This country is not of one culture. We must live together and we must respect each other.'
IMAGE: Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists protest against 'anti-national' activities at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters
On Wednesday, February 24, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani, while mounting a spirited defence in the Lok Sabha of her government's actions pertaining to the Jawaharlal Nehru University controversy, listed a number of 'anti-national' statements made by JNU students earlier this year and in the past.
During her 30-minute speech, Irani mentioned the Mahishasura Martyrdom Day celebrated on the JNU campus.
She also displayed articles from the monthly magazine Forward Press in Parliament, which had written about the Mahishasur festival that celebrates the demon king.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com spoke to Pramod Ranjan, editor, Forward Press.
There seems to be a controversy over an event you organised a few years ago.
I did not organise that event, but I know what the event was about. In 2011, members of the All India Backward Students Federation organised an event at JNU during which they passed out posters featuring a painting of Mahishasur by Lal Ratnakar, reproduced from the October 2011 issue of Forward Press of which I am the editor.
The article mentions that Mahishasur belonged to the OBC (Other Backward Classes) community who progressed from the Adivasi areas out to the fields. This was one argument.
Even today, Adivasis believe that Mahishasur is their ancestor and mourn during Durga Puja which is celebrated to mark his slaying.
There was also a political argument in that article. The article talks of when Atal Bihari Vajpayee had referred to Indira Gandhi as Goddess Durga in Parliament (in the aftermath of the 1971 War). It was then that Comrade S A Dange of the CPI (the then leader of the Communist Party of India) objected.
It was after this that Indira Gandhi said, 'I am Indira. Let me be Indira only.'
Where are the Adivasis located today?
They are everywhere in India. They are based in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha.
These Adivasis are the Santhals, the Gonds and the Asur Adivasis, who have been declared primitive by the government. Their population is only 9,000. They call themselves descendants of Mahishasur.
At different places, they mourn at different times. The Santhals mourn during Durga Puja, they call it Dasai. The Ashuras mourn during Diwali.
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