Sahmat presents: In Defense of Our Secular Tradition.

August 16–23, 1999: Sahmat produces Harvest of Hatred, a 38-panel poster exhibition documenting the attacks by rightwing communal forces on civil society, minorities, and cultural freedom. The exhibition travels to the cities of Nagpur, Jhansi, Bhopal, Kanpur, and Sihora over the next month. The exhibition of posters is designed by Rajinder Arora.

To see all the posters visit

“Harvest of Hatred”

Now focus on the exhibition put up by Sahmat. The name itself is suggestive — “Harvest of Hatred: Dark Times Under the Saffron Brigade”. And through 38 panels complete with illustrations and cartoons (of Unny, Sudhir Tailang, Laxman, Keshav and of the late Irfan Hussain), facts and figures from newspaper writeups and editorials, photographs, commentaries there comes up, right before your eyes, the doings of the Sangh coalition government — from bringing about communalisation at the school/syllabi level to attacks on artists to the killings of hundreds of innocents in the name of religion to burning of places of worship to whipping up communal frenzy. I could go on and on, detailing the doings of this government in the last several months for this exhibition depicts all. On view till August 23 at the Quami Ekta Trust Building on New Delhi’s Bhai Veer Singh Marg it documents the deeds of the Saffron Brigade and adds this very vital line of Hindi poet Muktibodh — ‘tai karo kis ore ho tum’ (decide which side you are on ….)  – The Tribune, Chandigarh

http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99aug23/edit.htm