Javed Anand

Last updated

Javed Anand
Bornca. 1950 (age 73–74)
Mumbai
NationalityIndian
OccupationJournalist
Known for Communalism Combat, Sabrang Communications

Javed Anand (born ca. 1950) 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 . [1]

Contents

Early years

Javed Anand attended the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, graduating with a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1971. He worked for the Front for Rapid Economic Development of India, a social action group, then in 1971 became a writer for The Daily, a Mumbai-based tabloid newspaper in 1971. In 1983 he met Teesta Setalvad, who had just joined The Daily, and they married four years later. [1]

Sabrang Communications

Shortly after the Bombay riots of 1992–93 that followed the demolition of Babri Mosque in December 1992, Teesta Setalvad and Anand left their jobs with mainstream newspapers and launched Communalism Combat , a magazine dedicated to fighting the divisive forces that had led to the riots. [1] They started Sabrang Communications to generate revenue to sustain Communalism Combat, which they foresaw as not being viable on its own strength. [2] They started working for the magazine in mid-1993 and the first issue was published in August 1993. [3] [4]

The magazine struggled at first, with friends pitching in. The couple did occasional assignments. A show of Tumhari Amrita and some regular ads supported them. [4] In the run-up to 1999 Lok Sabha elections, Communalism Combat created an ad campaign featuring 18 fact sheets/backgrounders pitched against the Sangh Parivar. This campaign was funded by the Congress, CPI, CPM and about 10 prominent individuals. BJP and RSS unsuccessfully petitioned to the Election Commission against this ad campaign. [5] By 2003 the magazine was printing up to 10,000 copies monthly. [4] [6]

Sabrang Communications has published various widely discussed reports. In 1998 Sabrang published Damning Verdict: Report of the Srikrishna Commission on the riots in Mumbai in December 1992 and January 1993, and 12 March 1993 bomb blasts. [7] Following ongoing communal violence in Gujarat, in 2000 Sabrang published Saffron on the rampage: Gujarat's Muslims pay for the Lashkar's deeds. [8] In 2002, Sabrang and South Asia Citizens Web published The Foreign Exchange of Hate: IDRF and the American Funding of Hindutva, which investigated how funding raised by the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF) in the USA was being distributed in India. [9]

Anand was a founding member of Citizens for Justice and Peace. [10] In October 2003, he was a participant in the first national meeting of "Muslims for Secular Democracy", and was chosen as General Secretary of the group. He continued to hold this position as of April 2011. [11] [12]

Opinions

Anand writes columns for mainstream newspapers such as The Indian Express . [13] As a columnist for the Asian Age he has written a number of articles on Muslim-related topics. [14]

In January 2012 there were growing protests by Muslim organisations against a visit to India by controversial author Salman Rushdie. Javed Anand reminded Muslims of the approach taken by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University, in a similar situation. He noted that "Altaf Hussain Hali, who penned Sir Syed's biography, writes that Sir Syed never favoured hounding a writer who had blasphemed against the Prophet. So Sir Syed wrote a book to refute the charges of William Muir in the latter's blasphemous book The Life of Mahomet". [15]

Talking of violence, he has said: "Put bluntly, do groups and organizations whose rights we defend themselves believe in democratic forms of mass mobilization? Is it ethically right and politically tenable that rights groups focus their entire attention on violations by state personnel but remain mum when 'militants' maim, rape or kill fellow citizens". [16] Speaking of the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, Anand said: "They (terrorists) claim to be doing this in the name of Islam. We have to tell them, 'Not in our name'". [17]

Talking of a police probe of radical Hindutva organisations in November 2008 he said "I can't see a serving IPS officer going after an army officer or saffron outfits unless these is concrete evidence". [10] He has criticized Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), describing it as an extremist organisation that rejects democracy and secularism and espouses violence as a means to achieve a new Caliphate. [18]

In a November 2009 article for this paper he criticized a UK-based Muslim charity for insisting that only Muslim willing to follow strict Shariah rules could receive their help. [19] Writing in the Deccan Chronicle in April 2011 on the proliferation of Muslim parties he said "Ideologically speaking, it means secularism by daylight, Sharia after dark. Politically speaking, at best they'll cancel each other out; eat into votes of mainstream parties that swear by secularism. At worst, they'll provide propaganda fodder to Hindutva, feed Islamophobia". [12]

In September 1998, Setalvad and Anand published a paper on Saffron Army Targets People of the Cross that documented forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism with the assistance of state agents. [20]

In January 2014 the Ahmedabad Crime Branch registered a First Information Report that alleged that Anand, his wife Teesta Setalvad and others had embezzled Rs.15 million intended for construction of a memorial for riot victims. [21] They were accused of misusing funds they had collected for making a museum for the Gulbarg society. [22] They denied wrongdoing and said the case had been filed with "ulterior political motive". [23] In March 2014 a local court in Ahmedabad denied the couple anticipatory bail in the case. [22] On 12 February 2015 the Gujarat High Court refused to grant anticipatory bail. Later that day the Supreme Court stayed the arrest of the couple in the alleged misappropriation case. [21]

On 8 July 2015 the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case against Setalvad and her organization for accepting foreign funding without first obtaining permission from the Home Ministry, a violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The filing also named Javed Anand and Gulam Mohammed Peshimam, both Sabrang directors. Setalvad told reporters she had assured the CBI she would cooperate fully with them, but had not been contacted by the CBI with any requests. [24]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bajrang Dal</span> Hindu nationalist militant organisation

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teesta Setalvad</span> Indian activist and journalist (born 1962)

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.

The Bombay riots were a series of riots that took place in Bombay, Maharashtra, between December 1992 and January 1993. An estimated 900 people, predominantly Muslims, were killed. The riots were mainly due to escalations of hostilities after large scale protests by Muslims in reaction to the 1992 Babri Masjid Demolition by Hindu Karsevaks in Ayodhya; and by Hindus in regards with the Ram Temple issue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2002 Gujarat riots</span> Sectarian violence in the Indian state

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.

Dara Singh is an Indian convicted murderer and a Bajrang Dal activist. He was previously a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was convicted for leading a mob and setting fire to the station wagon in which the Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were asleep, burning them all alive, in Orissa.

Scarred: Experiments with Violence in Gujarat is an Indian, non-fiction book that covers the violence in the Indian province of Gujarat, that was targeted largely at the region's Muslim community. It is authored by award-winning Mumbai-based journalist Dionne Bunsha, and published by Penguin in 2006.

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 made responsible for these riots which took place as a "spontaneous response" to the killing of 70 Hindu Pilgrims in the Godhra Train Burning by a mob of radical muslims 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.

<i>Communalism Combat</i>

Communalism Combat is a monthly magazine published by Sabrang Communications since August 1993. The magazine is edited by husband wife team of Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad.

Religious violence in India includes acts of violence by followers of one religious group against followers and institutions of another religious group, often in the form of rioting. Religious violence in India has generally involved Hindus and Muslims.

The Jhabua nuns rape case refers to the gang rape of four nuns in the Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh in India on September 23, 1998, by tribal men. Around 18-26 men barged their way into the Ashram where the nuns lived and ransacked the entire ashram and some of the men gang raped the nuns.

The Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL), or the Forum of Inquilabi Leftists, is a group of left-wing activists of Indian background. The organization describes itself as "a clearinghouse for radical Indian activists in the United States, Canada and England." Its purpose is described by its founders as "some place for us to share information, offer support, and encourage each other to write in the open media on issues pertaining to Indians overseas and India itself, and help build projects that make our radical politics more material."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ram Puniyani</span> Indian academic, writer, and activist focusing on communal harmony and secularism.

Ram Puniyani is an Indian author, 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). He is also an advisory board member of the Muslim Mirror.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulbarg Society massacre</span> Massacre of a Muslim neighbourhood in Ahmedabad during the 2002 Gujarat Riots

The Gulbarg Society massacre took place on 28 February 2002, during the 2002 Gujarat riots, when a crowd started stone pelting the Gulbarg Society, a Muslim neighbourhood in the eastern part of Chamanpura, Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat. Most of the houses were burnt, and at least 35 victims, including a former Congress Member of Parliament, Ehsan Jafri, were burnt alive, while 31 others went missing after the incident, later presumed dead, bringing the total deaths to 69.

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ishrat Jahan encounter killing</span> Extra-judicial killing by police in Gujarat, India

On 15 June 2004, officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch and members of the Subsidiary Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Ahmedabad shot and killed four people to death. Those killed in the incident were Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year-old woman from Mumbra, Maharashtra, and three men – Javed Ghulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. The Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) made allegations about the entire operation being an instance of "encounter killing". The state agencies and police claimed that Ishrat Jahan and her associates were Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives involved in a plot to assassinate the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.

There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims since the partition of India in 1947, frequently in the form of violent attacks on Muslims by Hindu nationalist mobs that form a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Over 10,000 people have been killed in Hindu-Muslim communal violence since 1950 in 6,933 instances of communal violence between 1954 and 1982.

<i>Father, Son, and Holy War</i> 1995 Indian film

Father, Son, and Holy War is a 1995 film by Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. The film is shot in two parts, with the first examining the link between the violence of the Hindu nationalist movement, such as the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and sexual violence against women. The second part looks at the nature of masculinity in contemporary urban India, and its role in encouraging sexual violence. As with other films of his, Patwardhan had to fight multiple court battles in order to force the national carrier Doordarshan to screen the film, a screening which eventually occurred on the orders of the Supreme court. The film received numerous national and international awards, and was also seen positively by critics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Varma 2012.
  2. ↑ Anand & Setalvad 2004.
  3. ↑ Peer 2007, p. 229.
  4. 1 2 3 Punwani 2003.
  5. ↑ Pestonji 1999.
  6. ↑ Chaudhury 1999.
  7. ↑ Breckenridge 2002, p. 80.
  8. ↑ Ghassem-Fachandi 2012, p. 304.
  9. ↑ Tow & Chin 2009, p. 289.
  10. 1 2 Koppikar 2008, p. 49.
  11. ↑ Akhtar, Javed et al 2003.
  12. 1 2 Anand 2011.
  13. ↑ The Indian Express.
  14. ↑ The Asian Age.
  15. ↑ Wajihuddin 2012.
  16. ↑ Hardiman 2003, p. 63.
  17. ↑ Kapur 2008.
  18. ↑ Mishra 2008, p. 73.
  19. ↑ Anand 2009.
  20. ↑ Sarkar 2002, p. 217.
  21. 1 2 SC stays Teesta Setalvad's arrest 2015-02-12.
  22. 1 2 Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand face arrest 2014-03-26.
  23. ↑ SC restrains arrest of activist ... 2015-02-12.
  24. ↑ PRI 2015.
Sources
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.