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Indian Official Whose University Reforms Have Irked
the Opposition Faces Defamation Lawsuit
By
Shailaja Neelakantan/NEW DELHI
Issue
cover-dated September 7, 2004
A Hindu-supremacist group has filed
a criminal defamation lawsuit against India's minister in charge
of education for suggesting that the group was involved in the
1948 assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi, the revered architect
of Indian independence.
The group, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, known as the RSS,
filed the lawsuit in Haryana State, which borders New Delhi,
and has threatened to file similar suits across India, a step
that would require the minister to make personal appearances
in each court.
The minister, Arjun Singh, said last month that if the RSS's
"biggest achievement was the killing of Gandhi, then you
can expect what national purpose it can serve." The RSS,
the ideological backbone of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which
ran the previous government, first demanded an apology and then
filed the lawsuit.
Mr. Singh, who as the minister of human-resource development
oversees the Department of Education, did not apologize. Instead,
he issued a written statement saying that the RSS's "philosophy
of hate and violence" had killed Gandhi, who was shot to
death by a Hindu fanatic.
Mr. Singh also said that his conviction that the RSS had played
a role in the assassination had been strengthened over the years
"because of the various acts members of this organization
(RSS) inflicted on the society."
"I am aware of their (RSS) expertise in murder and mayhem,"
he added.
The RSS dismissed Mr. Singh's statement as "mere rhetoric."
"We still believe he is blaming the RSS, and that is a
patent lie," said Ram Madhav, the RSS spokesman. "We
won't take it lying down."
He added that the RSS had filed the lawsuit in criminal court
because "this is not about monetary compensation."
If found guilty, he said, Mr. Singh could be imprisoned.
The RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party have taken aim at Mr.
Singh because he has reversed a number of BJP policies since
he took office following his Congress Party's victory in national
elections in May.
Among other things, Mr. Singh has revoked a drastic tuition
cut that the previous government forced upon the country's six
prestigious management institutes; scrapped a controversial
order, also issued by the BJP government, that required private
donations to public universities to be routed through a special
government agency; and allowed India's universities to seek
collaborations with their foreign counterparts without obtaining
the government's permission.
In addition, Mr. Singh has ordered the replacement of high-school
history textbooks that the previous government had changed to
reflect a Hindu-supremacist viewpoint.
The RSS's spokesman, Mr. Madhav, said that those actions were
part of a "political vendetta" by Mr. Singh.
The case will be heard on November 11.
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