From: mahajan@cs.sfu.ca (Sanjeev Mahajan)
Subject: A fervent appeal!!
Organization: CSS, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 17:15:43 GMT


Friends,
	The situation in Bombay is really depressing (and in general, it seems
that the whole country has gone bonkers). No longer can we blame
polticians and their ilk for the mess we are in, for the rot has spread
everywhere. advani and his cohorts have made hate , barbarism,
medievalism, murder, fascism(that is, everything abominable in
human behavior) not only palatable, but fashionable. anyone who talks
even a modicum of sense is branded a pseudo-secularist or
a westernized pseudo-intellectual out of touch with the hard realities
of life (i have experienced this kind of calumny myself, in my
experience with my relatives). india, as never before, is at a point where
hindu-rashtra is a very real possibility.

	Before I give you a glimpse of what the hindu rashtra might look
like, let me describe my personal experiences in a relief camp 
organized by the Nivaaraa Hakk organization (popularly known as Shabana
Azmi's orgn. by the locals). we (from tifr) have been volunteering
at these relief camps situated in slums such as Sanjay Nagar,
pathaan waadi etc. which are situated in the vicinity of goregaon.
these relief camps provide service to the victims of
post-ayodhyaa monstrosity uleashed by the hindutva forces. they
come from mainly muslim and dalit bastees (an interesting point to
be noted is that in the mainly upper caste slums, which are easy to discern, because
these slums have pucca houses, only the muslim houses have been selectively
looted and burnt). most muslims have fled these bastees (such as
ambedkar nagar and aazaad nagar), and are now camped in pathaanwaadi
where nivaaraa hakk provides food, clothing, medicinal and other
relief for them. what we saw in this camp was absolutely shocking.
some people had their heads smashed (by choppers and trishools, we
were later told), some had facial injuries and burns.a muslim
woman we interviewed gave a vivid account of how she , her husband
and her kids were forced to flee from their home. on the fateful day
of 13th of january, around 2:00 pm, a two hundred strong shiv sainiks
came rampaging through their bastee, brandishing choppers and
other weapons. then they went around and asked people to point out
muslim houses. they threatened anyone who they thought might be harboring
muslims in their houses. the muslim woman who told us this story
was sheltered by their hindu neighbors(but told to leave next
morning, as they did not want shiv sainiks to come again and
find out). this woman saw from the safe haven of her neighbors,
shiv sainiks raping muslim women (`izzat kharaab kee' is the phrase
she used, which i presume means rape) (so much for the myth
of hindu tolerance, and that hindu men don't rape muslim women, only muslim
men rape hindu women), and basically going on a mayhem spree.
a lot of muslims we talked to, said that they have been told by their
employers not to come back to work. so one wonders what happens to them
after the relief camp is over (after all, these relief operations cannot
go on forever, already the hakk is experiencing a financial crunch).
these interviews also revealed  the irreversible communal divide
and deep mistrust that has been created by the post-ayodhyaa syndrome. 
another heart-rending observation we made while carrying out these relief
operations was that, given the limited nature of the supplies, one
has to choose between one pathetic condition and another. one
has to callously decide that such and such person , having lost
everything needs these supplies more than another one who has lost
only some of their possessions, although both their conditions are
pitiable.

	so friends, it is my passionate appeal to everyone to
donate more generously towards alleviating these morbid conditions.
you can send send your money to the times of india relief fund
i also so plead with everyone to hold
discussions, meetings, seminars, put up advertisements in newspapers,
do everything you can to counter the insanity that is currently
englufing this unfortunate country of ours. not many people
still believe me when i say that india is fast on its way to becoming
a theological hindu rashtra, where the loathsome varnaashrama
dharma will become the order of the day, where science will be reduced
to cramming up and regurgitating some strange shlokas  from
the vedas (if you do not believe this, read Prof. Jayaraman's article
which was posted on sci by me just a few days ago, it describes
how science is fast degenerating in the bjp ruled states), rigors
of the sati will be back, and everything loathsome in our culture will
be brought back with a vengeance.

sanjeev

p.s. i finally got to  read the (in)famous hindu students council ad
in IE(i don't read IE any more, as it is too surreal for me). the ad
should win `the most bizarre specimen' award. now here is a bunch
of nri hindus comfortably settled in the u.s./canada claiming that india
is the only place they can call home (as opposed to , of course, those
`evil' muslims in india who can boldy go to any country a hindu
would fear to tread. i mean, do these self-styled defenders of hinduism
ever wonder what utter nonsense they are spewing.

p.s.II please respond to this post by email, as i don't generally
read sci.