By Ram Puniyani
Tehelka sting operation, Kalank, brought forward the truth of Godhra and Gujarat violence. This investigation reinforced the findings known earlier. Most of the reports by human rights activists had unearthed the same facts, the complicity of state with RSS combine to unleash a pogrom, to launch violence against Muslims, burning their properties and destroying their dargahas etc. What was new was that we all could see in live the perpetrators of the crime gloating over their shameful acts, from opening the womb of Kausar Bano to hacking to death of Ahsan Jaffri!
In any civilized society this would have been a reason enough for the central govt to dismiss the Modi Govt and to launch the cases against those who are confessing in front of camera. But what do we see? The top leadership of Congress kept mum as if some minor incident is being reported by Tehelka. From the UPA Govt only Lalu Yadav demanded the arrest of Modi, the main person responsible for this mass murder. The response of BJP was more revealing. While its top leadership kept quiet, its spokespersons tried to raise the fingers of doubt about the motives of Tehelka sting, the timing, the powers behind the expose and all that. The central point of the crime being committed by their supporters was dodged, bypassed and defended indirectly. What is all this a symbol of? How low a section of society has stooped while pursuing the games of power? Now, even the gloating of the killers is being accepted and defended, the rule of law seems have given way to the communal fascism, the real label for the politics of Hindutva, a blot to the values of saint tradition of Hinduism, as represented by people like Kabir and Gandhi.
It has given the identity of its politics with Hindu religion and that’s the worst abuse for the humane values of many a rich Hindu traditions. The RSS combine has deliberately associated their social agenda with the word Hindu so that they can get away with their crimes under the cloak of faith, so that they can polarize the society along religious lines, intimidate the society as a whole and do away with the concept of human rights, paving the way for suppression of the rights of weaker sections of society, dalits, adivasis, women and workers, while demonizing and attacking the minorities, Muslims and Christians.
Why this silence of Congress leadership? The fear of Hindu votes? Can we keep measuring the social phenomena of such tragic proportions in the terms of electoral gains? Does the human tragedy, violation of law, trampling of human rights, the plight of minorities not matter to us in the first place? Communal forces have brought in religious divides in the society. We do not have time to think that what would the leaders of our national movement, have done in a situation like this. Imagine Mahatma Gandhi seeing the tapes and keeping quiet for the fear that he may loose the position of power! Imagine Jawaharlal Nehru looking the other way around when Babu Bajrangi is proudly describing his crimes? Imagine him exonerating Modi for giving three days to the RSS goons to unleash mayhem of his magnitude which took place in Gujarat?
As such the erosion of secular values has taken place at various levels. The communalization of mind, the institutionalization of biases against minorities, relegation of minorities to second class citizenship has gone on through various mechanisms. Pundit Nehru’s warning to Congress that the communal elements have entered Congress and are a threat to the values which Congress should uphold seems to have fallen on deaf ears. That seems to be the reason as to why the Congress coalition elected twice in Maharashtra, on the promise that Shrikrishna Commission will be implemented, has shamelessly kept the report in cold storage.
The issue is not just of defense of minorities, the issue is the overall system of democracy and its accompanying values. The erosion of rule of law in the state machinery overall, affecting all its wings is what has to be addressed urgently. The misuse of religious identity for political purpose by the RSS and its affiliates has to be countered properly, if we want to bring back the ethos of freedom movement. The argument that minorities should forget the past and get on with life is too simplistic. Can there be peace without justice? When section of minorities start saying that they no longer want to look back at the past, it is not that they have over come the grief and sense of injustice, it only means that they are surrendering to the politics of the dominant sections, they are realizing that they cannot live here as equal citizens. The test of democracy is that even the tiniest minority can live here with as much dignity and honor as any one else. While the leadership in Maharashtra is too ‘shrewd’ and has been avoiding the implementation of the Shrikrishna report despite the promises, the likes of Modi will try to distract the whole issue and consolidate their vote bank by instilling a sense of fear amongst majority community.
Time has come that we face the truth head on, punish the guilty and protect the innocent irrespective of religion and caste. In Gujarat if the state govt has failed to prosecute the guilty, that’s a breach of the oath taken by political leadership and it has to be dealt with like that, i.e. violation of constitutional obligations by the state govt. The state officials who were aiding, abetting and participating in the crime must be dealt with as criminals. The judiciary and central govt has to devise a mechanism so that rule of law is brought back in Gujarat. If the Congress coalition in Maharashtra just wants to buy time and play with words, while sleeping over the implementation of Shrkrishna commission, time that a mass satyagrah is launched to get justice for the victims of the carnage.
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Dr. Ram Puniyani’s website is www.pluralindia.com