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Re: Guptara, Mangalwadi, Shourie's nephew and "fascism"
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of late i am finding that ipi debates are lacking depth. many members
respond in a way that smacks of political or agenda or venting out of
unrealized frustrations.
i agree with dr roy
>From: "Dr.SubrotoRoy" <sroy@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in>
>Reply-To: debate@indiapolicy.org
>To: <debate@indiapolicy.org>
>Subject: Guptara, Mangalwadi, Shourie's nephew and "fascism"
>Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2000 18:54:46 -0800 (PST)
>
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>Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
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>Mr. Arun Shourie's nephew is assaulted somewhere in Madhya Pradesh. That
>is the apparently unsigned information Mr. Guptara sends to Dr Sanjeev
>Sabhlok at IPI. To this he adds that his hero Mr. Mangalwadi likes the
>victim of the assault. Then we are told the assailants are "fascists".
>We
>are told the victim of the assault is a Brahmin "of the priestly caste",
>that he was helping the Shudras, who are at the bottom of the social
>ladder,
>etc.
>
>Now this is all an overtly political agenda which goes against IPI's rules
>and commonsense. Besides amusement, and a concern that IPI would again
>degenerate as it did last year into irrelevancies, one question arose in my
>mind, which is purely factual, and which Mr. Guptara or his friends is
>challenged to answer:
>
>Q. Could Mr. Guptara or Mr. Mangalwadi please be kind enough to trace any
>linkage between the characters named by them as assailants of Mr. Shourie's
>nephew, and Benito Mussolin's Fascist Party in Italy?
>
>Many thanks
>
>Subroto Roy.
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: prabhu.guptara@ubs.com <prabhu.guptara@ubs.com>
>To: debate@indiapolicy.org <debate@indiapolicy.org>
>Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2000 1:57 PM
>Subject: FYI on India
>
>
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> >Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 11:48:15 +0100
> >
> > The following news release may be of interest to you, so I am
>passing
> > it on to you. Do use it as you see fit but all follow-up questions
> > please to Mr Chandra Kant Shourie, Tel: + 91.7673 -32354; email:
> > cshourie@rediffmail.com
> >
> > Many thanks
> >
> > Professor Prabhu Guptara
> > Director, Executive and Organisational Development
> > Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre
> > (a subsidiary of UBS AG)
> > CH-8272 Ermatingen
> > Switzerland
> > Tel: +41.71.663.5605
> > Fax: +41.71.663.5594
> > e-mail: prabhu.guptara@ubs.com
> > INTERNET: http://www.wolfsberg.com
> >
> >
> > RISING FASCIST THREAT TO INDIAN DEMOCRACY
> >
> > Famous Indian Journalist's Nephew Suffers New Year's Attack by
> > Fascists
> >
> > Arun Shourie's nephew suffers New Year Attack by Fascists
> >
> >
> > RELEASE DATE: MONDAY 10 JANUARY 2000
> >
> >
> > Chandrakant Shourie, the nephew of one of India's most prominent
> > journalists, Arun Shourie, was attacked by fascists on New Year's
>Eve
> > in a remote part of Central India. Chandrakant, his wife, their son
> > and friends and neighbours suffered in the attack which also damaged
> > Mr Shourie's house and property.
> >
> >
> > MAIN STORY FOLLOWS....
> >
> > Chandrakant Shourie's friends, Sudhir Mishra and Sanjeev Shrivastava
> > and family were celebrating New Year together with them. At about
> > 11.30 another neighbour, Jagat Ram with his wife and two small
> > children, also arrived as they had also been invited. Mr Shourie
>came
> > out to welcome them when Pappu Singh, Dibbu Singh, Ganesh Dheemar,
> > Vinod Singh, Vasudev Singh and Sharad Singh attacked Mr Shourie.
> > However, everyone in the house rushed out to Mr Shourie's rescue and
> > when this was done, the party belonging to the house went back into
> > the house, before going to report the matter to the Police.
> >
> > At 12.05 a.m. Mr Shourie returned from the Police Station along with
>a
> > Police escort. As soon as he stepped out of the car at his gate, he
> > was attacked afresh by Ashok Singh, Babu Lal Patel as well as some
>or
> > all of the earlier attackers and possibly some others.
> >
> > On hearing the uproar, some of the friends and Mrs Shourie and son
> > Ashish Shourie ran out, managed to rescue Mr Chandrakant Shourie
> > again, brought him inside the house and locked him in one room for
>his
> > own safety. The attackers then charged the house armed with sticks
>and
> > other lethal weapons and started beating up everyone in sight
> > indiscriminately.
> >
> > Mrs Shourie suffered a wound on her hand and was protected by others
> > even at risk to their own lives. Son Ashish had to get 5 stitches on
> > his right hand. Friend and neighbour Sanjeev Shrivastava was hurt in
> > his hand also; Mr Shrivastava's father as well as his brother were
> > badly beaten up and both sustained head injuries.
> >
> > "All this hapenned in the presence of the Police personnel" says Mr
> > Chandrakant Shourie, "They were either unwilling or unable to
>protect
> > us".
> >
> > Then began the process of lodging police records and undergoing
> > medical
> > examination. They returned home, exhausted and traumatized at 4.00
> > a.m., unlike most people in the world on New Year's Night who were
> > able to welcome the dawn of the year 2000 with street parties, or
> > special excursions or safely in their own beds.
> >
> > Ten days after the incident, the main culprits are still roaming
> > freely and are threatening the witnesses and going around saying
>that
> > they will kill Mr Shourie, and cut him into pieces!
> >
> > What could cause such strange things to happen?
> >
> > When Chandrakant Shourie graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering
> > Degree from one of India's premier Engineering Institutes (BIT
> > Pilani), he surprised everyone by idealistically deciding not to
> > pursue a career in engineering or computing or management but to
>move
> > to Nagod, one of India's most remote and backward places in India,
>to
> > set up a school for the most disadvantaged groups of people there.
>The
> > Shouries belong to the Brahmin caste (the top caste, of priests)
>which
> > has traditionally been scholarly and idealistic. But with financial
> > support only from a few family friends, the "school" was much too
> > idealistic and not at all scholarly. At the start: Mr and Mrs
> > Shourie's bedroom served as the only classroom and the school
>library
> > was the few books that the family itself possessed which they shared
> > with the students who came to them.
> >
> > But for the poor and the oppressed in Central India - that is, the
> > lower castes, the Shudras, the virtual slaves and the untouchables -
> > even that little was an enormous boon! No one had taken interest in
> > their troubles for hundreds if not thousands of years.
> >
> > These "lower caste" people have very little education and
>capability.
> > The higher caste people (Thakurs) enjoy all the priveleges and hold
> > all the power in the administration and the police. So when an
> > injustice is perpetrated, the poor have no voice.
> >
> > Over the twenty years that the Shouries have run their school in
> > Nagod, some of these poor people have started turning to the Shourie
> > family for help, and in a number of cases they were able to help the
> > poor people get redress through proper legal and administrative
> > procedures . The people have begun to trust them and come to them in
> > their times of trouble. As they help the poor, the Shouries have
>begun
> > to be seen by the ruling castes as a challenge to their
>centuries-long
> > hold over the poor people.
> >
> > According to Mr Shourie, "This incident was designed to send a
>message
> > to the poor and the oppressed: 'if we can do this to an educated
> > Brahmin like Mr. Shourie in his own home, you poor people are
> > certainly not safe from us and should expect no help from them'.
>This
> > incident has nothing to do with personalities but with principles.
>It
> > is a sign of the desperation of the old order as it continues to try
> > to prevent education and liberty and market forces from eroding the
> > reign of terror which the ruling caste has exercised over this land
> > for centuries. If they kill me and my wife and my entire family,
>will
> > they prevent education and liberation from coming to this dark part
>of
> > India? By disabling or removing us from the scene they will limit or
> > deprive the poor people of the little help that we have been able to
> > give them. But the powerful and the mighty should realise that
>history
> > is against them and they should do as feudal elites in Northern
>Europe
> > for example did when they were in a parallel situation. The Northern
> > European elites chose to go along with change and even sponsor
>change.
> > That way their whole land benefited and they themselves are still
> > there as the richest sections of their societies. But in other parts
> > of Europe, for example Russia, the elites did resisted change. The
> > result was that their whole land still suffers from backwardness and
> > their traditional elite classes have in any case been completely
> > eliminated. In a globalising world, there are new opportunities, we
> > should be working together to produce more wealth for everyone, not
> > continuing the centuries old game of mystification and oppression".
> >
> > Mr and Mrs Shourie's work is extremely highly regarded and the
> > prize-winning Indian author Vishal Mangalwadi dedicated his book on
> > the New Age to them.
> >
> > The left-wing threat from Marxist and Maoist groups in the Sixties
>and
> > Seventies has now been replaced by the threat from fascists who want
> > to take over the country, destroy the tradition of Hindu tolerance,
> > replace the secular constitution, and take India back into some
> > version of the middle ages.
> >
> > Fascist activity has been building gradually over the last several
> > years but the last year was the worst year on record.
> >
> > This new year attack threatens even more fascist activity for the
> > festive year 2000.
> >
> > BACKGROUND NOTE:
> >
> > The Thakurs are the caste of erstwhile feudal landlords of the whole
> > of Central/Eastern Inda. They have enslaved the people through fear
> > and deception for ages. Many of them are very insensitive and brutal
> > people. They are often used by the other high caste people to spread
> > terror amongst the poor and the backward caste people. Their rule
>over
> > the people lasted right through the centuries of the Mughal period
>as
> > well as through the centuries of British rule because the British as
> > well as the Mughals preferred to rule through existing structures.
>It
> > is only now as Independent India has been able to mobilise resources
> > for national reconstruction that the unassailable power of the
>Thakur
> > caste has come under challenge as a result of communication,
> > education, transportation, modern finance and market forces and so
>on.
> > Most of the attackers of Mr Shourie were Thakurs (indicated by the
> > surname "Singh" in this part of India, but not to be confused with
> > "Singh" families from the Punjab who follow the Sikh religion).
> >
> >
> > Contact details:
> > Mr Chandra Kant Shourie, Tel: + 91.7673 -32354; email:
> > cshourie@rediffmail.com
> >
> >
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