Author: Vishal Sharma
Publication:
Date:
The recent statement by acclaimed
writer Vijay Tendulkar, that he would shoot the Chief Minister of Gujarat
Mr. Narendra Modi, if he had a gun, indicates just how much the pseudo-secularist
elements in India are convinced that Modi is to be blamed for Gujarat riots,
conveniently forgetting the carnage in Godhra that preceded the riots.
As per the reports of a leading English daily, when asked by a student
what would he do, if he were given a pistol, Tendulkar is reportedly to
have said, "Even society praises a man who kills someone, who has destroyed
the lives of hundreds of people. This is a crime and death by hanging should
be final punishment. The list of those I want to kill is very long, but
I will shoot Modi, if I'm given a pistol."
What did Narendra Modi do, to deserve
the punishment of death by such people? Did the Narendra Modi government
not call the Indian Army within sixteen hours of the first sign of riots
breaking out? The Indian Army at that time was in a state of red alert
on the International border with Pakistan, in lieu of the December 13th
Islamic terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament. The Army cannot just
be removed from the border with Pakistan and be stationed in a situation
to deal with internal unrest, and yet within just sixteen hours army units
were air-lifted and brought to Gujarat. This was the fastest reaction by
any government in Indian history, while dealing with riot situations.
Did the Narendra Modi government
not initiate preventive arrests of over thirty-three thousand people across
the state of Gujarat? Which government on this planet has initiated such
a mammoth task of arresting its own people in such huge numbers even before
a crime was committed? Did the Narendra Modi government not fire over twelve
thousand rounds of bullets for riot control, and over fifteen thousands
rounds of tear gas shells? About two hundred people were shot dead by the
police to control the frenzied crowds. It was the largest killing of people
in a non-war situation by a police force in the world for riots' control.
Over four thousand indictments have been registered. Do the likes of Vijay
Tendulkar expect Narendra Modi to be a superman and prevent assault on
each and every Muslim citizen, when there was a huge out flow of public
anger?
Sadly, Vijay Tendulkar is not the
only intellect that feels so strongly about Narendra Modi. The disease
of pseudo-secularism has crept in the very self of Indian society. In the
state of Jammu and Kashmir, there has been a systematic ethnic cleansing
of Hindus from the valley in the name of religious terrorism. Hindus have
become refugees in their own land. People are being killed by Islamic militants
from Pakistan just because they belong to the Hindu way of life. Does this
not pain people like Vijay Tendulkar, and his likes? Do the perpetrators
of this type of genocide not deserve the death penalty, much before an
innocent man like Narendra Modi is unilaterally judged and proclaimed guilty
by Vijay Tendulkar and his lies, and condemned to death by shooting?
Day in and day out, innocent Israeli
civilians are systematically being targeted by the suicide bomber producing
factories of Palestine, all in the name of Jehad. Do the founders of such
terrorist producing factories not deserve capital punishment before Vijay
Tendulkar opens his mouth and vents fire at Modi? Maybe Vijay Tendulkar
has forgotten the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bali, Mumbai or Istanbul
mass bombings and killings of innocent civilians all in the name of Islamic
Jihad, by the likes of Osama Bin Laden, the ISI, and other jihadi forces.
May be Osama Bin Laden is judged less guilty, and Modi is hated.
If Vijay Tendulkar wants to shoot
so many people, he should consider volunteering for the Indian Army and
be stationed on the borders with Pakistan, and let him satisfy his desire
to shoot, albeit in the service of India, and at the terrorists. Shooting
unwanted verbal expletives and creating headlines should be condemned.
We are sick of such people, and of such writers who raise irresponsible
statements, and get away with it. The law must take such statements into
account and pass exemplary reprimand to dissuade any future such verbal
indulgences aimed at creating hype, and communal tensions. As S.K. Modi
author of the book "Godhra: The missing rage" has to aptly put it and called
such a group as the "Booker Brotherhood".
Pseudo-secularists would deride
any person who openly stands for Hindu rights. The bane of Indian democracy
has sadly been the rise of coming into prominence of such elements, which
have in the name of a perverted interpretation of secularism given rise
to a self-defeating view point - anything pro-Hindu is bad. Therefore,
the only mistake that Modi made was to denounce the killings of the Hindus
at Godhra and reason the subsequent riots to be Godhra's aftermath. An
analysis that saw the initial perpetrators being local Muslim miscreants
is not acceptable to the pseudo-secularists and they have since then initiated
an anti-Modi campaign. Maybe they don't like Modi, maybe they don't like
the way he talks, maybe they don't like that stoic, emotionless way he
projects himself, maybe they don't like his beard, but then who cares?
The people of Gujarat, who matter, like him, and vote for him. This is
democracy and the voice of the many reigns supreme over the voice of the
miniscule few armchair critics.
One never knew that an acclaimed
writer of Vijay Tendulkar's repute had such an intense desire to take another
human being's life. One never knew that he cherished a desire to kill many
a people, and kindled such hatred for the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The
inner person of Vijay Tendulkar frightens me, and the logic being used
to pronounce a death sentence on Narendra Modi saddens me, not so much
for a liking for Modi, but for the simple reason that if the intelligentsia
of a nation chooses to blind itself with myopic and polarized views, there
is little hope for others. The Indian intelligentsia needs to move with
times, and come out of its pseudo-secularist viewpoint, and take stands
in sync with the changing times. The sufferings of the Muslims should be
condemned but so should the sufferings of the Hindus! If the Gujarat riots
are despicable then more so is the Godhra tragedy that sparked off everything.
If the demolition of the Babri mosque-structure was a blot on Indianness,
then the first act of destroying a Hindu temple in Ayodhya by the Mughal
authorities was an insult to each and every Indian, and the continuance
of that national shame was a blot on the person of all of India, both Hindu
and Muslim. Publicly expressing a desire to shoot Narendra Modi is a cheap
way to get publicity, surely writers and intellects, have the capabilities
of getting publicity in some other benign way.
