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2/22/13
being that since it came from an independent body rather than some political party it must carry greater credibility. How far do you think the ads influenced the voter pattern? It's very difficult to analyse the impact. But we can say that the ad campaign was able to point out some of the ideological precepts of the Sangh Parivar. We were able to create awareness of the RSS and the freedom movement, the RSS and Gandhi, the RSS and Kashmir, about Vajpayee's role in the freedom struggle. The discrepancy between past and present. In the general voting pattern the secular vote has been higher than before, not just nationally but also state-wise. That's a very broad statement. Even exit polls can't link which specific issues contributed to that. Whether there was a Kargil wave, whether the ads had an impact. However, at election time when there is heightened political consciousness, when people are looking for news, trying to evaluate, at that time to come out with a campaign against the Sangh Parivar made an impact. This is evident from their own reactions to the ads. They were dead scared. They complained to the Election Commission that we are spreading falsehood and misleading people so action should be taken against us under a variety of clauses and sub-clauses. The Election Commission ignored them. They appealed to the media not to carry the ad linking the RSS to Gandhiji's assassination. That didn't work either. They must have felt threatened or they wouldn't be reacting like this. Does Communalism Combat see itself as a political unit? What's the purpose of any publication? The media doesn't function in a vacuum. It has a political role. Communalism itself is a political issue. We're talking about communalism in its ultimate analysis meaning fascism, implying changing of the Indian democratic order. We've been making political statements over the past six years. We're a niche publication, clearly ideologically oriented against any kind of communalism -- minority as well as majority. As we see it, the threat to Indian democracy is from the Sangh Parivar, not from minority communalism. Jawaharlal Nehru identified it years ago when he said if fascism comes to India it will be in the garb of the Hindu rashtra. The soft saffron of the Congress, the inability of the Left to look at communalism as clearly as it should, have contributed to the BJP and Sangh Parivar managing to dominate more political and social space. By not acting decisively during riots the Congress has allowed much secular space to get captured by the Parivar. The ad campaign is reported to have cost approximately 1.5 crores. Who funded it? The Congress, CPI, CPM and about ten prominent individuals. Don't you think accepting money from political parties compromises your independence? We're quite certain it will not. And we're not just saying this in conversation but in the next issue of Communalism Combat we're openly telling our readers what we've done and why. Not just that the campaign happened but the whole process. Our rationale for linking with the Congress/CPI/CPM to politicallty isolate the BJP. It's a waste of time to speculate on whether we've compromised ideals by associating with the Congress. Only our future issues will prove whether we're becoming soft on the Congress or whether we remain as independent as we've always been. With the Congress in power in Maharashtra do you anticipate interference in the near future? We engaged in a one-time interaction. There's no continuing association. We're an independent outfit that offered a media service at the time of elections. They can't dictate editorial policy and never will. One of the first things we'll be doing in the next few weeks is demanding action on the Srikrishna Commission report. It was one of the election promises, but no one's mentioning it now. It has to come on to the activists' agenda. Now that the Shiv Sena is out of power is the Congress going to take action against the Sena and BJP leaders and police officers indicted in the report? Some organisations which endorsed one of the ads are reported to have received notices from the government. What does the notice say? The notice asks why action should not be taken under the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) against NGOs receiving foreign funding for attempting to intervene in the political process. The ad revealing the Sangh Parivar's attitude towards women, that they don't respect women, carried direct quotations from BJP and RSS leaders and was endorsed by 13 women's organisations. So they're trying to get at these organisations. But NGOs that have nothing to do with the ad have also received notices. Groups involved in secular action. Instead of stating whether they stand by the quotation, regret it or deny it, the BJP has resorted to intimidatory tactics. Typical fascist mentality. They can't counter the content of any of the ads which are based on factual information and history. Some carry statements by their own leaders directly countering the BJP's current ideology. The ad on Kashmir shows how Premnath Dogra who later became president of the All India Jan Sangh, prior to 1948 had opposed Kashmir joining India on the grounds that Hindu Kashmir should not join secular India. Do you see this as the beginning of a crackdown on NGOs opposed to Hindutva ideology? Yes. It's the beginning of a larger crackdown on secular NGOs, a sign of things to come. It's a parallel of what's happening in Pakistan. There also the government is saying all money should come to the government which will then decide where the money will go. The good thing is that all the organisations are veering to the position that this has to be fought unitedly. We are making it quite clear that we're all in it together and we refuse to get intimidated. Till this notice happened there was fear. Under the previous home ministry over 100 permissions under FCRA to Christian organisations
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were been cancelled in the last 13 months. The United Christian Forum and others have been collecting data. We heard that in Tamil Nadu some FCRA registration numbers cancelled from Christian NGOs have been allotted to VHP organisations. Why should they do that when they could allot a new number? Maybe to establish that the organisation has been around for a long time. Earlier there was a fear that only Christian organisations were being targetted. People were afraid to make it public fearing a witchhunt. Now it's become obvious that anyone involved in secular action is going to get targetted. So the move is to formulate a joint strategy. Someone has to call the `foreign bogie' bluff. Who is the biggest beneficiary of foreign funding? Time and again people say it's the VHP, directly and indirectly. Part of the struggle is going to be to collate all this information and get out of the fear. Let's demand a white paper on this. Let them make a public statement on who gets how much from where. How is Communalism Combat responding to this? There's no notice to Communalism Combat. We're a private limited company so do not fall under the purview of FCRA. But we're coordinating action between the groups. We're in the process of drafting a memorandum which will be sent to the President, the prime minister, all members of parliament, the home ministry and of course released to the press. This is part of mobilising public opinion, informing people that we're taking collective action. Meanwhile, the groups are also replying to the notices individually. But we're exchanging drafts, exchanging responses, conducting signature drives. Does Communalism Combat receive foreign funding? Our funds come from corporate advertising and subscriptions. Under FCRA no newspaper or publication can receive foreign donations. But that doesn't mean we can't receive subscriptions from abroad. A subscription is a commercial transaction not a donation. We don't receive foreign donations. What constructive role do you visualise for yourselves in the future? Many groups doing very good work have little opportunity to make a wider impact. In the last few years a lot of people -- historians, economists, urban development planners -- have been feeling a need to initiate systematic interaction with different political patterns. Maybe groups of people interacting with groups of politicians across party lines. Regularly and systematically on different issues. Politicians who are secular, have a commitment to people's programmes, education, economic development. Our specialisation will be communalism. Other groups will come in with their areas of specialisation. This is just one of the ideas we're working on.
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