Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND31250 Country: India Date: 14 February 2007 Keywords: India – Kerala – BJP – RSS – Communist Party – Labour organisations – Internal relocation – Sweets This response was prepared by the Country Research Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Questions 1. Please provide details of the BJP-RSS party in Kerala. 2. Are the BJP and the RSS involved in organised labour in Kerala? 3. How do these parties get on with the Communist Government of Kerala? 4. It is plausible that the government could or would prevent someone establishing a factory in another state, and that the person would be arrested if he/she did so? 5. Are there any “unique” sweets of Kerala? 6. Is it feasible that the Kerala authorities could or would prevent the person living in any part of India? RESPONSE 1. Please provide details of the BJP -RSS party in Kerala. Relationship between the BJP and the RSS The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) are active in the Indian state of Kerala. In the 2001 and the 2006 state elections, the BJP failed to win any seats. In the 18 November 2005 by-elections in Thiruvananthapuram, the BJP fielded one of its most prominent candidates but could only poll 4.8 per cent of the total votes. It was reported that the militant arm of the RSS did not assist the BJP campaign, fuelling rumours that there are differences between the two organisations in the state of Kerala. In December 2005, rivalry within the BJP broke out in the open when the dissident BJP and the RSS members ransacked the party headquarters. (For an overview on the tensions between the BJP and the RSS in Kerala see: Harilal, M. 2005, ‘On a suicide mission’, Frontline website, 17 – 30 December http://www.flonnet.com/fl2226/stories/20051230005801500.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 1; for comments on the ruling government by the BJP see: ‘BJP Kerala unit asks Govt to emulate Centre’ 2004, Times of India website, 10 January http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/415799.cms – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 2; for dissent within the BJP in Kerala see: ‘Dissidents ransack Kerala BJP headquarters’ 2005, Hindustan Times website, 8 December http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1568260,000900020003.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 3; for the performance of the BJP in a by-election see: ‘Kerala BJP chief quits over dismal performance’ 2005, Rediff website, 22 November http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/nov/22kpoll1.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 4; details on the relationship between the BJP and the Communist Party see: Pradeep, P.R.J. (undated)’RSS, BJP and Kerala – Hard Times’, Nairs website http://www.nairs.org/home.php?a026 – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 5; for comments by a BJP leader on the problems within the BJP see: ‘Rupture of dialogue cause for RSS-BJP rift: Govindacharya’ 2005, The Hindu website, 25 October http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/25/stories/2005102501580700.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 6.) The May 2006 Kerala Elections and the BJP response The Left Democratic Front (LDF), a coalition of eleven left wing parties, is in government followed by the Indian National Congress (INC) led United Democratic Front (UDF), which is in opposition. According to the Indian Elections website, the LDF won 98 seats and the UDF won 48 seats in the May 2006 state elections. In January 2007, the BJP expressed its intention to form a third political front in Kerala and accused the LDF of being corrupt and has vowed to organise protests at every meeting attended by the Chief Minister of Kerala, V.S. Achuthanandan. (For the May 2006 election results see: ‘Kerala Assembly Election 2006 Results’ 2006, Indian Elections website, 11 May http://www.indian- elections.com/assembly-elections/kerala/election-result-06.html#1 – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 7; for a lead up to the election see: ‘Kerala’s political jigsaw, unravelled’ 2006, Rediff website, 10 April http://in.rediff.com/election/2006/apr/10pkerala.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 8; for more on the election result see: Mathew, A. 2006, ‘Massive win for Left in Kerala’, Gulf News website, http://archive.gulfnews.com/indepth/indiaelection/kerala/10039419.html – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 9; for BJP’s response to the electoral defeat see: ‘BJP bid to form third front’ 2007, The Hindu website, 7 January http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/07/stories/2007010702490500.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 10; ‘BJP to hold protests against Achuthanandan’ 2007, The Hindu website, 8 January http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/08/stories/2007010802850700.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 11.) The BJP and Corruption in Kerala As noted above, the opposition BJP maintains an anti-corruption stance. Nonetheless, the BJP has itself been accused of corruption. In 2003 the BJP in Kerala reportedly accepted bribes in allocating petrol pumps to friends and relatives. A top state BJP leader told The Indian Express that the Kerala unit had been “allowed’’ by the national leadership to “accept donations’’ in return for allocating petrol pumps. “But we made the mistake of allowing a party caucus to handle that and keep the money themselves, since we did not want to put it in the party’s bank accounts. They didn’t hand it over and the party obviously can’t have any legal recourse’’. The high-level committee which probed the Lok Sabha poll debacle and allegations of vote transfer in Kerala comprised two state vice-presidents, Mohan Shanker and Manjeri Narayanan, and former state DGP and BJP state human rights cell chief, RPC Nair. The report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, was being kept under wraps for the last four months-even the state committee members have not been given copies. The probe was ordered after the party’s Lok Sabha bypoll defeat in Thiruvananthapuram nine months ago-its former state president CK Padmanabhan polled just 37,000 votes while he was expected to get about a lakh. The report also reveals how BJP votes are traded to both the political fronts in Kerala-the Congress-led UDF and the CPM-led LDF. Senior BJP leader and former Union minister O Rajagopal is quoted saying in the report that the state BJP is now “...demoralised, growth is at a standstill... no new members will join the party’’ (Pi, R. 2006, ‘We sold pumps for Rs 18 cr in Kerala: BJP panel’, Indian Express website, 31 August http://www.indianexpress.com/story/11732.html – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 12). The BJP-RSS and violence In January 2007, two RSS activists received life sentences for the murder of a Kerala bus conductor in July 2000. The RSS and the BJP are alleged to have sponsored attacks against Kerala’s Christian and Muslim communities as part of its greater Hindu nation (Hinduvta) vision for India. In September 2004, fifteen people were arrested for attacks on nuns and priests of the Missionaries of Charity. A representative of the Indian Christians blamed the attacks on the RSS. During Easter 2005, twenty RSS activists allegedly attacked Christians who were watching the movie The Passion of the Christ. Not only Christians but Muslims were targeted for hate attacks by the RSS. On 23 February 2005, the RSS activists attacked a mosque at Vallikunnam in Alleppey district and allegedly killed a Muslim man and injured two others. (For information on the arrest of suspected RSS members in September 2004 see: UK Home Office 2006, Country of Origin Information Report: India, October – Attachment 13; for information on the RSS attack on Muslims see: US Department of State 2006, International Religious Freedom Report for 2006 – India, September – Attachment 14; for BJP and the RSS campaign against Christian in Keralal see: Krishnakumar, R. 2004, ‘Communalising Kerala’, Countercurrents website, 12 October source: The Frontline (12 October 2004) http://www.countercurrents.org/comm-krishnakumar121004.htm – Accessed 19 January 2007 – Attachment 15.) 2. Are the BJP and the RSS involved in organised labour in Kerala? The Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) is the union arm of the BJP and the RSS in the state of Kerala. According to a pro BJP report in 2000 by Rakesh Sinha: The growth of the RSS in the state is not a sudden and it is beginning to challenge the Left organisations and their social philosophy – particularly their approach to the minorities. The RSS started its work in Kerala in the mid-forties, but could not emerge as a potential force till the late-seventies. One of its senior-most leaders, the veteran trade unionist, Dattopant Thengadi, spent a long time expanding RSS activities there. In 1967, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh session which was held at Calicut in Kerala gave some impetus to the party. It is at this conference that party ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay categorically defined the RSS position on minorities. Mode of worship, he said, did not change the culture and history of a people – he called Mus-lims and Christians Mohamm-adi Hindu and Christi Hindus respectively. Moreover, the grand project to construct the Vivekananda Rock Memorial launched by another RSS leader Eknath Ranade, former all-India general secretary of the RSS, was a great boost to the organisation. It also exposed the Marxists vote-bank politics. The role of RSS cadres during the Emergency was also a shot in the arm.