Renaissance at the JNU

Renaissance at JNU Mustafa Khan By the same author First Hindutva Genocide of Muslims and its Architect (January 26, 2014) Aggressive Hindutva terrorism and Malegaon (January 30, 2014) Decade of the Demagogue and His Demagoguery (January 30, 2014) Mass-Terror Atrocities on Muslims for a Hindu Rashtra (January 30, 2014) Premeditated Framing of Innocent Muslims in False Terror Charges (March 20, 2014) Narendra Modi and his pack: the terror streak (April 29, 2014) Muzaffarnagar, fury and ferocity (April 10, 2014) Polarizing India in attempt to Hinduize it (February 27, 2015) Indian Muslims’ continuing agony (July 12, 2015) Elephant in the room, radicals and the radicalized (September 25, 2015) Enemies of living together (2015) Ishrat Jahan sacrificed at the altar of Hindutva Moloch 2014 Even Keel 2016 9028225763 mustafakhan1948@gmail.com Contents Introduction Chapter 1Renaissance at JNU Chapter 2 A University’s ruing for freedom Chapter 3 Minds and Stardust Chapter 4 Revolutions devour their children Introduction Some time back in 2013 the Indian students and others protested against Subramanam Swami for his extremely hateful remarks against the Muslim minority in India. As a result the courses he had been teaching at Harvard were scarped and he lost his job. He was crazed by the action because he kept on repeating that he was teaching in the US while he wrote the offensive remarks against the Muslims in Daily News and Analysis newspaper in Mumbai. He failed to understand that he was expressing hatred against Muslims in India and that was what the university would not allow. A part of my writing also went in the quotation the protesters sent in their note to Harvard. In my university days I was a class mate of the wife of professor -----------Ranade of history whose house was ransacked because her husband had written something very frank about Shivaji, the Maratha king. For some days he was out of the university then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi saw to it that he was reinstated. He was a communist minded person but a nice researcher and scholar. Slowly the influence of the Maratha hold weakened and the Dalits came to power and they regularly marched from Pawan or Pani ki chakki near the medical college in Aurangabad, around Bhadkal gate and raised slogans demanding change of the name of Marathwada University. Ultimately they prevailed and it was changed to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University. That was the first spread of influence of Dalit people that placated them for good. Since then more and more Dalits have availed from reservation in admission and jobs. As a result a new generation has flowered with more education but fewer jobs and facility for research that would bring more important and worthy of more respect-and-power jobs. This might have resulted in lingering misgivings and frowning in other sections of the population. That was all that happened. But there was no riot or communalism. However in the case of Rohith’Vemalu’s suicide and arrest of Kanhaya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Shahela Rashid Shorie, Prof SAR Geelani the reigning hierarchy began playing politics by isolating Umer Khalid and keeping him detention up to March 18, 2016 and tried to wedge a gap to colour it as sedition instigated by pro Pakistan and anti India slogans. Anupam Kher, a Kashmiri pandit with BJP and RSS leaning actor playing comic roles denigrated Umar when he reminded him that he was not an Olympian hero. He told him not to celebrate it as a champion’s scoring a goal. There is an insidious segregating of the members of different communities among the students on the JNU campus. In the mid seventies of the last century there was no such taint. There was also Nirupama Rao [nee Menon] who strictly kept to her pursuit and did MA in English IAS and IFS at the Aurangabad university campus. The backward classes could not make it to this distinction because of their coming from the under privileged groups. There was no grouse as they knew what the lacked. There was also violence and curfew in the city when the people of Marathwada and especially Aurangabad demanded development of the region which included broad gauge railway. I stayed at the boys’ hostel on the campus. As long as I had Horlicks I managed to eke out existence during the curfew as the mess was closed. Then I ate the medical college mess. Then the protestors began attacking police and killing them while Sharad Pawar came to visit the injured as home minister of Maharashtra state. The situation worsened at night I jumped into an army truck on the way to pick up soldiers arriving at railway station. I took the next train to Hyderabad and joined the American Studies Research Centre on the first floor of the main library of Osmania University. I intermittently visited it as did Ranade for our work. In those three years in the end of 60s and early 70s the university campus was aflame with buses being stoned and burnt and the havoc of the Naxalites. Hostels were shut down sin die and I had to move to the quarters of ASRC on the periphery of the Osmania University campus which would in later years also accommodate the nascent Hyderabad Central University. The Dalits were not that self conscious then because the stand -off was between the right wing Hindutva groups and the Naxalites. They would frequently protest against the stooges of the US and demand closure of the ASRC. These three universities, JNU, Marathwada and Osmania,have had social, cultural and intellectual turbulence. But the events of JNU have potentials of casting longer shadows and would shape India as no election has done. Chapter 1 Renaissance at JNU The rebirth of learning or knowledge at the JNU in February 2016 is epoch making as far as India and also the subcontinent is concerned. The implications are far wider than is realized. When Kanhaya Kumar asks his audience his voice reaches far beyond the borders of India. It is like learning spreading out all over Europe from Florence. “Forget Pakistan Bangladesh, we say that the whole world’s poor should unite, workers should unite. We salute the humanity of the world, the humanity of India. We have today identified the group that stands against this humanity. This is the most serious issue before us today. We must not forget this identification”. The Renaissance in Europe and now in India at JNU have the theme of humanity in common. Till then in Europe it was scholasticism. The most renowned scholar Erasmus spread this spirit of humanism. Prof Noam Chomsky’s concern over the entry of police in JNU is credible and worthy share of the same spirit. The event of February 9, 2016 electrified India and will take time for full significance in course of time. However, in just over a month the office of the President of India announced that JNU was chosen for the visitor’s award for research and innovation. The echo of renaissance was in his address on the heels of the declaration when the President, Pranab Mukherjee, spoke: "The emphasis on academic excellence, as well as inculcating core civilisational values of patriotism, compassion, honesty, tolerance, performance of duty and respect for women has to be maintained all through," Among the core values of India he named compassion and tolerance. These had come under dark clouds since the ascendance of Narendra Modi as the PM of India. The incidents of judicial and extrajudicial execution notably in the case of Afzal Guru, Yakub Memon and earlier of Ishrat Jahan and three others would remain in the memory for years to come. Why should a top university student revive the questionable justification of hanging of Afzal Guru and why should the killing of Ishrat Jahan have such cascade effect! The JNU event was tantamount to lifting the lid from a can of worms. One of them was the group that Kanhaya Kumar had identified: “We want to debate on the concept of violence. And we want to raise questions. We want to raise questions on the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Prishad [ABVP]’s slogan that says “khoon se tilak karenge, goliyon se aarti”. Whose blood do you want to let flow in this country? You have offered bullets, alongside the British, and used them against people who were fighting for this country’s independence. When the poor in this country demand food, when people dying of starvation talk of their rights, you use bullets against them. You have used bullets against Muslims. And against women when they raise the issue of their rights.” Kumar went further and named the group that “the RSS’s history is the history of standing strong with the British. And these traitors of the nation today distribute certificates of desh bhakti. Check my mobile, friends, they are viciously abusing my mother and sister. Of which Bharat Mata do you speak if my mother is not part of this Bharat Mata? I do not agree with that Bharat Mata concept. My mother is an anganwadi worker. My family survives on Rs 3,000. And they are abusing my mother. I am ashamed that the mothers of the poor, workers, Dalits, farmers of this country are not part of Bharat Mata. “This nation was never yours — and will never be yours. A nation is made of its people. If the nation doesn’t have space for the hungry, the poor, the workers, then it is not a nation. “What is a university for? A university is there to critically analyse society’s “common conscience”. To promote critical thinking. If universities fail in this job then there can be no nation, there will be no people’s participation. The country will only be fodder for capitalists. It’ll only be fodder for loot and exploitation. If the people’s culture, values, rights are not included, then there will be no nation.” From “acrimony to disintegration” The JNU speeches on nationalism show movement from acrimony to disintegration thanks to the dispensation under Modi outside the jurisdiction of the university campus. While, on the campus of JNU it is not sedition but cry for freedom within the country and reassertion of freedom denied by Modi government. Dr Ambedkar enshrined freedom of speech and that is what RSS is destroying. Nay now it is insisting that people shout Bharat mata ki jai or else they would be marked as anti nationals! AIMMIM president Asadudin Owaisi in a riposte to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has refused to chant it. Because he and Kanhaya Kumar have different but cogent reasons of their own when they as true Indians would not oblige Bhagwat and hence ‘the hermeneutics of mediality’ between perceptions of mother India concept. The RSS conception of it is that mother India transcends the biological mother. This is anathema to Owaisi. At worst it is idolatry which his faith forbids but he is forced to do because of mobo-cracy. To Kumar it is denial of his biological mother’s role and significance on the basis of caste. RSS’s is a pretention of wearing their heart on the sleeves based on further division of the country. This is ugly threat because the ultra nationalists can always resort to their last refuge of the scoundrel which is patriotism a la them. In the march of freedom on March 15, 2016 Kanhaiya demanded dismissal of HRD Minister Smirti Irani for mismanaging universities and colleges across the country. He also told the youths that the show cause notice served on him does not mention his rustication and therefore the need for publication of the inquiry report against him and release of Umar Khalid and Aniraban Bhattacharya. He also said “we are fighting to save democracy. I am in JNU to get the country rid of casteism. I am proud of speaking for our armed forces in my speech. But people are politicizing…Where are the jobs? We request Narendra Modi to give admissions to poor students also in private institutions. But I want to tell him the best and knowledgeable brains in the country have come out of government institutions.” [1]His concern for knowledge is reminiscent of Erasmus visiting Britain and other countries for spreading of knowledge that was stored in Constantinople from where it spread all over Europe during the Renaissance and later in England. His concern over casteism is new humanism, another atavistic feature of the past. The pettifogging over Ishrat Jahan fake encounter is scholasticism, the system of philosophy taught in the universities in the Middle Ages, arguing small points of dogma. The right wing Hindutva forces are hell bent over it. They shrewdly avoid talking of whose order directly led to the death of Isharat Jahan and Kauser bi, wife of Sohrabuddin, Haren Pandya and Tulsiram Prajapati. The filibustering over GK Pillai [employee of Modi’s friend Gautam Adani, now, and former home secretary] who is splitting hair over the affidavits in Ishrat case]. This scholasticism is the older version of rote learning that Dorothy Nussbaum found to be behind much of the events in Gujarat under Modi. But truth lives on, even after the Attorney General vetting it three times. But the filibustering is kept on oxygen by the Bar. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Tirath Singh Thakur added his voice by putting finger to challenges from outside and from within: “and when I speak about challenges from within I am referring to the crisis of credibility that we face in the country today. Judges need to be conscientious of in their discharge of duties, punctuality, judicial retribute and effort to do the best is what is the need of the hour." "At times judges feel that the delay in the disposal of cases is only because the bar does not, at times, cooperate," especially related to people “languishing in jail for years.”[2] Underlying this growing concern is the spirit of humanity, new humanism of the renaissance. ------- [1]http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/kanhaiya-kumar-speech-jnu-row-is-this-sedition/#sthash.TO9UDTsj.dpuf [2]http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Judiciary-facing-crisis-of-credibility-Chief-Justice-of-India-TS-Thakur-says/articleshow/5138329 Chapter2 A university’s ruing for freedom It sounds strange that the freedom that is the natural right of a university in pursuit of truth finds itself thwarted by ultra nationalism, casteism, communalism and politics. These have enslaved India for centuries and are still there even when the last foreign rulers have died or left it to be a free country. When preparations were made to give bail to Kanhaiya Kumar Jan Sangh president and a diehard communalist Dr Subramanium Swamy was arguing that there are no Muslims in India. Either they are Bareillyvei or Tabligi, etc. he was at it even after his removal from Harvard teaching post in the end of 2011. The university objected to his insistence in July 2011 in Daily News &Analysis (DNA) that hundreds of mosques in India should be demolished and those Indian Muslims who “acknowledge that their ancestors were Hindus” should live in India. Like Swamy there are uncountable more that speak the same language and are in power in governments at the centre and in states. It is this kind of atmosphere of either you are with us or against us and hence not Indian that is leaving out a big chunk of population in doldrums of suppression and oppression. When Professor Diana Eck proposed a resolution to drop two courses that Swamy had been teaching she observed "Swamy's op-ed [piece] clearly crosses the line by demonizing an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places." There are innumerable universities of all sorts and ideological slants across India. PM Narendra Modi was on the dais to inaugurate a police university in his state of Gujarat when he went in a huddle with the vice chancellor designate OP Mathur and other Hindutva leaders as the news of exposure of Ishrat Jahan reached there. She was an innocent girl with no record of terrorism. She was killed in a fake encounter in 2004. As Dorothy Nussbaum remarked that there is the entrenched tradition of mugging and reproducing answers and lack of critical thinking that is defunct because of rote learning the people of the state do not question anything but take what is doled out to them by their leaders of the Hindu right. Modi had goneinto a huddle to prevent truth of Ishrat Jahan murder and was in the midst of inaugurating a police university, that too, first of its kind in India! That was the kind of stranglehold the right wing communalists in power had on education and a university. Till today when Modi is the PM there is no hope of the guilty being caught and punished. It is reported by no other than GL Singhal the senior police officer who demurred when he went to kill her because she was a woman and an innocent one. Singhal went to jail and spent time for the crime and yet Modi’s maneuvering behind the curtain had him released on bail and reinstituted to his post! The vice chancellor Mathur was the former police officer who had tried to obstruct inquiry into Sohrabuddin case in which three were killed and it was found out that that case was like several other fake encounter cases. It is befuddling that Modi is ensconced in his august post when so much murky incidents have gone into the annuls of recent history. If an Indian professor writing in a Mumbai paper is held accountable for spreading hatred for a whole minority while teaching at Harvard University and is removed from his job why have the Indian universities been so lethargic vis-à-vis hundreds of such issues coming up daily in the country? I recall the professor from a college of education who was still busy buying swords in Amritsar on the day the president of India was to visit that city in 2003! The genocide had far reaching effect. Was she preparing for more such carnage? What kind of education she was imparting in Gujarat? Prof Diana Eck of Comparative Religion Studies put it in plain terms which contrasts with what happened in Gujarat and elsewhere and what transpired in University of Hyderabad and the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. She had observed that Prof Swamy’s statement "clearly crosses the line by demonising an entire religious community and calling for violence against their sacred places." While we in India shun from talking about how Modi did not do his duty to stop violence in 2002 the faculty members of Harvard were more forthright. Head of the philosophy department Sean Kelly at Harvard: "I was persuaded ... that the views expressed in Dr Swamy's op-ed piece amounted to incitement of violence instead of protected political speech." History professor Sugata Bose: (Swamy's position on disenfranchisement) is like saying Jewish Americans and African Americans should not be allowed to vote unless they acknowledge the supremacy of white Anglo Saxon Protestants." ------- http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-16081751 http://articles.economictimes.iwhndiatimes.com/2011-12-09/news/30498081_1_subramanian-swamy-harvard-faculty-faculty-meeting

Schoolmen, their catechism and patriarchy The gravamen of the scholasticism contrasted with new humanism and new learning is the denial of independence of spirit. Scholasticism is the unchanging and unchangeable attitude of the Hindutva right as of now. They shot down the bill on communally targeted violence because of their ideology. The ideology cannot change, come what may! The narrow and chauvinistic vision of India views education as a source of controlling freedom, freedom within. It does not fear any threat to India from outside for India is too big and resourceful. The only threat is from within from strong individualism, from human rights activists. It wants education to fix on a narrow conception of Indian-ness. Renaissance is in contrast the exploration of new understanding which entails rescinding the old thinking. In its stark form the essence of scholasticism is catechism. The non biological mother is the deity which is in direct opposition of the biological mother (of Kanhaiya Kumar, for example). The late chief of VHP Ashok Singhal saw in the figure of Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur Mary Magdalene of Dan Brown’s novel The De Vinci Code. Catechism of Hindutva includes the litany that Pragyasingh is innocent but Ishrat Jahan is a terrorist. Hindus cannot be but Muslims are terrorists. Why are all the masterminds of terrorism only Muslims? [Dhulia superintendent of police] Towards this end is slanted even the sleuths of NIA who have now cleared Pragyasingh Thakur whom Karkare found to be no.1 accused in Malegaon blast of 2008. She it was who wondered when she called Ramsingh Kalsangrah why so few Muslims (only 7) were killed? The 135 pages of the chargesheet submitted to court in Mumbai on Friday May 13, 2016 saw the effects of Lt Col Prasad Purohit’s letter to PM Modi May 2014 taking its programmed consequences of Hindutva juggernaut of making India into a Hindu rashtra unraveling. We are back into the teaching of the Schoolmen, (teachers in the universities in medieval Europe.) In direct opposition the ATS chief Hemant Karkare basing his investigation on the Freedom LML of Pragyasingh used in the blast was modern day science. That is temporarily eclipsed thanks to the gargantuan efforts of Modi sarkar. It is foreshadowed by the letter of the Controller of examinations of entrance test to JNU later in May in which he demands model answers or keys to the questions that would be asked. Out of the 25 professors emeritus ten have refused to supply. That would make the administrative staff rather than the teachers the catechizers. The renascence or blooming of new freedom at JNU is under the clouds of medieval scholasticism, [Fixed religious dogmas sought to solve anew general philosophical problems as of faith and reason, will and intellect, realism and nominalism, and the provability of existence of god—Webster’s] In the present set up, now that Subramanium Swamy is in Rajya Sabha or upper house of the Parliament, it is the time for the Schoolmen to return to their posts of guards. Against whom? Not Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, or for that matter Mulayam Singh Yadav and Nitich Kumar. But against Kanhaiya Kumar and SM Mushrif. These latter have identified the enemies within India who are more potentially dangerous than any foreign country. The enemies are the forces that really harm India through the regimen of oppression and suppression. The Schoolmen can initiate actions that even the Prime Minister cannot forestall for the greater good of the country. They can set the agenda to self destruct rather than surrender to sanity. This is seen in the Gujarat hangover of Modi effect after Modi took over the rein in Delhi. Nearly 34 police officers whose hands are tainted with the blood of victims of genocide and fake encounters are not only out of prison but they are now the Franksteins that demand their share. One of them is Vanzara who has now started the decisive second inning. Now he says that Asharam Bapu 80 year flaccid old holy man, accused of raping minor girls, should be released from jail. On the opposite pole was Hemant Karkare who arrested the holy dame Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur. According to Purohit she was Mr Singh as she rode a motorbike and had her hair cut with a mane of pigs trailing her neck and back shoulders. She was the tomboy whom Purohit called cat: “The cat is out of the bag.” Such was the impact of her personality that one of the accused Abrar Ahmad had a wife, Jannatunisha, who also got her hair shaped like her and added glitter of a thick necklace of gold when she appeared in the negihbourhood after several days of the 2006 blasts. Several years later when I interviewed her she had grown her hair and wore a scarf. In photos with ATS men holidaying in the aftermath of the blasts she was more relaxed. I saw the snaps in her in laws’ house during a visit. At another occasion Smita Nair of Indian Express and I searched for her for an interview but she was in an anonymous place living with her second husband. The ATS had given her clean chit there and then just before her second marriage. Such was the aura of sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur. In another photo in the media the sadhvi is occupying a place of prestige in the company of guests that included Rajnath Singh and the chief minister of MP Prithaviraj Chauhan. After charges against her being dropped she has become the nemesis of Chauhan? What eerie things will go on behind the scene! To Karkare her saffron coloured robe and the bob cut had no meaning because he was the Renaissance man who valued science and used science laboratory to remove the scratching on her LML Freedom motorbike and got to the number that was epitome of her guilt. He had taken lots of care as he told Indian Express in his last interview. “"We are being very very careful. In fact, when we want to question a suspect and if he or she has any Hindutvawadi connections, we make sure once, twice, thrice, that we have enough reason and evidence to even question. Normally it is not like that. We are able to freely question anyone we suspect." "In fact, immediately after the blast I had visited Malegaon along with the Deputy Chief Minister and other officials and witnessed the anger of the locals who shouted some slogans," Karkare said. "After that I told my men that we have to pursue this case very objectively and not start with assumptions that people of this community or that community could be responsible." [1] He was professionally very competent and took interest in woodcraft. The driftwood in Naxalite affected jungles in Nagpur gave him opportunities to study driftwood and designs. He collected 150 of them. He belonged to a different but new culture as Julio Ribeiro says: “Traditional culture was subsumed by a new “police” culture, which demanded that all citizens are treated equally. In the eyes of the law all are equal. Any policeman true to his salt would follow this maxim, which becomes his “dharma. “My Muslim and Christian friends, on the other hand, were eager for me to articulate my thoughts through the media. The divisions are sharpening. And that is not a good augury.” [2] Karkare had succeeded, Krish Pal Raghuvanshi in office and was followed by him after his death. He was another Schoolman who paid money to have Abrar’s wife checked and treated for being barren. It was a remarkable couple which played crucial role. The SP of Malegaon Rajwardhan Sinha had tried to create a gulf between Abrar and Jannatunisha saying that Abrar should know that if new shoes have been torn he should discard them and get another new pair. At Jagtap farm house, near Nasik, Abrar was kept in isolation from his wife. He was made to hear what Purohit had got recorded on his mobile phone that Sinha had given. They had tried to incriminate Muslim youths in terrorism and smuggling of arms. This contextualizing Purohit in a clandestine operation had escaped the notice of the media and the court though Abrar’s affidavit makes no bones about the involvement. Though he is also acquitted the charge of perjury is not diluted since it was he who got the others arrested by false accusation. Purohit’s involvement in Malegaon 2006 blasts was known much before the confession of Swami Asimanand. In his affidavit of April 18, 2009 he is crystal clear in what he says there and many more things. It is no surprise then that Purohit played a dynamic role and the involvement of the army was quite deep. In a report in The Times of India Purohit claimed: “I was Malegaon mastermind.”[3]He might have said that after his arrest in 2008 blast in Malegaon but there is no gainsaying that he was not also behind the 2006 blasts. The provenance of the RDX was the same, 2006 arms seizure in four places Aurangabad, Verud, Ankai and at Maegaon. A very persevere pursuit of truth is shown by SM Mushrif whose thesis that the Brahmanical order is behind terrorism has had the zeal of exploring the truth in the true renaissance manner. His search shows the trail of the dragon: to Milli 17/9/15 Zaffarul Islam saheb Could you please ask SM Mushriff to call me on my mobile 9028225763. He had inquired through Mazin Khan regarding Purohit's source of RDX. I had furnished the details. Today's Saamna carries details of the same where the defense lawyer of Purohit says that his client had fought the separatists in Kashmir and got RDX from them!!! yours The Milli Gazette | Editor 17/09/2015 Dear Mustafa Khan saheb, Thank you. I have forwarded this to Mr Mazin and he ... to me I have forwarded your message to Mushrif Saheb. Thanks to smmushrif I would love to hear your take in the following extract: There are many ramifications of what Purohit remarked when he admitted his role in Malegaon blast 2008: "I am the mastermind of the blast. I arranged for the RDX and weapons but I can't understand how the weapons reached Abhinav Bharat members."[5] One, that Purohit was associated with Abhinav Bharat so if he did not know how the RDX was transferred does he mean that the RDX and weapons supplied by him caused the 2008 attack in Malegaon as well as the same consignment of explosives and arms were used by the ATS to frame innocent Muslims in the Arms haul case of Aurangabad-Malegaon-Ankai 2006? If that were true then it would mean that that was also the provenance for 7/11 attack on local trains in Mumbai. The inference is clear that all these sundry cases were dubious terrorist attacks engineered by Hindutva and their sympathizers in police and army but blamed on Muslims. The minority had to bear the cross for years on end. They were the handiwork of Hindutva! Further to note here is that source of RDX is only one way, the army. It is not easy to get it within India. Who else could do it so well than Purohit? If Zabiuddin and others transferred RDX the consignment was certainly not from Pakistan but from army source. [5] I was Malegaon mastermind, admits Lt-Col 7 Nov 2008, TNN 28/9/2015 to me To Mr Mustafa Khan As regards the points raised by you, my remarks are as follows : Your presumptions in respect of Purohit, RDX and bomb blasts (wrongly blamed on Muslims) are correct. These facts had come to light as far back as 2008 itself. I have dealt with these aspects in my two books. You are requested to read chapter number V , chapter number VIII and page nos. 63 to 77 (concerning Mumbai train blasts case) of chapter no III of "Who Killed Karkare? " in that order and Annexure I ( The transcript of Abhinav Bharat's meeting taken place in Jan 2008) of "26/11 probe : Why Judiciary Also Failed?" especially it's part F. While reading page numbers 175 onwards of "Who killed Karkare? " please focus on points number 9 to 11, 13, 14, 17 to 21, 23, 25 to 31 as they deal with the arrest and interrogation of and recovery from Lt. Col. Purohit. If you do not have the books please request Mr Mazin Khan to mail the relevant chapters to you. With warm regards Yours sincerely, S M Mushrif Captain Nitin Joshi of the army had testified before the ATS that he had seen the stolen 60 kilos of RDX in Purohit’s house in Pune. It showed then the independence of human spirit of his six years ago. He was a man of probity. After having turned hostile he is now saying that he was forced to give false witness. Is this the morale of the Indian army? Bhagat Singh and Ashfaqullah Khan were forthright honest and went to gallows with India on their lips and fear of god in their hearts. Time is up for India to search its soul if her sons are worthy of worshipping her? Kanhaiya Kumar has stirred the deep waters of the soul of India. When Kanhaiya compares army with farmers there is a point in it. Farmers caught in existential anguish under the pitiless sky with the parched and burning baked clay of their farms under their feet do not hatch conspiracy as did Purohit. He is the inveterate enemy not only of minorities like Muslims but also the downtrodden and indeed even the Constitution of India. Checkered education: matriculation from Abhinav Vidyalay, Pune, BCom from Barhan Maharashtra College, Pune, post graduation in catering, Pune and then finally Combined Defense Services course, Pune. As much a product of Pune as was Nathuram Godse. Most significant posting in army is Jammu and Kashmir 2000 to 2005 and February to September 2005 Deolali camp. The first gave him the provenance of RDX and the other recruiting grounds for his Abhinav Bharat. Simultaneously he was training youths of Abhinav Bharat in arms and explosives at Sinhgarh near Pune during such training he would stay at his residence at Shantisheela housing society near Law college road, Pune. A day after his arrest the defence minister of India Mr Antony remarked that the army would go to the root of the September 29, 2008 bomb blast in Malegaon. However, there is no sign of this having been achieved except after one and half years of inquiry the army says its stock of RDX is intact! What the 60 kilos of RDX Purohit stole from the army is the Holy Grail which the sleuths and journalists are after. Either Praveen Togadia or Dyanand Pandey used their high profile to make Purohit the repository of the stolen RDX. Ominous to note is also the fact that a senior-ranked military officer knew before hand what Purohit was doing it and as in the case of the RDX the army has failed to identify him! More ominous to note is that how much had Purohit taken from the military’s Secret Service Fund. He is known to have 14 lakh rupees according to the earliest report of cash changing hands in the 2008 Malegaon blasts.[4] The search for the holy grail ends at the precinct of the forbidden territory of the army. On these three accounts the people of this wonderful democracy will have to wait as even the writ of RTI does not run there. In the larger context of terrorism in India it is relevant to note that Purohit was in touch with Dyanand Pandey as the latter was in contact with Bhupender Singh and Rajive Sharma. Both were members of Bajrang Dal who had blown themselves up on August 24, 2008. Such was the terrific explosion that a senior most officer in the police there remarked that there was so much of RDX that it would have blown half of Kanpur to smithereens! Quite true in view of the fact that in addition to 60 kilos of RDX from the army Purohit must have also sourced the explosives with Shanker Shelke in a village not far from Pune and much closer to the artillery cantonment of Ahmedager who had 195 kilos of it when he committed suicide soon after 2006 Malegaon blasts. The police commissioner of Thane who knew Ahmednager had said that the Malegaon blasts were connected to the arms of haul from Shelke’s scrap-yard. First Shelke disappeared after the blasts and two days later hanged himself. A pertinent question to ask all the while is that Puohit also helped others to get arms with bogus documents. Those who die while handling explosives like the ones from Nanded and Kanpure die accidentally and those who pose threat meet other ends. Another person who reportedly killed himself is Pervez Azhar of Malegaon who reportedly had seen the bomb planter! Were these killed and passed off as suicides? Again the trail of Holy Grail ends there. So it also does with two pathologies. One is on Mamledargalli attached to the clinic of Dr Bipin Parekh, a child specialist, whose phone number was found in the cell phone of Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur. Abrar Ahmed has also named Parekh in his affidavit submitted to the MOCOCA judge YD Shinde as one of the conspirators behind the blasts of 2006. The police took no action against Parekh. In fact gave him clean chit. Grapevine has it that the Sadhvi had stayed at his clinic and visited the adjoining Bhiku chowk as a part of reconnaissance. This allegation needs thorough probe and the courts will have to vet the evidence. The other pathology laboratory has a basement located at camp road from where live RDX bombs, used and unused along with guns were seized in April 2008 as reported by Milligazette. What happened to that? Was the gun the one which Rakesh Dhawde and Purohit had procured? For what purpose were they obtained when the bombs themselves were so disastrous in effect? This is also a perennial mystery. The recce made by accused Muslims are made banner headlines! When the police fail to substantiate the innocents are set free, look at Ansari Faheem. How many of us hear that in the case of 2006 Malegaon blasts a whole group had come to do recce on the pretext of searching a girl for marriage around the neighbourhood of the sites of bomb blasts. In 2008 there was much better planning, the Sadhvi could not have just come to only attend a sermon of a Hindu priest as the police would pretend to believe! The meticulous planning at Bhonsla military school, Nasik, Bhopal, Indore and Faridabad must have been quite meticulous. Despite Dyanand Pandey being a very high profile person it is strange that the national convener of Bajrang Dal denies so categorically: “I am not even aware of this person. I don't know who he is. He is not a member of Bajrang Dal," said Prakash Sharma.[5] Pandey and Purohit had spilled the beans even before first degree of torture; Sharma has not been even touched with a finger. Neither then nor till now has he been interrogated although he is the national convener of the most terrifying extremist Hindu organization, BD. To what do we Indian masses owe such benevolence at gratis? Purohit has also been engaged in camouflaging the reign of terror he and his associates had unleashed on Muslims. He got the name of Venkatesh Takalki changed to Praveen Mutalik to avoid detection. He had asked Tkalki to surf the net on bomb making. Purohit used different groups of RSS such as the Tigers in Karnataka. [6] Given this background he is the arcane figure realized in the 21 century Indian army! Even more secretive anachronism as well as terror conundrum is RSS. Its guide teachers or pracharaks of which Modi is also one, it is a declared terrorist organization by terrorism centre in the US even so it receives funds from the government of India for the network of schools, colleges, and welfare institutions of which Bhonsla Military Schools of Nasik and Nagpur are examples. Its mode of denying and then also hinting at its members’ involvement is bizarre! Such canny is the RSS that its chief Mohan Bhagwat partly lifted the shroud of mystery at Surat (Gujarat) on January 10, 2011 when he referred "of the majority of the people whom the government has accused (in various blast cases), a few had left voluntarily and a few were told by the Sangh that this extremism will not work here so you go away."[7] It is beyond doubt that Purohit was a part of RSS and yet he had thought of killing Mohan Bhagwat with a white powder that would not leave any trace. "The key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, had organised a training camp under the guise of an ‘Art of Living’ event, the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency said. The NIA has recorded the statement of the owner of a hotel in Panchmarhi in this regard. The owner, who was a prosecution witness, said that in September 2005, Purohit met him in the hotel and asked him to arrange a camp for 40-50 people related to ‘Art of Living’ (AoL) at Panchmarhi. "[8] As the saying goes a man is known by the company he keeps, Purohit’s association with Sri Sri, Vanzara’s with Bapu Asaram, Swami’s Asimanand’s with Guru Ramdev, Pragyasingh’s with Rajnath Singh and Sunil Joshi reveals how intricate are the relationship in terrorism. They do not think that their activities are criminal and also anti India in essence as far as the Constitution goes. "Sadhvi Pragya got clean chit from NIA, now it's time, CBI should seek clean chit for Gujarat Police Officers who were framed maliciously (sic)," Vanzara tweeted. "Great Saints like Morari Bapu, Pramukh Swami & Sri Sri R shud take legal & public stand against fabricated cases #Satyagrah4BapujiRelease (sic)," he tweeted [9] “The conversation recorded at 11.23 am on October 23, 2008 when Pragyasingh Thakur was arrested is not considered sufficient indictment of the Sadhavi according to the charge sheet of NIA submitted on May 13, 2016: Lt Col Prasad Purohti : Sir have you read today’s headlines in Times of India and Indian Express? Retd Major General Ramesh Upadhyay: I have read about Hindu Jagran Manch of Indore being blamed for Mudasa and Malegaon blasts. ATS cited phone call, meeting & a bike, Prasad: i.e., Singh Sahab. Upadhyay: Ok. Prasad: That means the cat is out of the bag now as far as Mr Singh is concerned. Upadhyay: So it appears to be a diversionary tactic(s), let somebody else come to know…he says some parts have been cannibalised and the parts from where it has been cannibalised belongs to somebody who was from ABVP of Indore or something like that. Prasad: Achcha (Ok) Upadhyay: …it simply means that supposing somebody steals/has stolen my scooter or somebody has, when I gave it to repair and somebody cannibalised the part, how do I know? Prasad: OK Upadhyay: Means direct involvement is not there… or otherwise they would have said that this belong[sic] to such and such person of such and such origin at Indore and he is a member of Hindu Jagran Manch and then we have arrested him or that done something. No such thing has taken place. They have said we have rounded up about 30 people and this is the handiwork of Hindu Jagran Manch. This conversation in the context of a grave crime shows how there is a tussle between two cultures or clash within India and not between two civilizations one represented by India and the other by Pakistan. On the one side is cultural nationalism and on the other the new police culture that Ribeiro speaks of about Karkare. The rebirth of learning or knowledge at JNU is corroborated by the new flurry in the judiciary over the same schism. As G Mohan Gopal former Director of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore put it: “The role of any judiciary is derived from the vision of the nation of which it is a part. India is caught between two conflicting visions of the nation—a progressive constitutional vision and a conservative social vision—each with its own view of the role of the judiciary and the number and types of judges needed. The conservative social vision of India is of a strong nation that derives its strength from the ruling classes. India is envisioned as a nation united by a common set of beliefs and values emanating from and authorised by the ruling classes and imposed on the masses. In this view, a strong India equals a strong ruling class (the “iron frame” or “authoritarian” vision). This vision is, in essence, an attempt to update and revive the feudal idea of India. ”The opposing view, the progressive constitutional vision, is of a strong nation that derives its strength from the masses. This vision envisages breaking down the concentration of power and devolving and scattering power amongst the poorest and the weakest. In this vision, the unity of the people and the strength of the nation rest on a shared belief in equality, individual freedom and democracy. In this democratic vision of India, a strong India equals a strong citizenry (the “individual swaraj” or “democratic” vision). “In the iron frame vision of India, the role of the justice system would be in line with a classical definition of the judicial responsibilities of a raja: to punish “evil” people (i.e., people who question the ruling classes); honour “good” people (i.e., people who support the ruling classes); grow the revenue; and defend the nation—“dushta danda; sajana pooja; kosha vridhi; and rajya raksha”. The judicial system would secure and uphold the power, property and privileges of the state and of the ruling classes. There is little scope in the iron frame vision of India for a rights-based adversarial justice system that is meant to empower the average citizen by giving her the tools to interrogate the powerful. “The iron frame vision would see the judicial system as primarily an instrument for the state and the ruling classes to use against errant citizens and institutions that question or challenge the orthodoxy on which the nation is built. It is not meant to be used by citizens to question the ruling classes or the state.” Into this you can read the meaning of dharma as understood by PM Vajpayee and CM Narendra Modi whom he chided in 2002.[10] And more, you can also anticipate and be afraid of how judges take 2 minutes to hear the case and 5 to decide. So what would be the plight of the litigants: “Oh, poor litigant, people languishing in jails! In the name of development and progress, I beseech you,” he looked at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “to rise to the occasion and realise that it’s not enough to c-r-i-t-i-c-i-s-e.” that was the Chief Justice of India, Tirath Singh Thakur, inside Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan on April 25, 2016 with tears in eyes. It is in the reaction that the victims of injustice who are oppressed and suppressed see their perpetrators. Those who have been at the receiving end have the source of their anguish and suffering of ages and generations in the ‘systems’ that have been ‘set’ for them. The premeditated framing of innocent Muslims in bogus terror charges and the Dalits denied dignity and freedom to live their own life as they would like. The renaissance and renascence that we are witnessing today in 2016 is the churning up of new learning in modern matrix. The flurry of justice is on account of rulings of courts in cases which had roots into long standing disputes. If women become independent minded it would be a challenge to the systems placed in society over centuries. Treatment of daughters in law is unspeakably horrifying. The day the SC ruled in favour of treating daughters in law decently, BJP leader Arun Jaitley again came down heavily on the judiciary reminding it not to cross the lakshumi rekha! The last vernacular phrase has more connotation as Kanhaiya Kumar would put it than mere bounds. It has the aura of cultural nationalism that cannot brook internal freedom of any sort. ----- [1] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/karkare-s-response-to-a-death-threat-a-smiley/391325/ [2] http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/malegaon-blasts-2008-burying-hemnat-karkare-2805887/#sthash.qKHFzNMa.dpuf [3] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/I-was-Malegaon-mastermind-admits-Lt-Col/articleshow/3683035.cms [4] Arrested Lieutenant Colonel revealed name of high-profile leader, TOI November 12, 2008. [5] Malegaon blasts: the ATS arrests UP religious leader, Toi, November 12, 2008 [6] CBI to quiz Aseemanand for Malegaon. Toi. 15-3-11 [7] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/no-place-for-radicals-in-rss-says-bhagwat/735924/ [8] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/purohit-organised-camp-under-guise-of-aol-event/article8597136.ece [9] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Like-Pragya-states-encounter-cops-must-get-clean-chit-Vanzara/articleshow/52263497.cms [10] Justice and the Two Ideas of India. Frontline May 27, 2016. May 2016 Chapter 14 Examples of catechism on patriarchy: Mustafa Khan Who is the manliest in creating a record ordering fake encounters? Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Who is his most fervent apostle in carrying out fake encounters? Senior police officer DG Vanzara. How? He knows how to do manly work, mardon ka keem. Who coined the phrase maut ka saudagar, merchant of death? Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. Who is greater than Sonia Gandhi? Narendra Modi. He even challenged her to use her government and try him for killing Sohrabuddin, etc. and hang him. She failed abysmally. Why? Because the audience encored Modi in the 2007 election rally. The people of Gujarat asked him to “kill him” [Kill Sohrabuddin]. Modi won the election with thumping majority. Give an illustrious example of patriotism. To emulate PM Vajpayee and remain bachelor to devote for mother India. Did anyone achieve distinction in following this? Modi. He abandoned his wife on the bridal night and sought shelter in RSS office in Ahmadabad. What were the far reaching consequences of it? Modi successfully launched the rath yatra or chariot ride for the cause of demolishing Babri and building a temple on the site. A more recent example is Dadri lynching where there was no beef in the fridge and yet a crowd of thousands of devotees succeeded in killing Akhlak all the same. Who is the most patriarchal? Vanzara. For he not only killed Bilkis, Ishrat Jahan at the instance of the white bearded but also supported Bapu Asaram who had raped minor girls and wanted Morari Bapu and other divines to support the cause of Asaram. Now he is supporting Purohit. Where is matriarchy in vogue and power? In Kerala? Why? Because the Keralites are matriarchal. Why did VHP’s Ashok Singhal support Sadhvi Pragysingh Thakur? Because Karkare was against her and was hunting her to kill as did the Pope in ancient Rome, chasing Mary Magdalene because she would have succeeded Christ and their son would succeed after her and leave the Pope no chance to hold power. Why was Modi’s bachelor’s degree generated on computer? Because there was plastic surgery in ancient India when Hanuman lived. Why did AAP expose Indresh Kumar’s involvement in Mecca mosque blast? Because he was an acolyte of patriarchy and could not bear Sunil Joshi’s indecent romantic gestures to Pragyasingh Thakur. What is the future of JNU stir? In the next election Smirti Irani will be shifted to take UP after winning and the new Resource Minister Ram Madhav will promulgate the new catechism and then include it in the new syllabus of JNU.