We have been hearing the name Teesta Setalvad atleast from the days of the Gujarat riots of 2002 when she fought countless cases on behalf of victims. A very brave woman, we thought.. A seemingly vengeful Gujarat Government then began piling irrelevant case upon case on her..
But this is the first time I read her own words.. A year ago, she said that : 'The RSS is in power in India today. RSS is a proto-facist force and it does not believe in the Indian constitution.. We are dealing with forces that cannot tolerate dissent of any kind, particularly political dissent," Setalvad had told PTI. '
And a month ago, she writes : 'I am often accused by proponents of militarised and political faith, of being “anti-Hindu” or a “Hindu-hater”. This is then propagated by certain sections of the media. However, I have deep respect for all faiths including Hinduism. So here are 11 Hindus who inspire me.'
She then goes on to describe the inspiration she draws from Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Gandhi, and many ordinary Hindus who in the last few years stood up to stop bloodshed.
Two months ago, Teesta said : “We have in place, in about eight states, including Maharashtra, certain cow protection laws, that actually privilege the gau rakshaks. So, laws are being passed to allow gau rakshaks the power to be vigilantes.. These (laws) are all being passed under the current dispensation.. citizens will have to raise this in a rational way, saying that the cow may be a very precious animal for certain sections of Indians, but you cannot privilege lynching and killing of human beings over this issue.'
Setalvad said that there are police personnel, people in high offices, in the state executive and judiciary, who actually believe that India should be a religion-based nation.
In the end I read a piece she wrote just a week ago : it chronicles the Mumbai violence of 1992-'93 and the State's response to it. It is just a straightforward re-telling, but searing in its impact - I have read just one-third of the way down so far..
She writes : 'The build-up to these orchestrated convulsions had been systematic, from the speech and utterances by leaders of right wing supremacist organisations, well documented by Justice BN Srikrishna in the official judicial commission report into the violence.'
'The motivated campaign for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya had never been just about the demolition of a place of worship, though that criminal act was bad enough; it had been successfully and cleverly shaped to unleash a hitherto cloaked hatred of the “Muslim other”; now blamed and victimised for a litany of historical wrongs, who, in a medieval and macabre dance of revenge, was being made to pay.'
'The BJP-Shiv Sena official announcement of a politically motivated Mahaarti programme in the third week of December, strangely permitted by the police and government, saw the stage being set for provocations and attacks on Muslim life and property across the length and breadth of the city...Despite these facts, to date, proponents of outfits that thrive on a manipulation of facts and through these, the narrative of history continue to speak of the Bombay communal violence as a response to the bomb blasts instead of vice versa.'
But this is the first time I read her own words.. A year ago, she said that : 'The RSS is in power in India today. RSS is a proto-facist force and it does not believe in the Indian constitution.. We are dealing with forces that cannot tolerate dissent of any kind, particularly political dissent," Setalvad had told PTI. '
And a month ago, she writes : 'I am often accused by proponents of militarised and political faith, of being “anti-Hindu” or a “Hindu-hater”. This is then propagated by certain sections of the media. However, I have deep respect for all faiths including Hinduism. So here are 11 Hindus who inspire me.'
She then goes on to describe the inspiration she draws from Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Gandhi, and many ordinary Hindus who in the last few years stood up to stop bloodshed.
Two months ago, Teesta said : “We have in place, in about eight states, including Maharashtra, certain cow protection laws, that actually privilege the gau rakshaks. So, laws are being passed to allow gau rakshaks the power to be vigilantes.. These (laws) are all being passed under the current dispensation.. citizens will have to raise this in a rational way, saying that the cow may be a very precious animal for certain sections of Indians, but you cannot privilege lynching and killing of human beings over this issue.'
Setalvad said that there are police personnel, people in high offices, in the state executive and judiciary, who actually believe that India should be a religion-based nation.
In the end I read a piece she wrote just a week ago : it chronicles the Mumbai violence of 1992-'93 and the State's response to it. It is just a straightforward re-telling, but searing in its impact - I have read just one-third of the way down so far..
She writes : 'The build-up to these orchestrated convulsions had been systematic, from the speech and utterances by leaders of right wing supremacist organisations, well documented by Justice BN Srikrishna in the official judicial commission report into the violence.'
'The motivated campaign for the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya had never been just about the demolition of a place of worship, though that criminal act was bad enough; it had been successfully and cleverly shaped to unleash a hitherto cloaked hatred of the “Muslim other”; now blamed and victimised for a litany of historical wrongs, who, in a medieval and macabre dance of revenge, was being made to pay.'
'The BJP-Shiv Sena official announcement of a politically motivated Mahaarti programme in the third week of December, strangely permitted by the police and government, saw the stage being set for provocations and attacks on Muslim life and property across the length and breadth of the city...Despite these facts, to date, proponents of outfits that thrive on a manipulation of facts and through these, the narrative of history continue to speak of the Bombay communal violence as a response to the bomb blasts instead of vice versa.'
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