The Hindu : `Dismiss Fernandes, ban Hindutva outfits'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 07, 2002

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National

`Dismiss Fernandes, ban Hindutva outfits'

By Our Special Correspondent

Women leaders, representing different organisations, vow to unite and fight communal forces at the inauguration of the 16th conference of the National Federation of Indian Women in Chennai on Monday. — Photo: N. Balaji

CHENNAI May 6. With the Gujarat carnage, especially the assault against women looming large in the background, women's organisations and groups today vowed to unite and combat communal forces.

The 16th conference of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) which began here today, called for a joint fight to make ``Gujarat a testing ground'' to re-establish secularism and combat ``forces which wanted to subvert the Constitution''.Condemning the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi's role in the carnage and the Centre for the situation, the meet wanted a ban on Hindutva organisations.

Tamil Maanila Congress MP, Jayanthi Natarajan, said women's groups should not rest till the Defence Minister, George Fernandes was dismissed for his remarks about the incidents of rape in the Gujarat riots.

The NFIW's president, Dheena Pathak and general secretary, Amarjith Kaur said the Centre's role in globalisation and the Hindutva groups' role in spreading communal hatred had to be seen as inseparable forces, targeting weaker sections — the poor and the women.The globalisation agenda sought to uproot people from the path of independent development, robbing it of its traditional knowledge systems and majoritarian communalism sought to challenge the Constitution and India's composite but diverse cultures. Women suffered either way.

``People who had not accepted secularism as a basic Constitutional premise were now ruling at the Centre.And after their henchmen lost the elections in five States, their basic agenda is to divide the people on religious lines, so that we will not fight their economic agenda unitedly,'' Ms. Kaur said.

The All India Democratic Women's Association general secretary, Brinda Karat, who termed the RSS as ``the Rashtriya Sarvanash Samiti'' said the Gujarat carnage was ``unprecedented in history''.Only three FIRs had been registered for ``cases of rape'' in the state till now. Ms. Karat said there was a subversion not only of law, but even of the judicial process there.

Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan accused the Union Government of ``trivialising the Gujarat situation during the Parliamentary debate''. The state which symbolised the nation's unity during last year's earthquake, had become a symbol of shame because of the ``state-sponsored genocide''. She expressed concern over the Hindutva forces brainwashing women and mobilising them for the ``religions fight''. During the riots, women's groups had encouraged the ``sevaks'', she alleged.

Justice Prabha Sreedevan of the Madras High Court, said women had to challenge the patriarchal models that depicted women as weak, needing protection.Women were seen only as a wife, mother or sister from this point of view.

Instead, there was a need for women to realistically evaluate their self worth and contribution to society.

A woman should see her role and person as precious. It was not as if she needed to seek power, because women was power herself.

Nafisa Ali, social activist released the conference souvenir.

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