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October 8, 2003 The
Indian Express Gujarat’s
gaurav The
state requires remorse and justice to be vibrant again Gujaratis
are a vibrant people. Everybody favours a Vibrant Gujarat as part of
a Vibrant India. But it does little service either to Gujaratis or
Indians generally to describe the 2002 holocaust in Gujarat as a
passing “aberration”. According
to Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani the “riots” were admittedly
“sad and unfortunate”, even shameful. But “sustained
propaganda” about what had happened was hurting the image of the
state and the country. Quite
clearly, what the deputy prime minister and home minister is again
saying is that the portrayal of the Gujarat episode has been grossly
exaggerated. (By whom? By the traumatised victims still seeking
justice? By the media, the Opposition, the NHRC, the Minorities
Commission, the Supreme Court?) His lament is that a passing lapse
at worst is not being allowed to rest. Set against the enormity of
the tragedy, such a suggestion is incomprehensible. Coming from the
home minister it is gravely disturbing. The unintended pun is apt.
Some 800 innocent persons by official count and around 2000 by the
more probable unofficial count — or their severed limbs and
incinerated bones — were interred in graves or cremated. India’s
image is neither protected nor enhanced by covering up for Narendra
Modi, Pravin Togadia and their ilk. All of them justified and
virtually glorified the horrors enacted while continuing to spread
venom and hatred in defiance of the law. Modi, broadcasting over AIR
on (was it) Day Three, told the terrified victims that if they
wanted peace they should not seek justice. Nothing
could be more brazen. Other Hindutva champions labelled the Gujarat
happenings a “successful experiment” even as the pre-election
Gaurav Yatra communicated a message of triumphalism. All
this while, the Centre was silent and supine while the home minister
of India congratulated Modi for his unparalleled achievement in more
or less restoring “normalcy” within 72 hours. What happened
within those 72 hours? Murder, mayhem, arson, rape. Judges were
attacked. Ranking
Muslim police officers were compelled to tear off their ID badges as
they were unsafe, while others who stood their ground and did their
duty were summarily transferred — on “promotion”! Two
government offices in the Old Secretariat, the Gujarat State Wakf
Board and the Gujarat Minorities Finance and Development
Corporation, were attacked and set on fire. Muslim
shops and establishments were selectively targeted and a social and
economic boycott of the community enjoined. A large number of Muslim
shrines, graves and revered symbols of cultural fusion and communal
harmony were systematically destroyed or desecrated. The
state government did not open a single relief camp — and later
forced their premature closure — while senior ministers openly
campaigned against establishing camps in their neighbourhoods as it
might endanger their safety. An
aberration or calculated policy? There was a clear breakdown of
governance. Rajdharma was preached only to be scorned and forgotten.
The Centre was finally pushed into promising to issue directives to
the state government under Article 355. It is not apparent that
anything happened. The fire was left to burn out, though the embers
of hate were kept alive. What else was the “Mian Musharraf”
campaign of calumny against the Muslims? General Musharraf returned
the compliment by referring to Gujarat in his address to the UN
General Assembly. Every sensitive, decent, democratic Indian was
filled with shame. Who has destroyed India’s image and who is
trying to pass the buck? The
argument that the Gujarat killings were a response to Godhra is
specious and abhorrent. Do innocents bear a vicarious liability for
the alleged crimes of their co-religionists? And, in any event, what
happened in Godhra awaits confirmation. The
Supreme Court’s stinging observations on the Best Bakery case
serve as a clear reminder that things are still rotten in Gujarat.
Were it that that was the sole case of investigative failure and
mistrial. Not so. FIRs
have not been properly registered. Named criminals remain at large
or are “absconding” even as they intimidate witnesses. POTA has
been selectively used. The payment of compensation for loss of life,
property and livelihood has been totally unsatisfactory in a large
number of cases. There has been no recent accounting of what
happened to the Rs 150 crore special compensation fund instituted by
the prime minister. What has happened? The
commission of inquiry into the Godhra-Gujarat events continues to
labour under Justice Nanavati who has incidentally been unable to
complete his inquiry into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, so long awaited.
Meanwhile some, like the former IAS officer Harsh Mander, who
continue to work dedicatedly to bring succour to the distressed in
Gujarat and are striving to restore confidence, trust and harmony,
are beginning to feel hounded. This is an ill omen. Advani
was discharged by a Rae Bareli court in the Ayodhya case early in
September. On September 28 he delivered his homily on Gujarat in
Ahmedabad. Three days earlier, it was reported that an IAF MI-8
helicopter made an emergency landing in a village field while on a
sortie from Jamnagar to Somnath. On
board were eight media persons said to be accompanying the deputy
prime minister and home minister on what the reporter described as
Advani’s annual tryst with the Somnath Temple. This is where he
launched his Rath Yatra in 1990, the progenitor of much ensuing
grief. Are IAF aircraft to be commandeered for media witness of
personal piety and/or party political commemorations? The symbolism of the Somnath “tryst” will not be missed. Gujarat surely needs a healing touch to become whole and truly vibrant. This calls for remorse, justice and reconciliation, not exculpatory rhetoric or reluctant compliance with the law that betrays grudging regard for common humanity. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=32969
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