By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net,
The timing of the media campaign asking Narendra Modi to seek public apology for the Gujarat riots of 2002 raises more questions than answer. Since it came after the Supreme Court ruling in Zakia Jafery case, the US Congressional Research Service report and then Gujarat chief minister’s decision to go on fast it was bound to create curiosity.
Though apparently there is nothing wrong in such demand, a strong section of media is inappropriately citing the example of repeated apologies by Congress leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh for what happened to Sikhs between October 31 and November 2, 1984 in New Delhi and elsewhere in the country.
If Sonia and Manmohan sought forgiveness for the massacre of Sikhs there was no problem for the community to accept it, even rather reluctantly, as neither of the two have been personally accused by anyone of perpetrating the crime. They were seeking forgiveness on the part of their party.
Modi’s case is in total contrast to Sonia and Manmohan as he had been personally charged by many including Zakia Jafery. Even some senior police officials of Gujarat government openly came out disclosing his government’s complicity in the riots. So just seeking verbal forgiveness for what happened in 2002 would amount to watering down the whole case.
Since the matter is sub judice it would be for the court to decide. If it thinks that Modi was in no way involved in the riots then there is no need for any forgiveness for him––public or private. Modi’s case can, in one way or the other, be equated with that of the three Congress leaders of Delhi, H K L Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler, who were themselves accused of encouraging the rioters to kill Sikhs. Any public apology from Bhagat, Sajjan and Tytler would have been meaningless.
The phenomenon of seeking public apology decades after the crime is committed can be traced to Japanese Prime Minister’s regret for what happened to the Korean “comfort girls” during the occupation of Korean peninsula, especially during the World War-II.
The expression “comfort girls” was used for about two lakh women or girls who were abducted by the occupying Japanese forces for sexual abuse. Only several years back Japanese Prime Minister, in a bid to improve his country’s ties with South Korea, another ally of the United States, made this public apology to that country for the heinous crime committed in 1940s and even earlier.
The Japanese PM did not say anything to North Korea though both North and South were one country during the years of occupation. Japan did not apologise for the crime it committed in China too for over 15 years in 1930s and 1940s.
So public apologies have political motive too. However, many in Japan feel that the figure of two lakh “comfort girls” is exaggerated.
In case of Japan too it was not those accused of crime who sought forgiveness. By the time the public apology was made––almost half century later––by the Prime Minister of the country many of the perpetrators had died or were punished for the war crimes after the World War-II by the United States which occupied Japan for many years.
In case of Modi there should be no problem in seeking apology for the mistakes committed, wittingly or unwittingly, while ruling the state. Similarly there should be no objection for undertaking fast or approaching the people. But since the matter is related to the court the media cannot compare it with the steps taken by Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
Since Modi is being projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate by a strong section in the BJP and they got a fillip after the recent CRS report there seems to be a calculated design towards his image makeover. This happened in case with Lal Krishna Advani several years after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
In days to come Modi may abandon his rigid stand of the past and in a dramatic style, even seek forgiveness for whatever has happened during the riots and thus earn praise of a large section of media. But the Gujarat chief minister needs to understand that he will have to get clearance from the court. He is yet to be fully exonerated.