y plane landed at
Ahmedabad airport in the wee hours of the morning. As I emerged from this
splendid airport I was surrounded by a herd of taxi-drivers all asking me
to get into their taxis. One of them picked up my bags as another
literally pushed me into his cab, each compelling me to travel with him.
It was a surreal feeling.
I had planned to visit several places in Gujarat on this tour and
according to my schedule I was to leave for Anand the same day. I could go
either by local train or taxi and I had been advised to use a taxi. The
problem was however that while I sat in one taxi my luggage had been
loaded into another. This hijack only confirmed that although I was
travelling into Narendra Modi’s progressive Gujarat, in fact I stood
helplessly in no man’s land.
Last year, under Narendra Modi’s leadership, the BJP won the Gujarat
assembly elections with a thumping majority. The BJP’s mega success and
absolute majority in the state assembly has already made Modi mightier
than his party. As a leader, he ‘helped himself’ and the BJP to retain
success. He now rules the state for yet another term, making it four
consecutive terms for the BJP.
Following his victory at the polls, Narendra Modi declared that his win
was a triumph of the sentiments and prestige of five crore Gujaratis (sic)
"including its 50 lakh Muslims". It is however a shameful truth that the
Muslims of Gujarat are still outcastes in their own land.
Why did Modi win with a complete majority? Political pundits and
analysts in the media have their own explanations for this; the media
always seems able to justify ‘worshipping the rising sun’. According to
popular opinion in the fourth estate, it was Gujarat’s social, political
and economic development under Modi’s "able leadership" through the
preceding decade that rewarded him with yet another term in power.
Five years down the line, many media hypotheses and views, voices that
the media once espoused, seem to have subsided as many lie forgotten. The
one fact that everyone seems to agree on today is that Modi won thanks to
the social, political and economic prosperity of his state. Yet his win
owes much to his religious chauvinism, his bigotry being a major factor in
scripting his "success story". A state that had long been experimenting
with religious dogmatism, Gujarat soon turned into a boiling hotbed of
Hindu fanaticism. The carnage and riots of 2002 was the chosen
battleground where thousands of Muslims were slaughtered, their women
brutally raped and murdered, in a genocide that was condemned worldwide.
Ironically, this time around, Narendra Modi was praised for his
"statesmanship". Hindutva’s new poster boy for victory made history for
the win-win mechanism of Hindu fanaticism. Interestingly, the media seemed
to forget his many misdeeds.
As a devout Gujarati, Narendra Modi has developed infrastructure in his
state. He appealed to non-resident Gujaratis to maintain ties with their
state as true sons of the soil. He has improved the distribution and
supply of electricity in Gujarat and supported industrialisation for
sustainable growth. But as chief minister he can pick and choose which
areas to look after and which ones to avoid. Upon closer analysis it
appears that Modi deliberately overlooked Muslim dominated areas of the
state, which are instead being looked after by NGOs. Functioning within
their own limitations, these NGOs are unable to formulate feasible plans
for development; especially without the governmental support they are
denied. The very idea that they work for a particular religious group is
reason enough to arouse bias against them. Where then do Gujarat’s Muslims
and their supporting NGOs fit in such a scenario?
My musings come to a halt as I zero in on a taxi that could drive me to
Anand. Appearances speak louder than words, they say. I applied this
wisdom to the dilemma at hand, looked deeply into the faces of both
taxi-drivers and concluded that one of them was a Muslim. He sported a
beard and his typical attire, a salwar khameez, confirmed his identity. I
chose to take his taxi because I thought it would be safer travelling in a
Muslim’s taxi – my misgivings had transformed me into a communal peer.
Guessing my intentions, the other taxi-driver played his final card.
Hoping to change my mind, he used sound fiscal logic to lure me into his
taxi instead. Sir! How much are you going to pay that mian (Muslim)
chap? It isn’t safe to travel with a Muslim in Gujarat nowadays.
My appearance disguises my religion and I wasn’t easily distinguishable
as a Muslim, rather I have often been mistaken for a Hindu.
You ride with me and pay me 100 rupees less than what you would have
paid that mian, he said.
Perhaps it would be an adventure to travel in disguise. I chose the
taxi driven by Hirabhai Patel, the Hindu taxi-driver, and instructed him
to take me on a tour of Ahmedabad before I left for Anand. The
architectural beauty of this historical city evoked its golden past,
highlighting a bygone era. Its splendid buildings and monuments surpassed
my musings. This was no idle reverie.
As we traversed a busy city street, Hirabhai Patel asked me my name.
Asif Anwar, I replied. He repeated it aloud, with some modifications:
Ashish Anup. Yeah, I said, and began to talk of something else. But I was
not afraid. So you are a North Indian Brahmin. Would you please shut up
and take me to some monuments, I rebuked him. Sure, sir! A little later,
Hirabhai’s words, uttered as we drove through another crowded street,
grabbed my attention. Sir, look at that place. This is where the
biggest ever dhamal had happened. Dhamal! What do you mean?
I don’t understand. You wouldn’t since you are a "non-Gujarati Hindu".
Dhamal is a riot where devout Gujarati Hindus killed Muslims and
showed them their rightful place – the graveyard.
I couldn’t weep. I should not. Apart from anything else, I could have
been taken for a Muslim.
A few hours’ journey had suddenly become an exhausting experience.
From my seat in the taxi, I looked out anew at the city’s monuments. To
my eyes, most of them seemed to be stained with fresh blood. I looked at
Hirabhai who was now driving along in silence. People like him had turned
into Hindu chauvinists. But who can blame him for the mischief he gave
voice to? He had his arguments. Thousands like him had been instigated to
choose the path of hatred.
I toured all of Ahmedabad city in the space of two hours. I was shown
each and every temple in the city. I visited a grand temple at the army
base camp. Each devotee, including ‘me’, was checked through security. I
ate prasad. If they could have, the security guards would have checked my
‘religion and my intentions’ and found that I was not a worshipper but,
unfortunately for them, they could not. I didn’t visit a single mosque in
Ahmedabad. And I admired the towering architecture of its temples.
By evening I had arrived in Anand. Hirabhai was happy that I was a
"devoted Hindu" from North India. Still, he contended, Gujarati Hindus
were unsurpassable in their devotion. North Indian Hindus cannot even
begin to conceive of what Gujarati Hindus had done. This was all thanks to
the "able leadership" of a man of Narendra Modi’s stature, he said.
I kept nodding in mute agreement, yeah, yeah. I was in no mood for a
discussion on such weighty issues with a taxi-driver. I had to be careful
when I answered incoming calls on my mobile phone, choosing to say "hi"
instead of "salaam" to my Muslim friends when they called. I did this not
out of fear but because I wanted to hear more of these outbursts from an
ordinary if communalised Hindu who had been poisoned by hatemongering.
History flashed back through the centuries, years and years through
which Gujarat has encountered the Hindu hatemonger. Viewed against this
backdrop, Narendra Modi was no more than an ‘active’ puppet of Hindu
fanaticism who deliberately advocated the ‘cause of Hinduism’. One cannot
but recall the Gujarat riots of 1714, 1715, 1716, 1741, 1750, 1941, 1946,
1965, 1969, 1982, 1984, 1986, and the more recent ones of 1992, 1993 and
2002. The seeds of hatred have spread unbridled among leaders here.
On entering the precincts of the Institute of Rural Management in Anand,
which I was visiting on an official assignment, I paid the taxi-driver’s
fare. As he was leaving, he invited me to come back to Ahmedabad and hire
his taxi again, saying that it was really nice to have toured his Gujarat
with a "North Indian Hindu". By this time I had decided to clarify
Hirabhai’s misconceptions. I told the poor chap, enough is enough. Do you
know my identity? I am a Muslim, and a devout Muslim. Now, please leave me
alone. I had grown increasingly short-tempered.
Hirabhai Patel was plainly stunned. He sped off the campus, probably
convinced that he had been deceived by a Muslim – an experience he
wouldn’t forget in this lifetime. One that could turn him into either a
true Hindu or a full-fledged hatemonger.
I don’t know what happened with him. But a minute or two later when I
received a call on my mobile phone I answered the call and, as usual, said
salaam.
Hirabhai had reconfirmed my identity. He had disconnected the call.
I had toured Modi’s vibrant Gujarat.