 | |
| Editor | Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad |
|---|---|
| Categories | Human rights |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | Sabrang Communications |
| First issue | 1993 |
| Country | India |
| Language | English |
| Website | http://www.sabrang.com/ |
| OCLC | 36621054 |
Communalism Combat is a monthly magazine published by Sabrang Communications since August 1993. [1] The magazine is edited by husband wife team of Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad. [2]
Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad left their jobs as Bombay-based journalists in the mainstream press and founded Communalism Combat in 1993 to fight religious intolerance and religious violence in India. [3] Their decision followed the December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya by Hindu fundamentalists. [4] Communalism Combat first appeared in August 1993. [5]
In a 1999 interview, Javed Anand said that before the 1999 Lok Sabha elections Communalism Combat requested and received funds from the Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India and ten individuals to run advertisements attacking the Sangh Parivar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The total budget for this campaign was 15 million rupees, and eighteen ads appeared in 16-18 publications in English, Hindi and other Indian regional languages across India. Some other papers, such as Meerut-e-Samachari and The Asian Age , saw the ads and reprinted them at no cost. One of the ads, attacking the Sangh Parivar's attitude towards women, was endorsed by thirteen NGOs. They received notices from the government pointing out that it was illegal for NGOs that received foreign funding to intervene in politics. [6]
According to Javed Anand, as of 2003 the Air Freight company had supported Communalism Combat for 10 years by buying advertising space in the magazine. The only other advertiser was the Madhya Pradesh government. The Tatas had regularly advertised in the newspaper, but had stopped when the BJP government came into power. The newspaper had been accused of illegally accepting funding from abroad, but this was not substantiated. [7]
The magazine discusses the activities of both minority and majority communal political parties. It also publishes personal accounts from individuals who are involved in the struggle against divisive forces both within and without India. [8] Javed Anand has said, "Communalism Combat is a vehicle through which we try to combat communal conflict. Both minority and majority right-wing." [6] In a 2003 interview by Jyoti Punwani, published in The Hoot magazine, when asked "How do you resolve the age-old debate between objective and activist journalism?" Javed Anand replied,
"There can be nothing like taking an objective stand between secularism and fascism. That’s bull-shit." [7]
He went on to say,
Frankly it’s not our concern to establish our "credibility" as journalists to fascists. When we feel the need, we approach them. We have sent faxes to L. K. Advani and had he replied, we would have published his replies. But we don't want to appear objective just to get Bal Thackeray to talk to us. [7]
The Magazine won a Prince Claus Award in 2000. The award citation said "The independent magazine Communalism Combat (founded in 1992, Bombay, India) opposes ethnic fundamentalism and separatism in Indian culture, also in the diaspora. It creates a space for freedom: a platform for the discussion of current and often controversial issues...". [9]
The Milli Gazette described Communalism Combat's special issue on the riots in Gujarat as "Superb". This issue attempted to collect all possible information on the event including official statements and eyewitness accounts. It covered the role of officials and politicians in the riots, the destruction caused and the way in which regional media stirred up anger. [10]
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is an Indian far-right, Hindu nationalist volunteer paramilitary organisation. It is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar, which has developed a presence in all facets of Indian society and includes the Bharatiya Janata Party, the ruling political party under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The present Sarsanghchalak of the RSS is Mohan Bhagwat.
Hindutva is a political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1922. It is used by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other organisations, collectively called the Sangh Parivar.
Bajrang Dal is a Hindu nationalist militant organisation that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). It is a member of the right-wing Sangh Parivar. The ideology of the organisation is based on Hindutva. It was founded on 1 October 1984 in Uttar Pradesh, and began spreading more in the 2010s throughout India, although its most significant base remains the northern and central portions of the country.
The Sangh Parivar refers, as an umbrella term, to the collection of Hindutva organisations spawned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which remain affiliated to it. These include the political party Bharatiya Janata Party, religious organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad, students union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), religious militant organisation Bajrang Dal that forms the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), and the worker's union Bharatiya Kisan Sangh. It is also often taken to include allied organisations such as the Shiv Sena, which share the ideology of the RSS.
The Best Bakery case was a legal case involving the burning down of the Best Bakery, a small outlet in the Hanuman Tekri area in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, on 1 March 2002. During the incident, mob targeted the Sheikh family who ran the bakery and had taken refuge inside, resulting in the deaths of fourteen people. This case has come to symbolize the carnage in 2002 Gujarat riots that followed the Godhra train burning. All the 21 accused were acquitted by the court due to shoddy police work and issues with evidence.
Teesta Setalvad is an Indian civil rights activist and journalist. She is the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an organisation formed to advocate for the victims of 2002 Gujarat riots.
Pravin Togadia is an Indian doctor, cancer surgeon and an advocate for Hindu nationalism, coming from the state of Gujarat. He was the former International Working President of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and a cancer surgeon by qualification. He is Founder and Current President of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad. He had a falling out with the Sangh Parivar and is a vocal critic of Narendra Modi.
The 2002 Gujarat riots, also known as the 2002 Gujarat violence, was a three-day period of inter-communal violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The burning of a train in Godhra on 27 February 2002, which caused the deaths of 58 Hindu pilgrims and karsevaks returning from Ayodhya, is cited as having instigated the violence. Following the initial riot incidents, there were further outbreaks of violence in Ahmedabad for three months; statewide, there were further outbreaks of violence against the minority Muslim population of Gujarat for the next year.
Final Solution is a 2004 documentary film directed by Rakesh Sharma concerning the 2002 Gujarat riots in the state of Gujarat in which 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed. Hindu right wing organizations were responsible for these riots which took place as a "spontaneous response" to the demise of 70 Hindu Pilgrims in the Godhra Train Burning by a mob on 27 February 2002. But as the film proceeds with victims continuing to come forward and share their experiences, a more unsettling possibility seems to emerge- that far from being a spontaneous expression of outrage. The makers of the film claim that the violence had been carefully coordinated and planned.
Anti-Christian violence in India is religiously motivated violence against Christians in India. Human Rights Watch has classified violence against Christians in India as a tactic used by the right-wing Sangh Parivar organizations to encourage and exploit communal violence in furtherance of their political ends. The acts of violence include arson of churches, conversion of Christians by force, physical violence, sexual assaults, murders, rapes, and the destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.
Ram Puniyani is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He began his medical career in 1973 and served IIT in various capacities for 27 years, beginning in 1977. He has been involved with human rights activities and initiatives to oppose Hindu fundamentalism in India and is currently the President of the Executive Council of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS).
Mahendra Kumar was the convener of the Karnataka, India, branch of the Bajrang Dal, an Indian Hindu youth organisation. He was reportedly involved in the 2008 attacks on Christians in southern Karnataka on 14 September 2008. He claimed that he was incarcerated for 42 days in Mangalore before being released on conditional bail by Karnataka High Court Justice Ashok B. Hinchigeri on 25 October 2008, and was used as a scapegoat by the Bharatiya Janata Party regime to "save the government from further embarrassment after the church attacks and on instructions from the Sangh Parivar leaders."
Sabrang Communications is an organization founded in 1993 that publishes the monthly Communalism Combat magazine and that operates KHOJ, a secular education program, in schools in Mumbai, India. Communalism Combat is edited by Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad. The Khoj programs try to help children to get past identity labels.
India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) is a Maryland, US-based 501(c) (3) tax exempt, non-profit organization that supports impoverished people in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. IDRF's programs span all over India from Jammu and Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, and from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, Nepal and more recently Sri Lanka. Since its inception in 1988, IDRF has disbursed $34 million in grants to various developmental programs pertaining to areas like: education, health, women's empowerment, eco-friendly development, good governance, and disaster relief/rehabilitation.
Javed Anand is an Indian journalist and civil rights activist who founded the Mumbai-based Sabrang Communications in 1993. He is married to Teesta Setalvad and they co-edit the monthly Communalism Combat.
Norbert D'Souza is a railway engineer and trainer from Pune who was president of the All India Catholic Union (AICU) for four years. The AICU represents almost 16 million Catholics in India, including followers of the Latin Rite, the Syro Malabar Catholics and the Syro Malankara Catholics. He held office from 1996 to 2000, succeeding Peter G. Marbaniang and succeeded by Maria Emilia Menezes.
Ram ke Naam is a 1992 documentary by Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. The film explores the campaign waged by the right-wing Hindu nationalist organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. A couple of months after Ram ke Naam was released, activists of the VHP and other Hindu nationalist groups demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, provoking further violence. The film earned Patwardhan a wide recognition, and received several national and international awards.
The 2008 Kandhamal violence refers to widespread violence against Christians purportedly incited by Hindutva organisations in the Kandhamal district of Orissa, India, in August 2008 after the murder of the Hindu monk Lakshmanananda Saraswati. According to government reports the violence resulted in at least 39 Christians killed and 3906 Christian houses completely destroyed. Reports state, more than 395 churches were razed or burnt down, over 5,600 – 6,500 houses plundered or burnt down, over 600 villages ransacked and more than 60,000 – 75,000 people left homeless. Other reports put the death toll at nearly 100 and suggested more than 40 women were sexually assaulted. Unofficial reports placed the number of those killed to more than 500. Many Christian families were burnt alive. Thousands of Christians were forced to convert to Hinduism under threat of violence. Many Hindu families were also assaulted in some places because they supported the Indian National Congress (INC) party. This violence was led by the Bajrang Dal, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the VHP.
Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy is a book about the 2002 Gujarat riots edited by Siddharth Varadarajan.
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