‘Once the
faith of the minorities in the impartiality of the administration is shaken,
fundamentalists get an opportunity’
Prakash Karat
Politbureau member, Communist Party of
India (Marxist)
The spiral of violence
which has affected Coimbatore, culminating in the horrific bomb blasts that
killed over 50 people and injured 200 others, is a grim warning for the
working class movement in the city and all secular–minded citizens... The
culmination of the series of incidents (growth of the RSS, the Hindu
Munnani, the Tamil Nadu Hindu Merchants Association and the retaliatory
Al–Jihad and Al–Umma) was the unprecedented violence which hit the city for
three days between November 29 and December 1, 1997 — just three months
back.
It was
sparked off by the cold-blooded murder of a traffic constable by some
extremist Muslim youth. In retaliation, with the people in a state of
revolt, three days of murder, arson and loot took place. Eighteen Muslims
and two Hindus died. A shocking incident, which occurred in the city General
Hospital, reveals the depths of dehumanisation and bestiality which have
been injected by the communal poison. Muslims wounded in the riots who were
brought to the hospital were waylaid by a mob of Hindu fanatics and three of
them were lynched and burnt alive in front of a watching policeman. A
graphic account of these atrocities has been recorded by a People’s Union
for Civil Liberties team which visited the city at that time.
As usual,
the provocation by some fundamentalist elements saw the Muslim community
bearing the brunt of the retaliation. Once the faith of the minorities in
the secular impartiality of the administration is shaken, their alienation
grows and fundamentalists get the opportunity to step up their activities.
In the case of Coimbatore, there is sufficient indication that Muslim
extremist groups are getting help from abroad.
This
vicious pogrom on the Muslim community set the background for the bomb
blasts, which have now come as an act of revenge. This is disturbingly
similar to the events in Mumbai in 1993 when after the large-scale riots
against the minority community and police atrocities, the bomb blasts came
in retaliation.
To ignore
all these developments and to harp only on one aspect of the situation, that
Muslim fundamentalists are on the rampage, is what the BJP and the RSS
combine finds convenient to project. Their culpability in creating the
conditions for the horrific communal violence in Coimbatore is direct and
has to be exposed.
The
communal virus has already affected Tamil Nadu and it will require sustained
and intensive efforts to eliminate it. The BJP’s alliance with the AIADMK
will provide it with further opportunities to spread the RSS ideology in the
state. The RSS tactic of setting up front organisations which use religious
festivals and other occasions to spew hatred against minorities and then
engineer riots is a modus operandi which has been seen in many urban centres
such as Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jamshedpur and Rourkela, time and
again. This leads to the disruption of working class unity.
(Excerpted from Karat’s s piece in Frontline dated March 20, 1998)
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