Sunday, Jan 12, 2003
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By Amit Baruah
``I disagree completely (with Sir Vidia). He (the Mahatma) was a phenomenal success,'' she said, asserting that Gandhiji laid the seeds of the freedom struggle not just in South Africa, but for Africa as a whole.
In South Africa, Prof. Meer said, the Mahatma understood the true nature of colonialism at a time when Sir Vidia was still enamoured of the British way of doing things. "In South Africa, he learnt of the atrocities of the British Raj.''
``Gandhi never championed the cause of the colonial empire which, he (Sir Vidia) in a sense, continues to do,'' she said at a press conference this afternoon.
Asked what she felt about the whole Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and the proposed dual citizenship for Persons of Indian Origins (PIOs), she said the divas was a good idea, but like all ideas it had to grow. ``The whole thing was not properly thought-out. Persons of Indian origin were not consulted about the event...there was no dialogue...''
On the proposed dual citizenship, she said it was "very nice'' to be told that "you'' are also a citizen of India but people of other countries had problems. When the issue of dual loyalty arose there were bound to be tensions, she said. Prof. Meer likened it to the problem the children of divorced parents faced -- loyalty to the mother or the father.
The announcement of dual citizenship, she felt, had come somewhat prematurely. The Bill (which the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, promised will be introduced in Parliament during the budget session) should have been debated in Parliament and only then should an announcement have been made.
Prof. Meer was also unhappy that only PIOs from countries in the northern hemisphere — what she termed the dollar and pound nations — were being offered the dual citizenship. She questioned why the Government was offering to rich PIOs, but leaving out the poor PIOs. This, she said, was a violation of the sense of justice.
The exclusivism of money and privilege were destroying world society -- we don't want India to be guilty of any kind of exclusivism. India's great export, in her view, was its values.
She also took exception to the use of the word "diaspora'', which she felt had "Zionist'' connotations. Indians who lived overseas did not lay any claim to their host countries. `
`We are not a diaspora of India. We have struggled long and hard to be called South African,'' she said and pointed to the fact that the last racist Government even offered a free passage and money for the PIOs to return to India. It took the first ANC Government for Indians to become full South Africans.
"Those who called us a diaspora should give us an explanation.''
Asked about the communal violence in Gujarat, Prof. Meer said it was more tragic because it was not in keeping with Indian values. She also said that partition was one of the "world's greatest tragedies.''
To a question what she would say to the newly-elected Chief Minister of Gujarat if they met, she said: "We look to guidance from him to ensure that Hindus and Muslims live in peace.''
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