Author: M V Kamath
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 8, 2002
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_id=9207787
One question that keeps recurring
on the recent riots is the role of the opposition parties and the indifference,
if not total cowardice, they showed during all those grim incidents. What,
for example, is the nature of the Muslim psyche in Godhra? Since Independence
there have been at least four major communal riots in this town. It has
a centre for Islamic studies, the funding of which remains a mystery. According
to reports, the Muslim community is divided in Godhra, and as recently
as December 2001, there were apparently clashes between the liberal and
reactionary elements among the Muslims.
Reactionary Muslim elements have
apparently again made Godhra their home and no doubt the burning of Sabarmati
Express coaches was at their instigation. As of the moment, no newspaper
has considered it worth its while to make a study of Godhra in all its
ramifications.
A similar study is called for of
the mindset of Hindus in Ahmedabad vis-a-vis Muslims; why is it that Ahmedabad
is so prone to communal riots? Are we to believe that it is only after
the BJP came to power that communal rioting became fashionable? And would
it be correct to say that only Hindus belonging to the sangh parivar took
to the streets in an orgy of burning, looting and killing?
What, one would like to know, were
Hindus who are politically with the Congress and other opposition parties
doing when the killings were going on? Why did they remain silent? Surely,
Hindus allegedly belonging to the sangh parivar are drawn from the same
economic class as the Congress or CPM Hindus? Why didn't these Hindus rush
to the streets to stop the rioting? Gujarat's chief minister Narendra Modi
is being pilloried for not calling in the army within minutes of being
informed of the rioting. But couldn't the local Congress party have summoned
all Congress Hindus to come out and defend Muslims? Is that too much to
ask?
And what was Congress president
Sonia Gandhi doing? Couldn't she have put in a phone call to the Gujarat
Pradesh Congress Committee chief and ordered him to send every Congress
MLA and every municipal corporator to march unitedly to the riot-prone
area in an effort to restore peace and goodwill? Additionally every Congress
MP - not to mention every opposition MP - should have made an immediate
beeline to Ahmedabad to defend Muslims against the alleged sangh parivar
onslaught. Sonia Gandhi should have arranged it at short notice.
What is the point in mocking Gujaratis
for taking to violence in Gandhi's Gujarat? And where were Gandhian Congress
Hindus when the killings and arson were going on in the city? What kind
of Gandhian spirit did they exhibit? If one Gandhi could march through
Noakhali to restore peace there, surely there must be at least a few hundred
Congress Gandhians who could have braved the wrath of the rioters in Ahmedabad?
If no one else would have dared to, shouldn't Sonia Gandhi at least have
flown to Ahmedabad to organise resistance to the rioters?
Time was when the Congress had a
volunteer organisation called the Rashtra Seva Dal (RSD). Volunteers of
the RSD were always available to control massive crowds that came to hear
Congress leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal
Nehru. The RSD was a disciplined organisation and its volunteers had a
vision - the liberation of the country.
Following Independence, the RSD
fell into disarray and now has practically vanished. Why hasn't the Congress
made any effort to resurrect it? Could it be that the Congress knows that
such a body would attract no one from among the youth? There reportedly
is a Congress youth association.
The English media obviously is not
aware of the fact that there is growing resentment against it among substantial
sections of Hindus, transcending party lines. When Hindus - not just of
the sangh parivar - are attacked day in and day out by the English- speaking
chatterati that control the English media, tension builds up among all
Hindus, irrespective of their political affiliation.
According to knowledgeable sources,
the rioters were from all classes and parties. The damage unwittingly being
done to the Hindu psyche by the so-called secularists needs to be understood.
It has so far gone unchallenged. The majority of the Hindus feel assaulted
from all sides. The silent Hindu majority is quivering with anger at the
writings of some of our English national dailies and some of the television
channels.
A foreign writer, Koenraad Elst,
has described this tendency among Hindus in India as 'negationism'. The
Hindus revel in self- flagellation. It results in two developments: One,
it encourages Muslims to extremism and unwillingness to compromise, and
two, it further deepens Hindu resentment against Muslims. We know with
what disastrous consequences. It is very noble on the part of educated
Hindus to take all the blame for any rioting on themselves. But these educated
Hindus look down on those less fortunate than themselves, attacking their
religiosity in unbecoming ways.
Here is an instance of action and
reaction: The more the chatterati look down on the hurt feelings of those
who strongly believe in their religion and their gods, the greater is the
reaction of the latter and the vicious cycle steadily gets enlarged until
emotions explode in unmitigated fury. This is not to suggest that Hindu
communalism should be condoned but one wonders whether this would have
reached the depths it has, had it not been for the feeling that for 50
years in free India, Muslims have been pampered beyond limits.
The media focus has been almost
entirely on so-called Hindu communalism, which one national paper has been
pleased to dismiss airily as majoritarianism. It is as if in India it is
a crime to belong to the majority religion. On the Ayodhya issue, for instance,
the national press has been uniformly hostile towards the VHP which has
only served to strengthen its resolve to fight more bitterly than ever.
Meanwhile, the question of helping all those who have suffered grievous
losses during the Gujarat riots needs to be addressed.
Every MP gets Rs 2 crore each year
for spending in his constituency. The amount due to all Gujarat MPs must
now be diverted to the relief and welfare of the riot victims. Indeed,
if MLAs get similar benefits from the Gujarat legislative assembly, those
allowances too should be diverted to aid the riot victims. That is the
least that one can do to help them get back on their feet.
