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Monday, March 01, 2004
Posted by: Awaaz / 3/01/2004 01:38:41 PM[NEWS DIGEST PROVIDED IN CONJUNCTION WITH SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE - www.sacw.net]
Daily Times
March 1, 2004
HRCP angry at FATA operation
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed outrage over the operation launched in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), according to an HRCP press statement on Sunday.
The HRCP supported the campaign to curb terrorism but said actions must be carried out in an appropriate manner and according to certain principles.
“War on terror is being hijacked by dictators under imperialistic pressure and through gross human rights violations,” the members said. The HRCP stressed the need to mobilise forces for a fact-finding mission in FATA. It regretted the arbitrary killing of civilians in the garb of an operation, which targeted the innocent people of FATA through “collective punishment” — PR
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The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
March 01, 2004
Humayun Azad: The marked man
A H Jaffor Ullah
Only few days ago a nervous but determined writer, Prof. Humayun Azad, sent e-mail to the moderator of a forum for freethinkers by the name Mukto-Mona. Prof. Azad is a member of the forum. He wrote, "Dear Rahul, The Ittefaq published a novel by me named Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad in the Eid Issue in December 03. It deals with the condition of Bangladesh for the last two years. Now the fundamentalists are bringing out regular processions against me, demanding exemplary punishment. Attached two files with this letter will help you understand." Dr. Azad enclosed to JPG files that contained news items including a photo of fundamentalists protesting against him outside the national mosque in downtown Dhaka.
Prof. Azad's premonition came true. The goons perhaps hired by the bunch that hates Prof. Azad struck outside Boi Mela (Book Exhibition Center). Hours after a bunch of assailants descended on Prof. Humayun Azad's body to silence his voice for ever, I received an e-mail from news forum "Future of Bangladesh." A kind member from Dhaka frantically wrote, "A little while back (Dhaka, February 27, 2004 at 9:30) eminent writer Humayun Azad was attacked in front of Bangla Academy by a group of unknown assailants with chopping knives and has been grievously injured. Channel I has just now showed a completely blood drenched Azad being brought by the police to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and given primary treatment. His face, hands, T-shirt, trouser everything was soaked in blood. His condition is serious."
An hour later, the same person from Dhaka who sent earlier an e-mail sent a grim message: "Humayun Azad has been shifted to CMH as his condition turned worse." My telephone started to ring immediately. My friends who write passionately on liberal issues pertaining to Bangladesh were very much perturbed hearing the sad news of an attempt on Prof. Azad's life.
Unless you are out of sync with news from Bangladesh, you perhaps are well acquainted with the fact that the tiny country of 140 million has become very intolerant as of late. Only years ago, another Bangalee writer, Poet Shamsur Rahman, was attacked by some goons in the privacy of his own house. The attackers could not do more harm then because of the immediate action by the poet's neighbors. The Mullahs in Bangladesh have also given threats to Taslima Nasrin. Mind you, these are not idle threats.
This time the goons have targeted Prof. Azad. It is worth mentioning here that Prof. Azad's recent writings included in his book "Pak Sar Zamin Saad Baad" have drawn attention from Jamaat leaders. Maulana Delwar Hossain Saidee, one of the most garrulous Jamaat MP, and his followers have asked the Khaleda Zia Administration to ban Prof. Azad's book. On February 28, 2004, the Daily Star reporting on attempted assassination of Prof. Azad wrote, "Addressing a demonstration at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque on December 12, leaders of an anti-Ahmadiyya outfit demanded arrest and trial of Prof Azad for the novel."
Freedom loving Bangalees from all walks of life should denounce this heinous attack on one of the luminaries of Bangladesh's literati, Prof. Humayun Azad. Intolerance against liberal writers is on the rise in Bangladesh, which is symptomatic of a wholesale Islamisation of Bangladesh. I am confident other freethinkers and secularists would pen protest notes against this barbaric attack on Professor Azad. The government should apprehend the perpetrators of this crime and bring an end to this kind of attack on intelligentsia and freethinkers.
Free speech is a hallmark of liberal democracy and Bangladesh society should go an extra mile to foster free speech everywhere in our ancestral land. Prof. Humayun Azad has many followers in expatriate communities who would express their anger through posting in myriad Internet forums. I urge the Bangladesh government to investigate the matter thoroughly and see what role avowed detractors of liberal writers have played in this barbaric attack.
Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a research scientist and columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA
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BBC News
Friday, 27 February, 2004, 17:23 GMT
Leading Bangladesh author stabbed
Waliur Rahman
BBC correspondent in Dhaka
A leading and controversial author in Bangladesh has been stabbed and critically wounded on the University of Dhaka campus.
Police said three youths stabbed Dr Humayun Azad and exploded two bombs to make their escape on Friday night.
Dr Azad, a professor in the Bengali department, is being treated in Dhaka's Combined Military Hospital.
He recently wrote a book critical of some Pakistanis for their role before Bangladeshi independence in 1971.
Doctors said Dr Azad had lost a huge amount of blood due to deep injuries in his neck.
No one has said they carried out the attack and police could not say anything about a motive.
Dr Azad recently wrote Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad (the first line of the Pakistani national anthem) which was critical about the role of Pakistanis and their Bangladeshi collaborators before the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.
Several Islamist party activists denounced the book when it was published.
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The Daily Star
March 01, 2004
Protest rages, writers hold programme today
Protestors want govt's resignation on Azad attack
Staff Correspondent. The wave of protest continued to swell across the country yesterday against Friday's gory attack on writer Humayun Azad, with demonstrators voicing demand for the government and the home minister to step down accepting the responsibility.
At the strike-bound Dhaka University (DU), thousands of students, teachers and civil society members, wearing black badges, their faces and eyes covered with black cloth, took out protest processions and vented their outrage at rallies.
Political parties, cultural and human rights activists, civil society and professional bodies, eminent personalities and conscious citizens all closed ranks in condemning the atrocity through various programmes.
Writers, littérateurs and cultural activists, in conjunction with several left-leaning parties, have also called a countrywide protest programme today including a large rally in front of the Central Shaheed Minar at 3pm.
Addressing a rally organised by Dhaka University (DU) Bangla department on the varsity campus yesterday noon, former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury said there was no need for bringing a no-confidence motion in parliament. "The people themselves have brought no-confidence against you. If you have morality, then resign," he advised the BNP-led coalition government.
"The people of the country won't pardon you if anything happened to Humayun Azad. This government will be held responsible," warned the ex-president.
Condemning the attack, he said, "Dr Azad was attacked in the month of February. This government is cruel, undemocratic and barbaric. It came clear after the attack on Prof Azad."
Left-leaning 11-party alliance held a protest rally at Purana Paltan in the afternoon. Speaking at the meeting, alliance leaders including Mujahidul Islam Selim, Rashed Khan Menon and Khaliquzzaman blasted the government for trying to extract political benefit out of the atrocity by blaming the opposition for it, instead of taking adequate steps to bring the attackers to book.
At a protest rally on Bangabandhu Avenue following a procession yesterday afternoon, leaders of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu) said the attack was not a detached episode. They accused some specific members of the ruling coalition of being complicit in the crime.
The JSD will bring out a black-flag procession and hold a rally to protest the attack at Muktangon at 3pm today.
At the DU speakers at different rallies demanded immediate resignation of Home Minister Altaf Hossain for his failure to nab the culprits in the three days after the crime. They also demanded an hourly news bulletin on Azad's condition at the Combined Military Hospital.
The DU Teachers Association (DUTA) took out a silent procession that ended at the Central Shaheed Minar and held there a public meeting. The DUTA leaders and DU teachers, who have been refraining from taking classes since Saturday, also demanded immediate resignation of the home minister.
The DUTA will stage a token sit in today on the campus.
Among others, Awami League's student wing Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Bangladesh Chhatra Union, Bangladesh Chhatra Moitry (BCM), JSD-backed BCL, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, Progatishil Chhatra Jote (PCJ), DU Sangskritik Oikya, Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, Progressive Teachers' Forum, Humayun Azad Mancha, DU Officers' Association, BUET Teachers' Association and students of the Fine Arts Institute staged demonstrations.
The JSD-backed BCL has called strike at all educational institutions in the country on March 3. It will bring out a black-flag procession today.
The BCM will also stage countrywide demonstration today and will bring out black-flag processions at all educational institutions on March 3.
The PCJ will bring out protest processions and hold rallies at all the educational institutions in every district today.
Political and other organisations who issued statements yesterday condemning the attack and demanding speedy punishment of the attackers include Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights, Muslim League of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Medical Association, Association of Development Agencies in Bangladesh, Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Ainjibi Sammanay Parishad, Bangladesh Sampradayik Samprity Parishad, Oikyabaddha Nagorik Andalan, South Asian People's Union against Fundamentalism and Communalism, Bangladesh Ganotantrik Ainjibi Samity, Teacher's Association of Jahangirnagar University, Centre for Women Journalists Bangladesh and Bangladesh Charushilpi Sangsad.
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In Bad Faith: British Charity and Hindu Extremism Published by Awaaz South Asia Watch Limited (London) 2004 ISBN 0 9547174 0 6
In the name of charity, British public is funding Hindutva extremism
A report [...] launched on the second anniversary of the horrific Gujarat carnage in 2002 presents alarming new evidence that under the cloak of humanitarian charity, massive donations from the British public were sent to Fascist-inspired Hindu extremist groups involved or directly implicated in serious, large-scale violence or hatred in India.
Prepared by Awaaz - South Asia Watch Ltd, a London-based secular network, the report In Bad Faith? British Charity and Hindu Extremism, says UK organisations have been raising funds in the name of charity for natural disasters like earthquakes, and giving them to extremist organisations that preach hatred against Muslims and Christians.
The report, which is available now, demonstrates that the UK-based Sewa International sent £2 million for the devastating earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2001, to its Indian counterpart Sewa Bharati, a front for the secretive, violent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Money from the UK was given to RSS front organisations that are involved or implicated in serious violence or hate politics in India. Much of the money was spent on schools that promote hatred and fanaticism.
"Gandhi's murderer was an RSS activist. Most British donors would be horrified if they knew the nature, history and ideas of the RSS. Individuals raised funds and donated in good faith to Sewa International's Gujarat earthquake appeals but would not have done so had they known that the organisation raising the money was closely linked to the Fascist-inspired and secretive Indian RSS", says Awaaz.
Sewa International is not registered as a British charity, but is the fundraising arm of the registered charity Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), the UK branch of the RSS. The report exposes the connections of the HSS, Sewa International and the Kalyan Ashram Trust (another registered charity) to violent and extremist groups in India. The RSS, its closely allied family of organisations and their followers have been involved in the persecution or killing of thousands of Muslims and Christians in India over the past fifteen years. They are known to have planned and executed anti-Muslim pogroms in the Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, in which 2,000 people were killed and 200,000 displaced. An independent investigation headed by a former Chief Justice of India called the Gujarat violence a "genocide". Victims included British citizens. The RSS family considers religious minorities especially Muslims and Christians to be foreigners, aliens and polluters who have no right be treated as equal citizens of India.
"Sewa International has tried to dupe politicians, donors and the general public. Its main purpose is to fund, expand and glorify hate-driven RSS organisations, several of which have been at the forefront of large scale violence, pogroms or hate campaigns in India. Its claim to be a non-sectarian, non-political, non-religious humanitarian charity is a sham," said Awaaz spokesperson Suresh Grover.
In the thoroughly documented report, Awaaz clearly establishes the strong ties between British charities and extremist organisations in India. It has called for the Charity Commissioner to withdraw the charity status of three British charities: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) UK, and the Kalyan Ashram Trust. The Leicester-based Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and Sewa International are currently being investigated by the UK Charity Commission.
FOR MORE INFORMATION email contact@awaazsaw.org.
The full report is available at
www.awaazsaw.org/ibf/index.htm
www.awaazsaw.org/ibf/ibflores.pdf
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The News International (Pakistan)
February 29, 2004
Beyond Gujarat
Beena Sarwar
The worst of the violence that took place in Gujarat, India, two years ago may be over. But the horror lingers, and along with that, the implications of what various fact-finding groups in India have labelled as genocide - and what others insist on referring to as 'communal riots', which by definition would mean that what happened was nothing more than spontaneous, violent clashes between two communities, in this case, Hindus and Muslims.
It is these two perceptions that lie at the basis of the clash between the ideologies of the militant, religious right and the secular progressive forces pitted against them - and not just in India.
The violence against, and the continuing intimidation of the Muslims of Gujarat are disturbing enough - equally alarming are the "open subversion of justice and the failure of democratic movements, as the courageous activist Harsh Mander puts it, "to resist extremist forces". This is true not just for India, but also for Pakistan, and any number of countries particularly in the post-September 11 2001 world.
More than forty independent citizens' reports on Gujarat have gathered "overwhelming evidence of the enormity of the brutality, state complicity, long, advance preparations for the carnage and the deliberate abdication of responsibilities for relief and rehabilitation," Mander notes in the introduction to his book 'Cry, My Beloved Country'.
Even those who tried to help were targeted. Unlike previous times when victims of communal riots in India could find refuge with friends and neighbours from the majority community, "this time, people were scared to say who saved them - and there were many - or to be identified as saviours," says Delhi-based scientist and poet Gauhar Raza, who has been working in Gujarat. "This time, they were killed."
Particularly alarming is how deeply the rot has set, how many Indians are willing to believe that the Muslims of Gujarat deserved what they got. As a student of an elite school in New Delhi wrote in an essay, says Mander, Muslims are "cruel people from Afghanistan who break Hindu temples to make them into Muslim temples". Such skewed perceptions have been formed over years of doctoring history in school textbooks, and a political discourse over the last two decades dominated not by issues of social justice, but on the politics of religion.
The political rhetoric spun by Washington after the 9-11 attacks upped the ante around the world, as it was echoed by governments grappling with 'terrorist' issues of their own. If Moscow seized the moment to step up its actions against the Chechen rebels, Tel Aviv similarly escalated operations against the Palestinians, to the extent that even international volunteers assisting the Palestinians were now targeted (Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and others); it was also a good moment to begin work on a 'security wall' that has been condemned the world over for its encroachment into Palestinian territory.
Closer to home, the anti-Pakistan rhetoric from New Delhi escalated, leading to an almost total snapping of ties between these two nuclear-armed nations, particularly following the December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament for which New Delhi was quick to blame Islamabad.
It is no coincidence that Gujarat went up in flames shortly afterwards. Barely had the ashes cooled in the Sabarmati Express coaches in which 58 VHP activists, including women and children, were burned alive on February 27, 2002, than the BJP and Sangh Parivar (Hindu Right) pinned the blame on 'Muslims'. One gruesome massacre was used to perpetuate violence on a much larger scale against Muslims in Gujarat - some 2,000 men, women and children were slaughtered, while over 2,00,000 were rendered homeless and destitute.
"Gujarat has changed our lives forever," says Gauhar Raza. "We have a sense of urgency, that these forces must be countered." What is disturbing is that not all progressive forces feel this sense of urgency, "they are still caught up in a kind of complacency that this was a passing phase."
It is not just in India, but here in next door Pakistan, and around the world, that progressive forces need to build on that sense of urgency and organise to counter those who use violence to settle issues, whether on the state, or the non-government level.
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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
26 February 2004
AI Index: ASA 20/003/2004 (Public) News Service No: 045
India: Gujarat -- Denial of Justice for Victims On the second anniversary of the massacres in Gujarat (27 February), Amnesty International expresses its solidarity with all the victims of the Godhra and post-Godhra violence and with their families.
The organization reminds the international community that those crimes remain unpunished and appeals for sustained pressure on the Government of India to ensure that justice and reparation are eventually offered to the victims.
"Two years after the massacres took place, most of the victims are still demanding justice, but they are not being heard," Amnesty International said. "Despite the efforts of the human rights community and the scrutiny of the Supreme Court on some of the trials, the Government of Gujarat and elements of the criminal justice system in the state seem to be colluding in denying justice to the victims. This attitude reopens the victims' wounds every day."
The Gujarat police in many cases reportedly failed to record complaints or did it in a defective manner; diluted charges against the accused; omitted their names from complaints, failed to organize identification parades; record witnesses' statements and collect the corroborative evidence necessary to identify the perpetrators. "At the end of this doubtful exercise, half of the more than 4000 complaints filed in the aftermath of the violence had to be unsurprisingly closed by the courts due to lack of evidence presented by the police," the organization said.
The Best Bakery case, first of a few key cases to arrive at trial stage, is a blatant example of how elements of the criminal justice system are often backing each other in the state to ensure impunity for the perpetrators of the violence. It appears that the investigation was defective, the public prosecutor failed to adequately represent the victims, the witnesses were not protected from threats and the judge ended up mechanically acquitting the accused.
The entire trial was conducted in an atmosphere of hostility to the victims' family. The acquittal verdict was shockingly upheld by the High Court. On that occasion, the legitimate activities of human rights defenders who supported witnesses were termed "not permissible under the law". The basic principles of fair trial and of due process were turned upside-down in this case and the entire proceedings turned into a farcical exercise.
The hopes that the Supreme Court would reopen avenues of justice by ordering the transfer of the investigations on the Best Bakery and other key cases onto the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) were again shaken in early February when a doubt was cast on the impartiality of this agency. The former Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad - identified by eye-witnesses and by fact-finding reports for having failed to protect the victims from their attackers during the massacres - has recently been appointed to the post of Deputy Director of the CBI itself.
"This appointment comes as a further humiliation for the victims and it needs to be urgently reviewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, to ensure that the credibility of the agency is preserved," Amnesty International added.
Background Following an attack on a train in Godhra, Gujarat, on 27 February 2002 in which 59 Hindus were killed, violence of unprecedented brutality, targeting the Muslim community, spread in the state and continued in the next three months, leaving more than 2,000 people killed. The state government and police took insufficient action to protect civilians and, in many cases, may have colluded with the attackers and actively participated in the violence.
In June 2003, 21 people accused of the murder of 14 people burned to death in the Best Bakery in Baroda on 1 March 2002, were acquitted. Following the acquittal, key witnesses indicated that they lied in court because they had been threatened with death unless they did so. Following a public outcry, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) carried out an investigation and subsequently filed a petition in the Supreme Court. The petition asked the court to provide protection to witnesses, to ensure a retrial of the case in a court outside Gujarat state and to order the transfer of other ongoing key cases to courts outside Gujarat to ensure fair proceedings. During the proceedings, the Supreme Court severely criticized the state government of Gujarat for failing to provide justice to victims of the communal violence and pointed to possible collusion between the state government and the prosecution in subverting the cause of justice. Following this criticism, the Gujarat Government sought a retrial of the Best Bakery case. In December, the Gujarat High Court dismissed the state government's appeal for a retrial on the basis that the prosecution did not produce sufficient evidence. While the judgement blamed police for failing to record complaints in the case, it also accused human rights defenders working to ensure justice of setting up a parallel investigative agency. On 21 February, the Government of Gujarat, under pressure from the Supreme Court itself, finally filed their appeal in the Supreme Court against the High Court judgement. The next expected date of hearing in the case is 27 February.
Public Document
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW.
web: www.amnesty.org
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The Hindustan Times
Monday, March 1, 2004
Future of Indian past
Romila Thapar
In recent times, there has been a substantial controversy over the interpretation of Indian history. There is a confrontation between historians who have been writing on various aspects of Indian history over the last half century and others who are supportive of a different history which validates the ideology of religious nationalism. The latter is being propagated and patronised by the current government at the Centre.
The controversy began over the attempt to discredit the existing history textbooks for schools, published by the NCERT. It was argued by the government that the books contained statements that had been objected to by various religious organisations. For example, reference to the eating of beef in ancient India or the origins of caste in Indian society was said to be inappropriate. It was then decided that all such passages would be deleted and no discussion on these passages would be allowed in schools. Historians as well as members of the public protested about this, but no attention was paid to the protest. In 2003, the existing textbooks were replaced by new ones approved of by the government. These procedures had not been processed through the committees that normally process educational procedures and changes, since these committees were not called to meet and discuss the changes.
An attempt was also made to introduce a uniform history syllabus at the level of undergraduate and graduate education. The suggested syllabus was so substandard that it has been unacceptable in the better departments of history. Attempts have also been made to virtually ban two major publications of documents from the National Archives, pertaining to the period just prior to 1947. An atmosphere has been created where books on history, if disapproved by government, can be banned.
The question that needs to be asked is why there is a fear of independent history writing. One reason for this is that the interpretation of the past has to now conform to the concepts of religious nationalism and the identity that it creates, and which identity is being sought by sections of the middle-class supporting this ideology. The new middle-class emerging from diverse groups is searching for a bonding. This is also linked in part to the insecurity and competition emerging from globalisation. Added to this is what is perceived as a threat from underprivileged sections of society demanding their legitimate rights. The ideological support of the bonding comes from the ideology of Hindutva and focuses on origins and identities. Hindutva gives a definition to these that draws on history and requires changing history in order to legitimise religious nationalism.
Both Hindu and Muslim religious nationalisms emerged in the early 20th century and became a counterpart to anti-colonial nationalism. Where the latter was inclusive and tried to bring together the segments of Indian society, the former divided Indian society into a supposedly irreconcilable dichotomy - Hindu and Muslim, and the one excluded the other. Pre-modern Indian history written from the perspective of anti-colonial nationalism and from religious nationalism overlapped at some points, but in the major part it differed. For anti-colonial nationalism the confrontation was with the colonial power. For the religious nationalisms, the confrontation was with the other religious community and the colonial power received pledges of support from them. As far as historical interpretation was concerned both religious nationalisms - Hindu and Muslim - were rooted in the perspective of colonial interpretations of Indian history.
The two themes that are central to the current rewriting of history in India focus on origins and identity, since these were crucial to the definition of the Hindu according to the ideology of Hindutva. On the question of origins there is an attempt to link all Hindus to the Aryans of antiquity. It is argued that the Aryans were the earliest inhabitants of India. Therefore, there is an insistence on stating that the civilisation of the Harappan cities was authored by the Aryans.
What is still widely known as the Indus civilisation is now given the name Saraswati civilisation, and this evokes an Aryan connection. Furthermore, it is argued that the Aryans were indigenous to India. This provides a lineal descent of 5,000 years to Hindus in the subcontinent. Sanskrit is projected not only as unique but ancestral to all Indo-European languages; thus Aryan culture went out from India. Other historians have argued that such theories are unsupported by the evidence from archaeology and linguistics, nor by the history of caste or the history of Hinduism; neither can the agro-pastoralism of the Rigveda be equated with the sophisticated urbanism of the Indus cities.
The second theme relates to identity and here again the attempt is to give primacy to the Hindu identity. This focuses on the question of who is indigenous and who is foreign. The definition of the Hindu as the indigenous category goes back to the founding ideologue of Hindutva, V.D. Savarkar. He argued that the claim to being indigenous must be based on a person locating his pitribhumi (land of his ancestors) and his punyabhumi (land of his religion) within the boundary of British India. The latter disqualifies Muslims and Christians, who were therefore declared foreign. Communists were later added to the list!
A further disqualification was the assertion that they had no common culture with the Hindus. To emphasise this, race and language were added as qualifications, even if race was by now a spurious category. Having stated that the Muslims of India are all foreigners, the interpretation of the history of medieval India - the 2nd millennium AD - became the history of foreign rule, with Hindus being oppressed by the Muslims. The history of this period is seen in terms of Muslim conquest and Hindu resistance. To this is added the theory that Muslim rule led to the decline of Hinduism, overlooking the fact that the Hinduism that is practised today has evolved largely from this period.
This history is now projected as new and indigenous and it is maintained that unlike the earlier history it is entirely uninfluenced by western ideas. In fact, the theories of origins and identities that are now propounded are derived from 19th century European thinking and from colonial authors. The uniqueness of Sanskrit goes back to Schlegel at the start of the 19th century and to the debate on Indo-European languages among the Orientalists and in German Romantism. The theory of the Aryans being indigenous was first advanced by the Theosophists in the late 19th century and some socio-religious reformers.
After much debate, it was given up half a century later. The Aryan foundations of Indian history were expounded at the same time by Max Mueller, although he argued that they came from outside India. Aryan origins played a dominant and devastating role in European theories of the genesis of peoples and cultures. These ideas were incorporated into the wider ideology of Hindutva.
(The writer is Emeritus Professor of History at Jawaharlal Nehru University. This is an edited extract of the D.T. Lakdawala Memorial Lecture, organised by the Institute of Social Sciences, delivered on February 21
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