[Reader-list] No mention of emergency anywhere in schooling ?

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Rajen jee (and all)

It is certainly right that children are not learning of the Emergency.
But here there are two issues which must be looked at before drawing
conclusions.

Firstly, there are many incidents which must be looked at in our
textbooks, and not just the Emergency. The tragedy of the Partition
has never been dealt with in our textbooks, from any point of view. It
seems our govt. believes that just putting out numbers and mentioning
certain incidents is enough of tribute paid to those dead. Our history
textbooks should deal comprehensively with the Partition, the possible
reasons as to why it started, the sociological reasons of why such
grave violence took place, and what were the after effects of these.

There are other events and policies to be looked at as well. We have
never looked in our history as to why India chose to be a democracy,
when it could also have become a dictatorship at that time. The
reasons and rationale given in our history as to why it became a
democratic country must be explained to students, and the importance
of democracy in particular must also be explained, for only would then
the students would be able to make sense of why the Emergency was
wrong. Otherwise, irrespective of whether it was there in our syllabus
or not, the Emergency would be just that, a day to give speeches about
like the three national holidays have become, without us learning
anything from the reasons as to why these days are celebrated.

And not only this, we need to look at other events as well. For
example, who can forget the 1984 Delhi pogrom where 3,000 Sikhs were
butchered in a single day thanks to goons led by Congress leaders,
with the leadership under Rajiv Gandhi doing nothing? Who can equally
forget the inaction of Narsimha Rao and the culpability of Kalyan
Singh in the Babri Masjid demolition on 6th December, 1992? Who can
forget the riots and mayhem unleashed across India after that,
particularly in Mumbai by goons of the Shiv Sena? And who can equally
forget Godhra and the way it was politically used by some people to
unleash terrible atrocities on the innocents of Gujarat, most of whom
were Muslims?

All these incidents must be taught and our citizens must be also
taught the importance of values like fundamental rights, rights to
minorities, and also the value systems on the basis of which our state
is supposed to function, like democracy and secularism (which people
today have now begun to abuse, thereby endangering the very
foundations on the basis of which the Indian Republic was built upon).
Equally, they must know such incidents which tried to weaken this base
of India so that they can at least decide how to go about improving
India in their own ways.

Secondly, the RSS is as culpable of destroying India as the Congress,
if not more. The RSS from the very beginning has had the conception of
Hindu Rashtra, which is utter nonsense. The Muslims who stayed back in
India can't be thrown into the sea, but if the RSS had its' way, they
would have to live as worse than second class citizens(this coming
from the mouth of Golwalkar, a chief of the RSS). Equally, the RSS has
been responsible in acts which can only make human beings feel ashamed
if they have ever been associated with this organizations(that is if
they are actually human beings and not animals).

The RSS first of all was indirectly involved in the Gandhi
assassination case, and this came from the mouth of the judges who
actually judged the case. Unfortunately, it couldn't be proved. But
after his assassination, the RSS activists were distributing sweets
for the same. Then, the RSS indulged in creating riots after refugees
from East Pakistan(now Bangladesh) in 1950 started coming. After that,
the RSS cadres combined with the Congress cadres in the 1969 riots,
considered the mother of riots in Gujarat. Then of course, the RSS
ideology penetrated into the police and the RAF, which is why since
1977, there was one major cycle of riot every year somewhere at some
place, or some massacre, be it Aligarh, Moradabad, Meerut, or even
Nellie. Of course, the Congress was hand-in-glove with the RSS,
ensuring the Hindu vote would consolidate behind them.

Then the RSS also supported to a certain extent the 1984 riots. In
this very forum, a statement was put up regarding the views of Nanaji
Deshmukh, a prominent RSS leader, regarding what should be the Sikh
response to the pogrom (which is to suffer and keep quiet). And then
who can forget their own role in the mother of all frenzies resulting
in the Babri Masjid demolition. (Again the Congress started this and
the RSS continued from there, through the BJP, the Rath Yatra, the VHP
and the Bajrang Dal and Co.).
And finally, what about 2002? Who said that revenge for Godhra was
being taken (through rapes and mutilation of dead bodies)?

The RSS has been also accused of misusing money given in the aftermath
of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake to get weapons which were used during
the 2002 post-Godhra violence. And you, dear Sir, seem to be living in
some other era for actually stating that RSS has contributed greatly
to the nation.

Probably, when every day terror attacks take place in this nation,
people would realize that the RSS doesn't have the balls to protect
the nation either through the BJP, the VHP or the Bajrang Dal. And by
then it would be too late. If we have to end terror attacks, we have
to finish those who keep on spreading terror for their own benefit, be
it the fundamentalists on the Muslim side (read the Lashkar, the Jaish
and their co. in India), or the fundamentalists on the Hindu side (be
it the RSS and the Sangh Parivar or the Shiv Sena).

And most importantly, we should follow laws, not by coercion, but by
choice after reasoning them out. Only then, does our democracy have
some meaning. And only then would teaching Emergency and other events
would have some meaning.

Regards

Rakesh