Author: Dara Kadva
Publication:
Date: September 6, 2000
6th Sept. 2000
The Chairman
National Commission
for Minorities
Lok Nayak Bhavan, 5th
floor
Khan Market
New Delhi 110 003
Dear Sirs,
I am enclosing the copy
of a report, which has appeared in today's Asian Age (Mumbai Edition),
written by Purnima Tripathi, about the NCM Report to the Central Government,
castigating the Gujarat Government and the Sangh Parivar for alleged attacks
on Minorities in that State.
The 1st para of the report
has identified "Christians, Muslims and Parsis" as the affected Minorities.
However, the 5-column report has given only the details of these alleged
attacks in the case of the Christians and the Muslims but nothing in the
case of the Parsis.
If the reporter concerned
has slipped to give these details, deliberately or otherwise, I am - as
the concerned Editor of a Parsi publication -- interested to know them
and would appreciate if the NCM would send me these details, or alternately
send the copy of the whole Report.
As far as I know (and
I should), there were no attacks on Parsis in Gujarat during 1999 by anyone.
However, in the previous year 1998, Parsis were targetted by Christian
Missionaries and Muslim youth in South Gujarat (mainly in Surat Dist.)
but not by anyone else. These were elaborately reported in Parsidom at
the time and their copies were also sent to the then NCM Chairman Dr Tahir
Mahmoud and the late Mr Marazban Patrawala, NCM member, with both of whom
I also had an exchange of letters, which all should be there on the NCMs
record. But in their replies, they had made no reference to these attacks
on Parsist.
The reading of the NCM
Report in today's Asian Age has only reinforced my long-held belief that
the NCM seems to exist only to permanently criticise and denounce the majority
community and its institutions. What has it done for the welfare of the
very same Minorities? What are its achievements except routine denunciations
of the Sangh Parivar, which serve conveniently to play to the gallery and
provide juicy copy to the story-starved "secular" press of urban areas
like today's report in Asian Age? How is it that the Government-sponsored
Corporation for aiding minority-owned industries is not functioning yet
although it was announced in a Red Fort speech by Narasimha Rao almost
six years ago? What has the NCM done about it? Nothing.
The BJP, in its manifesto,
had pledged to abolish the NCM if voted to power but it could not do so
because of coalition compulsions. But I have little doubt that the party
was on the right track because NCM has simply proved itself to be a white
elephant, which constantly makes demands on the government, like granting
it statutory status, but does nothing after obtaining them.
When there was world
media reporting on alleged attacks on Christians last year, Dr Tahir Mahmoud
even almost converted the NCM into a parallel foreign office by receiving
Western Ambassadors daily and not bothering to report back to the government
what he talked with them.
He even launched a personal
crusade to reduce the majority percentage of Hindus and increase the overall
minority percentage by unilaterally declaring the Jains as a minority.
But he had to beat a hasty retreat when the Jains themselves rejected his
"gesture." NCM only earned national scorn over this.
I am sending copies of
this letter to various quarters to stress that it will be more useful for
all if the NCM stops being a shouting brigade, which only makes headlines
but achieves nothing else. It is a costly PR set-up to feed the "secular"
press, but the country will be equally well off without it.
Regards.
Yours faithfully
DARA KADVA
cc. to:
Shri Keshubhai Patel,
Chief Minister, Gujarat
Lt. Gen. Adi Sethna,
Member, NCM, Delhi
The Editor, Asian Age,
Mumbai
Shri. Seshadri Chari,
Editor, Organiser, Delhi
Shri Ashok Chowgule,
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Mumbai
