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World
wants India to grow, we must take advantage: PM |
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President calls for affordable justice for India’s poor |
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Gays
more likely to experience violent events, mental illness |
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China
quake toll mounts to 1,100, hopes for survivors fade |
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Girl
banned from school for wearing hijab |
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‘Judicial Activism
in Personal and Customary Law’ |
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IPS
officer seeks bail in Gujarat fake gun battle case |
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Gujarat challenges SIT power to summon Modi |
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Backward Federation for quota within quota in Women Reservation Bill:
Chairman of All India Backward Classes Federation and senior RJD
leader Indra .....Read
Full
Govt. proposes steps for increasing
representation of women
Reservations: Dilemmas Galore
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 World
wants India to grow, we must take advantage: PM:
The world could be
having apprehensions about China’s rise but it wants India .....Read
Full
'Save your citizenship through Census 2011' |
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 President calls for affordable justice for India’s poor:
President Pratibha Patil
Saturday called for affordable and accessible justice for India’s
poor and said a large number of pending .....Read
Full |
 SC expresses anguish on custodial
torture, deaths:
The Supreme Court has
expressed shock and anguish at the brutality of the police personnel
.....Read
Full |
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 Unique madrasa with exemplary
teachings:
Setting a unique example of communal harmony and oneness, a madrasa
in the city of the Sangam is teaching the Vedas, the Bible and the
.....Read
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 Christians up in arms against
Hindutva terror in MP:
The Christians in Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP),
ruled central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh are up in arms against
the alleged .....Read
Full |
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 India has more mobile telephones
than toilets: UN report:
More people in India,
the world's second most crowded country, have access to a mobile
telephone .....Read
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 Palestinians should resist Israeli threat: Arab League:
The 22-member Arab
League called on the Palestinians on Tuesday to refuse to heed
amended orders ....Read
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84 IAS, 33 IPS officers facing
trial for criminal charges:
At least 84 officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and
33 of the Indian Police Service (IPS) are facing criminal charges,
Minister of State in the Prime.....Read
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 Tipu's sword fetches 500,000 pounds
in auction:
Seven years after Indian liqour baron Vijay Mallya bought a sword of
Tipu Sultan, a majestic sabre of the Mysore king fetched 505,250
pounds ....Read
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 Violence, crime and politics at
Panjab University:
Shootouts, cars on fire,
ragging, display of money, muscle power and ugly politics. This is
not a setup for a ....Read
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 BJP and
Congress in the Dock for Communal Violence:
The interrogation of Narendra Modi
by SIT, appointed by Supreme Court was a major.....Read
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While law of the land is trying to catch
up with the acts of commission and omission in the Gujarat carnage,
another set of laws, the global ones have been very clear about
permitting the entry of a person like Narendra Modi into their
country.
Recently (April 8, 2010), a group of German MPs justified the denial
of visa to Modi. They advocated a ban on his visiting Europe. This
parliamentary delegation was on a two day visit to the city of
Ahmedabad to study the state of minorities in Gujarat. It concluded
that the European Union (EU) decision not to grant visa to him was
justified. They went to the extent of banning his trip to Europe in
near future. They pointed out that “the Chief Minister of Gujarat
has a radical tone to his politics and is described as dictatorial.
He has a wrong perception of religious freedom.” This four member
team has been closely following developments in the Gujarat riot
cases.
One member of delegation pointed out that he was shocked by
parallels between Germany under Hitler and Gujarat under Modi.
Incidentally in Gujarat school books Hitler has been glorified as a
great nationalist. Modi, in response to this has written to Prime
Minister to seek apology from the German delegation for tarnishing
the image of democratically elected head of state. The Congress
Government endorsed Modi’s view and clarified that the EU had put a
ban on Modi’s visit in the aftermath of Gujarat carnage but that has
been withdrawn. Also that it was not an official delegation.
Whatever that be, the opinion of the members of the delegation does
reflect a deeper truth of our political phenomenon.
That apart, this is not the first time that such a thing has
happened. Modi was earlier denied visa to US. On March 18, 2005 in a
severe rebuke to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the United
States denied him entry to America. US Consular division had taken a
strong stand against Modi, the Hindutva icon. They denied him
diplomatic visa apparently holding him responsible for communal
carnage of 2002. In addition, his tourist/business visa which was
already granted was revoked under a section of US Immigration and
Nationality Act since he was not coming for a purpose that qualifies
for a diplomatic visa.
In response to the query that he was already holding a
tourist-cum-business visa, the Consulate pointed out that the
"existing tourist/business visa has been revoked under Section 212
(a) (2) (g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act." According this
section
any foreign government official who was responsible or "directly
carried out, at any time, particularly severe violations of
religions freedom" is denied the visa. The decision of US
authorities was based on the observations of India's National Human
Rights Commission findings and other independent Indian sources.
The observation of German delegation raises one additional major
point about the state of Gujarat being similar to that of Germany
under Hitler. Who will know it better than Germans who have suffered
the political tragedy of fascism for bad many years? Modi’s point
that he is an elected person again matches so well with Hitler. One
recalls, Hitler came to power through democratic means and then he
gradually eroded liberal-democratic norms from inside to bring in
worst type of fascist state. The parallels are unmistakable. There
are some differences from German fascism here but all the same the
basic phenomenon is the same. Fascism is a politics where the
liberal democratic space is abolished in the name of targeting some
section of society for the supposed cause of National interest. In
case of Germany the process was accompanied by a cultural paradigm
shift and political aggression against communists, then trade
unionists and then the Jews. Millions of Jews were subjected to the
gas chambers, one of the greatest tragedies of the human history of
twentieth century.
The politics of Hitler, and his clone Mussolini was praised by M.S.
Golwalkar the ideologue of RSS, the organization where Modi has been
indoctrinated and trained. Golwalkar’s formulations of aggressive
nationalism and relegating minorities to second-class citizenship
are being actualized by Modi and company in different ways.
While the similarities with German case are so glaring, there are
some differences as well. The German fascism began to take social
roots after the economic crisis generated in the aftermath of First
World War. The cultural offensive in the field of arts, music,
literature and the ‘glorification of ancient past’ picked up
rapidly. In one of the major assaults on democracy, the fire at
Reichstag was attributed to having been done by Communists, and
physical violence was unleashed against them. Analogies with Godhra
train burning are unmistakable.
Here the ascendance of Modi comes on the background of the economic
crisis of the decade of 1980s, the adverse effects of globalization
picking up, the loss of jobs of the downtrodden due to closure of
textile mills, the attacks on the dalits OBCs in the name of anti
reservation riots. The cultural manipulation began with Ram Temple
movement, and spreading of hate against minorities, Muslims first
and then the Christians, who by now have been relegated to second
class citizenship in Gujarat and some other states and the trend in
other states is going in that direction.
While in Germany whole of the Nation came under the grip of fascism,
the saving grace in India is that the electoral face of ‘Indian
fascism’, BJP, has not been able to come to absolute majority in the
center by itself. That’s not to say that fascism is not marching. In
Germany the defeat of Germany in Second World War led to the
collapse of the nation along with the edifice of fascism with the
fascist-in-chief committing suicide. In India here it has gripped
Gujarat in full, while in other states like Karnataka, Orissa, MP
its presence is getting strengthened by and by. At national level
though BJP might have faced two electoral debacles, the infiltration
of fascist ideology through the pores of Indian democracy is going
on in various ways. The phenomenon is creeping slowly though section
of media, communalization of education, and infiltration of the
followers of this ideology in different section of state. The
gradual attempt to erode the liberal and plural values is a
dangerous portent for democracy. Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit’s
alleged involvement in Malegon blast may just be the tip of the
iceberg. The judicial pronouncements that ‘Gita should be our
national book’ are also reflective of the same phenomenon.
Indian fascism is a slow growing one, capturing different aspects of
society one by one. It is not for nothing that Modi is the darling
of big capitalists, who stand to gain maximum from the fascist type
set ups. One can label Indian phenomenon as a chronic fascism, going
in a step ladder pattern. Those of us relived because of electoral
debacles of BJP at center need to wake up and realize that fascism
is marching, irrespective of BJP’s electoral debacle in last two
general elections.
The incidental observation from German delegates report is that
since Germany went through such a painful period of history, many
Germans realize and can sense the symptoms of fascism so easily.
Same applies to many Japanese joining anti-Nuke protests and
campaigns against Nuclear weapons. Who knows better than them as to
what a nuclear weapon can do to the society?
So while here in India the justice to Modi ilk is elusive, globally
there are norms which do recognize the nature of incidents happening
here, the politics which abuses religious identity to come to power
is in essence a variant of fascism whatever be its other
characteristics.
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Gujarat challenges SIT power to summon Modi
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