Communalism
Forcible Conversions in Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts in Chhattisgarh - II
By Irfan Engineer
In the previous article, we saw that forcible conversions were taking place in the Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts of Chhattisgarh, but that of Christian vishwasus to Hinduism, and the state has done next to nothing besides pleading those who were threatening and indulging in violence against the vishwasus, turning them out of their villages, to let the displaced persons return to their villages. Adivasis became vishwasus, turning to Lord Jesus and their numbers were growing since 2015. Small independent one Adivasi pastor led churches, having following of less than 100 vishwasus, and sometimes more, organised prayer meetings wherein those with chronic sickness felt they were cured, and would give up their drinking habits. Giving up drinking habit led to some improvement in their lives and they focussed on education of their children. The strong fellowship that developed during the prayer meetings and love of Lord Jesus is sine qua non for prevention of relapse into drinking habits. The short visit did not enable us to examine the internal social dynamics within the village community, which pushed a section of the Adivasis towards prayer meetings and developing fellowship with other vishwasus within the Church. However, this did not necessarily mean that the vishwasus gave up all Adivasi traditions, customs, culture and way of life. Most of them told us that they contributed to the village festivals and participated in the cultural events, however, they did not partake the offerings to traditional Gods nor participated in the idol worship. The Chimdi village sarpanch however said that the vishwasus would not contribute financially in the village festivals or religious rituals. Jaising Potai (45), a displaced vishwasu, told us that he gave his contribution to the village festival, however, Kamu Patel and Kachra Gaita refused to accept it because they were no vishwasus. Patel and Gaita are traditional designations of the village head of the Gond community.
In the village Pawada, Manku Koram, belonging to the Gond community forced out one family with 5 members and 3 sisters after holding a meeting. The foodgrain stock of the vishwasus was looted on 18th December, according to Jaldev Koram (M, 30 years). They were paraded on a tractor and threatened to kill them if either they did not convert to Hinduism or else left the village. Jaldev had turned vishwasu in the year 2016. After his becoming a vishwasu in 2016, the village would not accept his contribution to the village festivals. Jaldev was member of the BJP and always voted for the Party even after 2016. A social and economic boycott was declared against Jaldev’s family. This meant nobody would offer their tractor to plough his land and people from outside the village were fined Rs. 10,000/- if they came with their tractors to plough his land. These were early warnings of the impending storm of violence or threat of life that turned out one thousand adivasis in the two districts out of their villages. There were early warning and such episodes since the month of October as well. The vishwasus complained to the police but their complaints were ignored. Seeing the tolerant attitude of the state, the non-Christian Adivasis were emboldened to scale up their pressures and coercion.
We talked to three victims from Temrugaon – Ramesh Koram (27), Nevru Koram (24) and Shambhulal Koram (27), all from Gond Muria community, belonging to Maranatha Full Gospel Church, under the leadership of Pastor Mayaram Nag. Temrugaon vishwasu community have a prayer hall of New India Church, wherein the vishwasus from Chalka village also would come to pray. The prayer halls we saw are in fact, small mud, bamboo and reed structures. The prayer hall was constructed three years ago, but it was functional only since last year. The vishwasus in the village converted in the year 2007 and 2008. 27 out of 110 families have converted.
After their Sunday prayer meeting on 18th December, a mob from the village led by the sarpanch Rajman Koram, caught them, sprinkled alcohol on them (to break their vow and spirit), beat them up and chased them out of the village. The vishwasus named 8 other accused in their complaint to the police for assault on them – 1) Jhelu Karanga, 2) Dhannu Koram, 3) Laxman Koram, 4) Jairam Koram, 5) Bajman Koram, 6) Jagnu Koram, 7) Shriman Koram, and 8) Ramsingh Potayi. The sarpanch was instigated by Ramdhar Suri from the village Chalka, a Gondwana Samaj and BJP leader. They were beaten with lathis and rods. Besides the abovenamed Ramesh, Nevru and Shambhulal, the others injured in the attack were Kulram Sodi, Ramadhi Koram (35), Shalu Koram (F, 30), Shankar Koram (23), and Jugai Koram (30). Jugai was hit on head. Six injured were hospitalized in district hospital, Narayanpur. Some vishwasus rushed to the police station to report the violence. About 10-15 policemen were deputed in the village. Ramesh, Tularam, Fagu and Sukhlal were beaten in presence of the police and their uniform was torn
There were attacks on the vishwasus in 2009 as well and were driven out of the village. They were staying in Narayanpur till 2014 on government land. However, there was a settlement and they were allowed to reside in the village once again. The sarpanch changed and the new woman sarpanch – Ratni went back on the settlement. On 4th December this year, Ramadhi Koram was beaten with a burning stick on his back, hands and legs. He was immobilized due to the attack. Complaint was filed, but the police scolded the complainants and turned them away.
From the above, it was obvious to us that when there were early warnings as late as in the first week of December 2022, with low intensity violence targeting vishwasu individuals, the police in particular and the district administration in general turned a blind eye by turning away complainants or ignoring the complaints of violence, breach of peace, social boycott etc. There was another serious early warning of the emerging conflict. The vishwasus were refused permission to bury their dead since about 6 months ago in the village on their own land on the pretext of maintaining Adivasi traditions and customs. Burial of dead vishwasus was in violation of Adivasi traditions and customs, according to the non-Christian Adivasis. They wrongly invoked the Panchayats (Extension to Schedules Areas) Act, 1996. Even after this the police and the administration did not act. The vishwasus would have to carry the body of their dead for burial all the way to Kondagaon, sometimes more than 50 kms away in dedicated cemetery for Christians in hearse. Those buried in the village were dug out. The non-Christian Adivasis kept escalating their violent actions to the next level until on 18th December, about a thousand displaced vishwasus camped in the compound of the Narayanpur District Collector. It is only then that the administration partially woke up arranged relief centres for the displaced – in the indoor stadium in Naryanpur and Panchayat Bhavan in Kondagaon.
… To be continued … 1) Administrations inaction on the ground that both sides are wrong, 2) Instances of forced conversions, 3) how peace was maintained in Chiprel village and the way ahead, 4) what should the established Church, civil society, human rights organizations and political parties to establish peace.
https://thewire.in/rights/casual-hate-classrooms-new-india
The viral video of a Muslim student ‘calling out’ his teacher’s bigotry at the Manipal Institute of Technology in Karnataka has led to a spate of commentary. But let’s not treat this as a moment of epiphany – like Newton’s laws of motion or the Archimedes principle – a sudden startling realisation; something we just figured out. Bigotry in classrooms, against Dalit students, tribal students – and increasingly in spate against Muslim students – is something we have known about all along. We simply chose to be in denial, kept silent, and kept pushing the elephant out of the room. What’s novel in the Manipal moment is the breaking of this silence. A moment when the doors of the classroom are forced open, giving us a glimpse of what has simmered inside for a long time. The young man in the video is an engineering student at a university. Old enough to muster the guts and gumption to give prejudice a pushback.
Imagine much younger children in pre-school, primary school or middle school. Too young to call bigotry by its name, too tiny to fight back. And parents just too scared about how vulnerable their children would be if matters were escalated.
That is the elephant I want to speak about – the social divide and hate that is infesting our society and therefore our classrooms. No classroom can be an oasis of equality in a highly unequal world. We have lost the ability to confront squarely the social divides in the context of the classroom. They have been pushed beyond discussion in educational public policy.
on August 23, 2022, came news from Bhadohi, Uttar Pradesh where a Dalit girl was beaten by a former village head, Manoj Kumar Dubey, and thrown out of class in a government school for not wearing a uniform. She said she did not have one because her father could not buy one. And on September 5, 2022, in a higher secondary government school in Ballia district, an 11-year-old Dalit boy was beaten by a metal rod and locked up in a classroom. His crime – touching the upper caste teacher’s motorcycle. The teacher, Krishna Mohan Sharma, was finally suspended, but the only thing the principal apparently said to the mother was, “Don’t escalate the matter.” What does it mean to ‘not escalate the matter?’ The elephant. The big things we’re supposed to silently accept, to not speak about.
We need to remember in this moment, when we are witnessing hate assemblies make calls for violence against minorities; when an elected representative, an MP, has taken that first unthinkable step and openly called for an economic and social boycott of an entire community; in this moment we must remember from history, that genocide never begins one fine day with mass killings. It begins with the everyday othering and bigotry that I have described, which is a frightening part of our classroom reality. If we are to regain a democratic future, we need to do everything in our power to stem that rot in the hearts of our children.
“There hasn’t been an election when BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] leaders do not recall the 2002 riots,” Jamaalbhai, a carpenter in the Muslim-dominated Juhapura in Ahmedabad said. “We have learnt to live with it,” he added.
“They tried to create a problem for Narendra Bhai but he taught them such a lesson that they have not dared to do anything till 2022. But after they were taught a lesson in 2002, these elements left that path (of violence). They refrained from indulging in violence from 2002 till 2022. BJP has established permanent peace in Gujarat by taking strict action against those who used to indulge in communal violence,” Shah declared at an election rally.
Gazala, a social worker who works in the education sector, told The Wire that barring a small section of the middle classes and rich, most Muslims in Gujarat are living in miserable conditions. “They are forced to leave their education, start work at a very early age, and live under the cloud of fear. The community is constantly stressed about coming to terms with being second-class citizens in their home state,” she said.
by Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
8/12/2022
Indore: Prof Farhat Khan's book 'Collective Violence and Criminal Justice System' takes political turn https://www.freepressjournal.in/indore/indore-prof-farhat-khans-book-collective-violence-and-criminal-justice-system-takes-political-turn
Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha tweeted about the matter and said that he opposes this book under legal principles, but it is also not right that the state government started fulfilling its agendas with the help of the police. He has clearly targeted the government through the tweet. Bhanwarkuan Police Station in charge Shashikant Chaurasia said, “ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) student union have lodged a complaint that the book contains much such content which hurt the religious sentiments of a community. It is likely to disturb the communal harmony between the two communities, it may lead to violence.”
https://www.amazon.in/Publications-Collective-Violence-Criminal-Students/dp/8187867213
Hindutva Campaign Against Akbar, Whose Rich, Libertarian Legacy Is ‘Detested’ in Pakistan https://janataweekly.org/hindutva-campaign-against-akbar-whose-rich-libertarian-legacy-is-detested-in-pakistan/ Binoj Nair November 20, 2022 https://www.counterview.net/2022/11/hindutva-campaign-against-akbar-whose.html 2/11/2022
Back in 2017, the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while trying to portray the Battle of Haldighati as a Hindu-Muslim war, was ignorant of the fact that Akbar wasn’t even involved in the battle, and that it was the Hindu, Raja Man Singh, his trusted general who thwarted Pratap on the battle field to keep the pride of the Mughal Empire. On the other side, one of the commanders of Pratap’s army was the Pathan general Hakim Khan Suri, who laid down his life fighting for the Hindu king.
Akbar quite persuasively broke away from the conservative clutches of the Islamic clergy to widen his mental horizons beyond the limits of his religion. One of his ambitious and encompassing moves was the promulgation of a new faith framework, the ‘Din-i-Ilahi’ (The Divine Faith), where he pulled in ideas from all the major religions including the polytheistic Hinduism, in a bid to foster a ‘catch-all’ secular empire and reduce communal tensions.
The progressive and all-encompassing policies of Akbar are detested heavily in the neighbouring Pakistan for understandable reasons. While they have invoked the more orthodox legacies of Babar, the Ghazni and the Ghori in their missile programmes, they have purposefully downplayed Akbar’s significance over the years and have hit the delete key on his rich and libertarian legacy.
The Hindu-Muslim discord has hit such an alarming peak that, all evidences factored in, it can be safely concluded that Akbar’s Mughal India was way more secular and tolerant than Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.
Emperor Akbar : The Forgotten Mughal https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/emperor-akbar-the-forgotten-mughal/ by Binoj Nair — 28/10/2022