Unholy Alliance
The India Development
Relief Fund and Hindutva
by Angana
Chatterji
Dissident Voice
December 5, 2002
Majoritarian
communalism and religious intolerance holds captive human rights in South Asia.
Shared commitments to democracy and civil liberties do not yet connect us as
nations. It is, instead, repressive forces of religious nationalism and
cultural intolerance that incapacitate nation building in the region. In
Pakistan, draconian blasphemy laws persecute minorities and appease Islamic
fundamentalists. In Sri Lanka, inequities of religion and ethnicity haunt
Sinhalese, Tamil Hindus and Muslims. In Bangladesh, enduring conflicts
brutalize minority Hindus and Christians. In India, the fascistic ascent of
Hindutva ravages society.
Tolerance
and inclusion is the sine qua non of Indian democracy. Hindu extremists contend
that national commitments to secular religious tolerance have been a tactic for
undermining the “truth” of India as a pure, glorious and exclusively Hindu
tradition and culture. This “truth” demands an unquestioning commitment to
India as a Hindu nation. The Hindutva, Hindu supremacist, movement uses the
vehicle of the state to cement Hindu religious majoritarianism into the
foundation of a national culture. Such enterprise rewards the dominant
community and is intolerant of minority groups and faiths. Hindutva understands
itself as “secular”, in that it is not based on faith, but the conversion of
faith into culture. It declares tolerance for minority faiths to be
“pseudo-secularism”. It undermines the cultural and religious profusion that is
central to conceiving the nation, and asserting the separation of religion and
state.
The
contradictions between Hinduism and Hindutva must be emphasized. Hinduism is an
ancient religion. Hindutva is the utilization of Hinduism to foment a
supremacist movement. Hindutva, like other extremist movements, uses terror to
dominate. Non and dissenting Hindus are perceived as threats to the unity of
the nation. Hindutva is supported by organizations that fund raise abroad. The
India Development Relief Fund (IDRF) is one such registered charity in the
Untied States that sustains the Sangh Parivar, the network of Hindutva
organizations. IDRF was established in 1989, ostensibly to fundraise for organizations
in India that assist in development and tribal well-being. IDRF has
emphatically maintained that it has no connections with the Sangh Parivar. A
scrutiny of financial records, and the profile, actions and associations of the
organization disclose instead IDRF’s intimate connections to the Parivar. The Parivar
uses religion as a nationalistic weapon to empower the Hindutva movement. IDRF,
through its relationship with the Sangh, fortifies the hatred and violence that
divides India.
The use of force
is not restricted to Hindu extremists. The Indian State is vigilant in policing
and repressing oppositional activities, especially those of minority
communities. The Government of India introduced the Prevention of Terrorism
Ordinance, a security law that empowers the state to torture and detain
political opponents, revoke civil liberties, and suppress actions it deems
threatening to the nation. Yet the national government tolerated the Sangh
Parivar’s crimes in Gujarat this year. The Citizens Tribunal on Gujarat has
held the Sangh Parivar co-responsible for the orchestrated post-Godhra massacre
of Muslims. It must be incumbent on IDRF to prove that it is not in support of
such depravity. In a climate where Hindutva is sanctioned and vindicated by an
increasing army of henchmen and the state, it is imperative that citizens speak
out against the collaboration between government and Parivar organizations in
the promulgation of terror. Citizens initiatives must demand accountability of
international groups that finance the apparatus of Hindutva.
It is deceptive
for IDRF to claim on its website that it raises money to "serve
economically and socially disadvantaged people irrespective of caste, sect,
region or religion," and utilize such funds in a sectarian manner. IDRF
has raised about 5.5 million dollars during the past decade. Nearly 69 percent
of IDRF’s funds go to organizations in adivasi (tribal) and rural areas. A
large segment is allocated for educational projects of Hinduization, the
disintegration of adivasi (and other non Hindu) cultures through their
incorporation into Hindutva. Sewa Bharti, an associate of the Sangh, funded by
IDRF, organized a Hindu Sangam in Madhya Pradesh in January 2002. The Citizens
Tribunal has charged that such efforts facilitated the mobilization of adivasis
against other minorities in Gujarat. Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad and Vivekananda
Kendra, funded by IDRF, were both held complicit in the communalization of
adivasis. The sporadic participation of Hinduized adivasi and Dalit communities
in the brutalization of Muslims was a sad and unexpected distinction of the
recent violence in Gujarat. Divide and conquer, effectively realized. IDRF has
been conspicuously silent about Gujarat, Godhra and after, and did not raise
funds in support of the victims.
Development is
critical to India’s empowerment. It cannot be undertaken by organizations that
promote hate. IDRF allocates 80 percent of its funds to Sangh Parivar
organizations and those affiliated or controlled by them. Of the 67 IDRF
affiliate organizations, 52 are associated with the Sangh. Secular freedoms
confirm the right to proselytize, but do not permit the use of religion or
culture to cultivate hate. IDRF does not directly orchestrate campaigns of
violence. IDRF’s funding to Sangh organizations aids the spread of the ideology
and practice of Hindutva. Such activity produces the very conditions for social
violence that are detrimental to India’s national interest.
The practice of conscience, not of genocide, must determine who belongs to a nation. India is made most vulnerable by the Hindutva movement’s xenophobic commitments to tear apart the promises of history. In Gujarat, a fetus of an unborn Muslim, carved from a pregnant woman’s stomach, was tossed in the air. Triumphant annihilation, reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Tomorrow as a day of justice and peace is made impossible. The state of the nation demands sustained interventions in dissent of religious extremism. It is irrelevant to claim innocence. Until we prevent rape, horror, and unnecessary death in the name of nation building, history will find us complicit. Amidst the complex desires that fuel India’s becoming, habitual contempt for minorities must not power our future. Nor must we allow religion to be held captive to violent nationalist agendas.
Angana Chatterji is a professor of Social and Cultural
Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco. http://www.ciis.edu/faculty/chatterji.htm
Email: Angana@aol.com