The Growing AID-India Scandal

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Sandeep Pandey's Reply to "Open Letter ..."
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Here is the reply Sandeep Pandey wrote in 2005 itself to the questions posed to him anonymously in "Open Letter ...". While the article "Open Letter ..." has been posted on this India-Forum since 2005, Sandeep Pandey's reply has not been posted, giving the false impression that he chose not to reply -- a charge leveled against him in "Open Letter ...". Can somebody now set this false impression right by attaching this reply from Sandeep Pandey alongside the article "Open Letter ...".

Thanks,
Rahul

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Replies to an ‘Open letter to Dr. Sandeep Pandey’ from an ‘Anonymous Former AID donor’.

By Sandeep Pandey (written in 2005)

1. Dr. Pandey, who is sponsoring your present tour of the USA? How
much expenditure does it incur? Don't you think that the money spent on
this tour could have been better used to help poor people in India
instead?

Ans: My present trip is sponsored by India Friends Association, Indians for Collective Action, individual donations from Asha volunteers, AID and grants from several Universities. Now what this money could have been best spent on is a debatable issue but what I can assure you is that my trip is taking place at the minimum possible expenditure. This trip is giving me an opportunity to explain our work to a lot of people, receive feedback and as a result generate further support for activities back home.

2. Dr. Pandey, you participated in a meeting honoring Naxalites
who have murdered law enforcement officers and civilians.[2] CPI-ML,
which organized the meet, has also announced in its publication that
you attended the meet and called for revolutionary fronts like CPI-ML to unite.[3] You claim to be a Gandhian. Could you please explain how a Gandhian could support Naxalite terrorist organizations?

Ans: I support only the pro-poor stands of CPI-ML. Ideologically, I do not support violence and have never instigated violence anywhere. In the meeting that you refer to I had called for unity of Gandhian, Socialist and Left organizations to fight the communal forces. Now, CPI-ML is a political party which participates in parliamentary democracy in India and they even had 7 seats in the last dissolved Bihar assembly. If they are doing anything against the law, the law and order machinery in India will take care of it. In any case, the violence that you are accusing them of indulging in is not by their own choice. I have closely observed once as a journalist for Hindi daily ‘Nabharat Times’ in Ballia when mostly dalit members of the organization were at the receiving end of violence inflicted on them by powerful Yadav landlord army. I have also met their members in Siwan who have suffered lot of violence at the hands of goons of mafia don Member of Parliament Shahabuddin. Do you remember the young student leader, former President of JNU Students’ Union, Chandrashekhar, who was killed while making a speech at an important junction in the heart of Siwan city? Chandrashekahar was an AISA member, which is the student wing of CPI-ML. I work with CPL-ML because they work for poor and are even willing to risk their lives when fighting powerful vested interests. Some of them are very idealistic people.

3. Dr. Pandey, CPI-ML, whose conference you attended, calls for
armed revolution and for raising an army.[4] Is it not hypocrisy to
claim that you are a Gandhian but still attend CPI-ML conferences that
call for armed revolution?[5] How does the violent and fundamentalist
ideology of groups like CPI-ML fit into your self-professed Gandhian
ideals? Do you wear one mask in front of American donors and volunteers
and another in front of violent CPI-ML activists?

Ans: I do not support armed revolution. You’re just picking on one thing – my attending the CPI-ML meeting. You’re not telling your audience about my direct efforts which involve constructive cooperation with the government authorities in improving the situation for poor people in Hardoi through the right to information movement. Additionally, I attend meetings organized by a number of groups and political parties. I have also addressed a big meeting of Congress Party workers in
Jan. 2005.

4. Dr. Pandey, many ASHA donors and volunteers live in America and
some are even US citizens. You have called America "the biggest evil
power on earth"[6] and "the biggest terrorist state."[7] If so, why do
you and ASHA, which you founded, raise funds from the USA?

Ans: I distinguish between the policies of American Government of Imperialism and Militarism and the American people. Don’t you remember Gandhi was able to distinguish between the British as individual and their policies of domination
of India. You’ll be surprised to know that an American citizen James Fassett Carmen walked along with us against Coca Cola from Ballia to Varanasi last year. The American government has killed more number of innocent people all over the world than any single organization. I have American friends who don’t have problems with me calling America as the biggest terrorist state.

5. Dr. Pandey, while you have no qualms about calling a democratic
state like America terrorist, you have never used such words for real
terrorists like the Al Qaeda and Taliban. In fact, you turned into an
apologist for Al Qaeda in an interview you gave to a Muslim newspaper
in the aftermath of the 9/11 massacre. Even though it had been proven that
it was Al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the attacks you claimed that
nobody knew who perpetrated the crime.[8] Could you please explain why
you chose to whitewash a terrorist crime but didn't take side with
American victims?

Ans: I do not support any terrorist organization, including Al Qaeda. What I have questioned is the US without providing proof of who was behind the 11/9/2001 incidents went and attacked Afghanistan, killing common citizens of Afghanistan, who obviously had noting to do with the attack in US. I condemn US Government as much as Al Qaeda and sympathize with victims of Afghanistan as much as victims of 11/9.

6. Dr. Pandey, in the same interview, you also expressed support
for Kashmiri separatism. But you have never expressed your support for
and sympathies with Kashmiri Pandits, who are victims of Islamic
terrorism. The entire Kashmiri Pandit community of more than 700,000
was ethnically cleansed from Kashmir and nearly 400,000 of them languish in
refugee camps. Why did you not ever support the victims but instead
supported the oppressors?

Ans: I have again supported victims of violence in Kashmir and no oppressors. These victims could be Hindus or Muslims. What I have said is that the problem of Kashmir must be solved according to the wishes of people of J&K, Hindus and Muslims both. I have been informally approached by some Kashmiri Pandits and may attend any meeting to discuss their issue if invited.

7. Dr. Pandey, the newspaper mentioned above has sympathized with
the Taliban.[9] Do you agree with their Taliban sympathies? If not, why
would a person like you, who calls himself a Gandhian, disseminate his
views through such media channels, implicitly giving them credibility?

Ans: These “conclusions” are not based on anything I have said or done. I do not support the Taliban and have not presented any articles to their media channels.

8. Dr. Pandey, recently you wrote an opinion editorial for Al Jazeerah, where you demanded the release of an alleged Muslim criminal charged with abducting a woman.[10] Would you please explain why you opted to associate with a media outlet that has openly expressed anti-Semitic hatred and has been credibly accused of being connected to terrorist groups including Al Qaeda? Al Jazeerah has no circulation in India. Yet you chose it among several possible venues to publish your opinion on an issue concerning an alleged petty criminal from India.
And perhaps even more surprisingly, Al Jazeerah published your piece. Which
audience were you appealing to? What is your connection with Al Jazeerah?

Ans: I did not send any article to Al Jazeerah and would like to see the link of such an article. What you refer to is a letter that I had written to Home Secretary of U.P. Government to release my friend Moosa Azmi, which was posted on dailysouthasian@yahoogroups.co.uk.


He is not a Muslim criminal. He is part of the National Coalition for Dalit Human Rights and is dedicated to one of the most oppressed communities in our nation. He is a genuine social activist and a colleague who has been to jail with me in Varanasi in the anti-Coca Cola agitation in September 2003.

I am surprised that you can call somebody a criminal when you do not even know him. Fortunately, Moosa is out of jail after 33 days and the woman who you claim to have been abducted, who wanted to marry a Dalit man and stayed at Moosa’s place for two days after running away from her home, is now back with her parents.


9. Dr. Pandey, you have participated in several conferences and meetings organized by ASHA and AID in support of Muslim victims of the Gujarat riots. AID and ASHA have never organized any meeting, seminar, conference, or campaign in support of Hindu victims anywhere, but several other groups have organized such events in solidarity with victims of Islamic terrorism in Kashmir. Why have you never participated in or even expressed your support for such events? Do you think Hindu victims do not deserve sympathy? Would you urge ASHA and AID to make amends and sponsor events to express support for the Hindu victims of
Islamic terrorism in Kashmir and Bangladesh?

Ans: Again you seem to be drawing your own conclusion. Asha has never been the lead organizer of any such meetings though members have participated. If you organize a meeting to support Hindu victims of Islamic terrorism in Kashmir and Bangladesh, I will attend it.

While we do not make any distinction between Hindu and Muslim groups, it would behoove you to look at the communities supported through Asha projects. (www.ashanet.org)

10. Dr. Pandey, as mentioned above, ASHA and AID have never sponsored
an event in support of Hindu victims of terrorism and ethnic cleansing.
But they have sponsored extremely sectarian events in association with
groups such as the Indian Muslim Council USA (IMC-USA).[11] One of the
key speakers in one such convention was Mohammad Ahmadullah Siddiqi who
founded the banned Islamic terrorist organization, Student Islamic
Movement of India (SIMI).[12] Would you be willing to publicly state
that ASHA and AID should not associate with such organizations?

Ans: I do not have any role to play in the decision making of Asha and AID in US. Asha functions in a decentralized manner with local chapters free to take decisions about their involvement in any event. We do not work with any sectarian organization, Hindu or Muslim.


11. Dr. Pandey, would you be willing to ask ASHA and AID to co-sponsor
events with Hindu organizations like the Ramakrishna Mission, Sathya
Sai Organization, and ISKCON Bangalore which do exceptional charitable work
all over India and serves poor people everywhere without regard to
religion, caste, or language?

Ans: I’ll work with any organization doing constructive work for the betterment of humanity. Our only condition is that they should not be communal, i.e., they should not spread hatred against any other community. In Ayodhya I work with mostly Hindus, Sadhus and Saints, to ensure that the Ram temple issue is not used by organizations seeking political power by exploiting people’s religious sentiments and that the peace and harmony of Ayodhya is preserved. I have worked closely with people like Swami Agnivesh, and Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest of RamLalla Mandir, Ayodhya (the site of the proposed Ram Temple).

12. Dr. Pandey, last but not the least, do you unequivocally and
without reservation denounce Communist and Islamic terrorism? Will you
publicly denounce Communist and Islamic terrorist organizations?

Ans: I denounce terrorism. But I support the Communist Parties in India because they raise the issues of poor people and for them the issues are more important than merely political power. They certainly have more integrity than the right wing Hindutva groups who are merely interested in political power. The BJP went back on all its commitments, including that of ‘Swadeshi’ when it was in power.

13. Dr. Pandey, during the tsunami fund raiser, AID channeled funds
through the Democratic youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing
of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has been implicated
for fomenting violence.[13] The AID website also reported this. However,
when the news became public, and people started to express reservation
over AID's funding of communist outfits like DYFI, AID started removing
the references to the diversion from its website.[14] Do you think what
AID did was ethical? Would you publicly condemn AID for diverting
charity funds to outfits that engage in violence?

Ans: DYFI is the youth wing of CPM, which is a party in power in West Bengal and has an important role to play in the running of the UPA Government. I personally have no problem in working with DYFI. Today on University campuses of India Left groups are the only idealistic groups who stick to any principles at all. Rest of the political groups resort to money and muscle power to maneuver their way in politics.

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END OF SANDEEP PANDEY's REPLY
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<!--QuoteBegin-k.ram+Sep 22 2005, 06:18 PM-->QUOTE(k.ram @ Sep 22 2005, 06:18 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->To: Westin Hotel Patrons

We, patriotic citizens of America and friends of America, object to
Westin Hotel at Santa Clara in California hosting a sympathizer of a
known terrorist group on Oct 2, 2005 and will boycott Westin Hotel if
the event is not cancelled.

Sandeep Pandey, who is scheduled to be felicitated at the event, has
repeatedly called America "the biggest evil power on earth"[1] and
"the biggest terrorist state."[2] Sandeep Pandey is a sympathizer of
the violent Naxalite group, Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (CPI-ML), which calls for an armed
revolution and for raising an army.[3] He has been a delegate at the
convention of this group honoring the "comrade martyrs", a euphemism
for terrorists killed by police when they attempted violent actions on
civilians.[4]

The US Department of State has listed certain Naxalite groups as
terror groups for their use of violence to achieve their ends.[5] All
Naxalite groups have the same root and are merely various factions of
the parent group. Most of the time, they break away and rename
themselves in order to evade the State Department's 'terrorist' tag.

CPI-ML has gratefully acknowledged the support of Sandeep Pandey.[6]
Sandeep Pandey has repeatedly expressed solidarity with violent
terrorists, who massacre civilians and law enforcement officials by
blowing them up with landmines.[7] Sandeep Pandey has stressed "the
need of unity of revolutionary Communist organizations like
CPI-ML."[8]

Patriotic Americans around the country and well-wishers of America
from other democracies object to Westin Hotel hosting a supporter of
violent Communist groups and demand that Westin Hotel immediately
withdraw permission to use its facilities. If Westin Hotel refuses to
withdraw permission, we will boycott Westin Hotel in future. We also
urge all those who care for America and our values to call
888-625-5144 and cancel your reservations at Westin if you have made
any plans to stay with them.

God Bless America! Land of the Free! Home of the Brave!

References:

[1]
http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/...200434.ht\
m

[2] http://www.blonnet.com/bline/2002/09/05/st...90502790300.htm

[3] http://www.cpiml.org/pgs/partyprogram/prog.htm

[4] http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/15naxal.htm

[5] http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2003/31759.htm

[6] http://www.cpiml.org/liberation/year_2003/...ary/feature.htm

[7] http://www.cpiml.org/liberation/year_200...ary/up.htm

[8] http://www.cpiml.org/liberation/year_2003/...ary/feature.htm



Sincerely,

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/no2naxal/petition.html
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