Combating communalism

KHOJ is a search, a journey, that helps children to explore different realities. It is an attempt to dissolve prejudices that can flourish even in very young minds. Khoj is part of a larger effort which is built on the simple faith that hate hurts, harmony works.

Khoj is about people, different kinds of people. Some brown people, some not so brown. Some Hindu, some Muslim, some Christian, some Sikh. Some Dalit, some Jat... It's about asking how all these people are different: Do they have a God? Who is he? Or she? Are they all different Gods? What do we know about them? Would we like to know more? What does God mean to us?

Asking such questions in the abstract is easy but futile. But how can school children be engaged in actually exploring these questions? One of the most lively ways to do it is to bring them into contact with people and places they do not otherwise encounter in their everyday life.

For example, a bus load of children from one of Mumbai's most elite schools is taken on a field trip to a predominantly Muslim, working-class area of the city. Most of the children have never been to that part of the city before. They are amazed at the sight of a goat's carcass hanging in a butcher's shop. They are accustomed to seeing only neatly packaged pieces of meat in the freezer at home.

A guided tour of the local mosque proves fascinating for the children. Some of them murmur about the sparkling cleanliness of the mosque. They are evidently surprised about this. Later, perhaps some of them wonder why they did not expect the mosque to be so clean.

Khoj is part of a larger endeavour which was a response to the traumatic communal tension and violence which erupted all over India after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. It was a period of deep despair for all those who had spent years working for communal harmony. For some of them, the only possible response was to plunge more intensely into anti-communal work.

It was in this context that two journalist-activists, Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, decided to devote themselves to this mission on a full-time basis. They launched a magazine called Communalism Combat which soon became compulsory reading among a wide-range of people. The magazine, now in its eighth year of publication, concentrates on countering communal propaganda, highlighting the deeply rooted traditions of co-existence among different communities and reporting on a wide variety of initiatives for communal harmony.

From the very outset, this team was clear that though the magazine serves a vital function, the most crucial work must be done at the ground level. By 1993, there were signs of deep prejudice even among students of schools which prided themselves on having a tradition of strong liberal values. In some schools there were cases of Muslim students being ostracised in their own classrooms.

Thus, Khoj is an attempt to tackle different kinds of prejudice through intensive, non-formal interaction with children aged 10, 11 and 12 years. Seven years after it was launched, Khoj is working in 35 schools all over Mumbai. Over the years, Khoj has involved teachers in critiquing the history syllabus for gender, caste and communal biases. It has now prepared an alternative syllabus kit for history and social studies, which will soon be ready for distribution all over India.

Since 1996, two pages of most issues of Communalism Combat have been devoted to the activities and journey of Khoj. It sometimes includes a quiz which disseminates important historical information through its questions. For example, it asks for the name of the Mughal emperor who was sent a rakhee by a Rajput queen since she wanted his protection.

Sometime in 1996, Khoj sprouted "an olive branch" called Aman. This initiative is a response to the fact that most school children have little knowledge about India's neighbors. The primary focus of this effort has been a Peace Pals program for Indian and Pakistani children who write letters to each other.

So 12-year-old Harsh Ashar of India replies to Faryal Faheem in Pakistan saying, "it gave me great pleasure that you want to forget the enmity between India and Pakistan...Imagine if India Pakistan merge their (cricket) teams. We would beat any other team..."

Aman-Peacepals also has an Address "bank" for children who wish to make a penpal across the border. Children can write in with their age and hobby details and the Address Bank finds them a matching address in Pakistan. Together, the Khoj and Aman efforts have also created posters and greeting cards with paintings in which children express their vision of peace and harmony. Teesta feels that the Aman process has far more potential than has so far been realised and there is a need to extend the reach of the Peace Pals program.

Meanwhile, the work of Communalism Combat remains a steep uphill battle. "I feel extremely worried that behind the surface calm, a huge storm is building", says Javed Anand. This, he feels, is because most people are partly cognizant but partly complacent about communal prejudices and tension.

However, the combined efforts of many peace activists in Mumbai have ensured that the Srikrishna Commissions Report is still a live political issue. This is the commission which investigated the communal violence in Mumbai in 1992-93 and severely indicted the police and the Shiv Sena. Citizens' groups are still clamoring for the implementation of the Srikrishna report and prosecution of the guilty.

The Communalism Combat team are also members of the Pakistan- India Forum for Peace and Democracy which was founded in 1994. This is a citizens' effort to go beyond borders and forge direct links between like-minded people in both countries. The Forum organises a convention once in about two years. Javed and Teesta feel that even this effort has far more potential than its limited success so far. "For example," they say, "at the time of Kargil we felt helpless. Individual voices were raised but the Froum ought to have been able to contain some of the hysteria over Kargil."

"Then again," says Teesta, "it's easy to enlist the gloomy side but seven years ago the communal bias of the police was not a debated issue, while it is today. Schools are also doing debates on communalism in the school syllabus."

It is the work among children that provides the nourishment for the work in Communalism Combat , says Javed. "If educational programs could be more creative and encourage children to articulate their feelings about God and other communities - then prejudices come out and get discussed."

The outcome of this work is likely to be largely invisible. Yet there are some tangible manifestations in the peace-posters and cards created by children. There are lots of paintings with the expected smiling faces, hearts, white doves, peace signs, flowers and butterflies. But perhaps the card which says it all is painted by 14-year-old Sumrina Ahmed of Pakistan. It shows a healing band-aid lovingly holding together the symbols of India and Pakistan.

RAJNI BAKSHI

For more information about Khoj and Aman, write to: Post Box No. 28253, Juhu Post Office, Juhu, Mumbai - 400049.

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