post-Godhra communal riots in 2002. Every question she asks him, including about the violence[Read More…]
I am seventy years old. I was born in Quilon, Kerala. I studied in a college in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district of Kerala. After my graduation, I worked in many cities: Madras, Calcutta, Hyderabad, Bangalore and New Delhi. Now I am in Delhi. I have an Aadhar card, a PAN card and a Passport too, though it has expired now.[Read More…]
Gujarat Carnage (2002) was one of the major acts of anti Minority violence. It was a catastrophe which took the degree of violence, hate and ghettoization to higher degree. Much before the violence the term, “Gujarat: Laboratory of Hindu Rashtra” was well popularized. On the pretext of Godhra train burning; Gujarat carnage was unleashed in which over one thousand people[Read More…]
One thing is constant in India: violence. The perpetrators are the same; only the faces of those who encounter and resist the violence change. In India, or JatiIndia — my name for this nation of jatis/castes — the social hierarchical structure of jatiism/casteism and the inherent violence that goes with it stems from the country’s tree of systemic upper-caste supremacy[Read More…]
On the day India was born eleven demons were let loose. A great celebration ensued Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! India won the match again! The match is always fixed. A man versus woman Bilkis versus eleven Satans played in broad daylight. A great uproar, carnal pleasure, proud chest, thumping victory: Bilkis: Zero, India: Eleven. It’s always the same match . India[Read More…]
A militant demonstration was held at Dadar Railway Station (East) on August 23rd, besides Hanuman Mandir, Dadar (East), Mumbai, attended by over 300 activists which is mainly consisted of women. It was organised by All India Womens Democratic Association, , Forum Against OppressionOf Women, Indian Christians For Democracy Jan Swasthya Abhiyan #National SolidarityForum Police Reform Watch , Vinayak Foundation Shoshit[Read More…]
(This long article of 2013 was published in the form of a booklet in 2014. The same is reissued here for the benefit of new readers. Even those who have read it earlier may find some relevance in the present political context.) Against Forgetfulness The supporters of Narendra Modi have been insisting for some time now that what happened in[Read More…]
The nature of communal virus plaguing India even in this era displays political “strategies” still being deliberately manufactured and propagated to spread communalism at cost of secularism. The saving grace lies in questions being raised from secular activists, politicians and certain sections of media criticizing such communal moves. Sadly, some right-winged extremists bear little remorse about spreading communal virus. Paradoxically,[Read More…]
Whether Remission of Sentences of her Perpetrators offers a template for Victims / Survivors How Justice Would End for them now onwards ? Who gets ‘Amrit’ , who gets ‘Vish’ ? Hindu mythology according to ‘Vishnu Purana’ talks about gods getting ‘Amrit’ (nectar) and asuras ( demons) getting Vish ( poison) after the Samudra Manthan of Kshirsagar. Well, in[Read More…]
India completed 75 years of independence on 15 August 2022! That ‘special day’ however, was one of the blackest days in the history of post-independent India. It was indeed a terrible day for Bilkis Yakub Rasool and for millions of other Indians, who cherish all that is sacred: justice, liberty, equality and fraternity! On that day, as Bilkis Bano (as[Read More…]
The controversial garlanding of the recently released 11 individuals by members allegedly belonging to the VHP on August 16, 2022, raises a pertinent question: why were these individuals released? Obviously, the fact that they had been in prison for well over the mandatory 14 years made them eligible for availing the remission policy of the state government. It is a[Read More…]
Peoples Union for Civil Liberties condemns the release on remission of the 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano case on August 15, 2022. 11 convicts charged with charges of gang rape of a pregnant woman and multiple murders walked out free. The release of the 11 convicts, even as many others accused of less serious offences remain in jail is[Read More…]
The Supreme Court in its judgment the case of Zakia Jafri vs. State of Gujarat dismissed the petition filed by Zakia Jafri. Zakia Jafri had called for an investigation into the conspiracy to hatch the events which resulted in the massive carnage in Gujarat following the Godhra train burning on the morning of 27th February 2002. While dismissing this Supreme[Read More…]
by Admiral L Ramdas and Lalita Ramdas Twenty years ago, in end February 2002 we were in Palo Alto with our daughter towards the end of a successful lecture tour organised by friends –to build a coalition of groups and voices prepared to stand up against the proliferation of Nuclear weapons. It was with horror and disbelief that we watched[Read More…]
On 20th anniversary of one of the biggest genocides since 1947, we must dip our blood in memory of all the victims and pledge to disarm the breeding ground of Hindutva fascism. It is ironical that this event was staged on February 27th, the very day the Nazi storm troopers set fire on the Reichstag, which lit the first spark[Read More…]
It is now 19 years when Gujarat 2002 riots happened. The public memory of the nation has forgotten the event. Until has come a book Under Cover My Journey into the Darkness of Hindutva by Ashish Khetan to bring back the memories of the calamity which had overtaken the Muslims of Gujarat. In fact to be exact it was like reading the riot[Read More…]
‘Final Solution’ – an award winning, must watch documentary film by Rakesh Sharma made in 2004 is streaming on Vimeo for free until March 31. The film is about 2002 Gujarat carnage and the rise of the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The film maker keeps this film open for public view at Vimeo at free of charge till March[Read More…]
The woe of the victim families of the Gujarat riots of 2002 continues unabated. Even 18 years after that horrendous communal program the victims are living in utter neglect. Close to two lakh people were displaced in the 2002 Gujarat riots. These people remained displaced for more than a year then some Muslim relief organizations, along with a few local[Read More…]
Salim Khan, a Muslim driver was burnt alive after a message was passed on the police wireless that a Muslim driver was coming that way. On the night of February 28, when people were attacked in Vatwa, all they could see was heads and more heads. Swords were being waved in the air, shots were fired by privately owned guns.[Read More…]
Communal violence is not new in India. This has existed all along. Despite India adopting the word ‘Secular’ in its constitution, religious tolerance yet remains a dream. Individuals, communal organisations, political parties have in some form or the other played a role in perpetrating communal violence all along. Adoption of ‘Secularism’ has not resulted in a communal free behaviour among[Read More…]
7 in the series JatiIndia: A Flag of Atrocities Caste, Present and Future For more than a quarter century, journalist/activist Teesta Setalvad has worked tirelessly to ensure that India’s Constitution serves the people. Her most well-known work involved exposing, through her group Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), the atrocities committed by Hindutva extremists in Gujarat in 2002. As part[Read More…]
Today’s Times of India has reported that CBI has filed criminal charges against the well known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand. As per the statement of Teesta, refuting all claims of violation of FCRA norms by the CBI, the financial support she has received is after the deduction of TDS. And even if any mistake[Read More…]
Rana Ayub requires a high appreciation for bringing the book to the public domain. With an idealism to bring out the truth of Gujarat, the courage shown is highly appreciable. This is particularly more in an environment where publishing houses backed out from publishing the book and she had to do self-publishing.
Communal violence is the big bane of Indian society. While on one hand the innocents are killed the guilty mostly get away without any punishment. The rate of prosecution of riot cases is very low. Even where punishments are meted out the big fish are let off while the foot soldiers get punished. Apart from these observations what is[Read More…]
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Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
