India's right step up fight

>> Hindu nationalists try to drown out local critics

By CRAIG SEGAL

Academic operatives from India's Hindu nationalist government flew to Montreal to obstruct an international conference on the modern state of India on August 28, but had little success.

 The four-man group, led by the head of the Indian Council of Historical Research--a pro-government body that has caused a major controversy in India by censoring books and art critical of Hindu nationalism--thought they could stop the conference with a letter of protest. But local conference organizers scoffed at the inky initiative and the discussion--held as part of the 36th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies--went forward.

 According to witnesses, the interlopers wreaked havoc at the packed discussion, interrupted, attacked and screamed like banshees. "When they failed to get the event cancelled, a whole bunch of government supporters showed up," says conference organizer Delores Chew, a professor at Marianopolis. "They kept jumping out of their seats and screaming. A significant number of them vociferously attacked us."

 "They interrupted people while they were speaking. They heckled," adds Keith Meadowcroft, conference arbitrator. "It was difficult to maintain order." But it wasn't mission impossible. Meadowcroft says he didn't feel the need to throw anyone out or reschedule the conference because "the delegates didn't come and throw chairs."

 Critics say the Hindu nationalist BJP government of India is trying to repress non-Hindu religions, intellectual freedom, and academic history both at home and abroad. For example, in a report titled "Fascist Attack on History and Secular Historians in India," one critic accuses the government of "resorting to every method in the guidebook of Nazi Germany to shift political debate to the Right and away from the questions of people's livelihood and survival."

 The brass who disrupted the conference have managed to disrupt other Indian-themed events held in Canada, and the Indian High Commissioner himself recently used his bulk to cancel an art exhibit in Toronto. The Commissioner did not respond to Mirror phone calls by deadline, but had earlier justified such disruptions in the Toronto Star: "Certainly, artists in India or Canada can have any kind of exhibit they want but when you fund an exhibit abroad that criticizes your government, that's not freedom of speech, that's stupidity," said High Commissioner Rajanikanta Verma. Verma has also been accused of interfering in the funding of a human rights conference at the University of Waterloo.

 "The Indian High Commissioner is taking orders from somewhere, so this is direct interference from the Indian government in Canadian affairs," explains Feroz Mehdi, coordinator of the South Asia Research and Resource Centre on Parc. "They have a huge network all over the world and their goal is to get recruits from among Indians abroad and they gather a lot of money. It's a very dangerous trend. It's taking us back many thousands of years," says Mehdi. "This thrust toward Hindu nationalism is destroying the multicultural character of India."

 Feroz thinks Canada could be doing more to stop the Indian government from interfering in the intellectual freedom of Canadians. "I would like to see the Canadian government check that interference. This interference should not be allowed in Canada." :

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