Nagindas Sanghavi

During the last six weeks, Gujarat has hogged the headlines in the national and international press all for the wrong reasons. So much has been written by so many from such a variety of angles and view points, that there hardly anything left unsaid about the horrendous events in that unfortunate State suffering from a series of calamities natural and man made. But all these projections are an exercise in futility because there are no words that can accurately and graphically convey what one has seen or felt about the happenings that would leave even the most insensitive person stunned. The cold figures are shocking enough – over 800 killed, 30,000 houses, shops and cabins burnt and /or looted, 3000 vehicles smashed and more than 1.07,000 refugees – uprooted and rendered homeless. But even this horrifying statistics pale into insignificance when viewed against the diabolical mind set that to day holds its sway all over Gujarat.

Communal Epidemic

Those who condemn the burnings and the killings of the innocents do not reflect or represent the psyche that has emerged to hold the majority community in its grip. Apart from a miniscule minority almost all the Hindus in Gujarat, not only support, the terrible vendetta for Godhra, but even justify it as a necessary cleansing for an alien community of traitors. It is quite surprising, even shocking to hear such views from the most unexpected quarters, from the people least expected to be affected by the communal virus, from nice, sober mild mannered businessmen, academics, journalists and even government officials including the policemen on duty. Six thousand Home Guards called in to help curb the violence had to be sent back when they were found abetting the rioters.

Those who are not suffi-ciently acquainted with the Gujarat of today are overwhelmed by the upsurge and seek to explain it away by barking up the wrong tree. Those who deplore the intense communal hatreds in Gandhi’s Gujarat have their perceptions outdated at least by three decades. They overlook the disquieting fact that though Gandhi did belong to Gujarat, Gujarat no longer belongs to Gandhi and probably never did. Gujarat has long back shifted its loyalties away from Gandhi and, at least from 1969, Gujarat has been marked out as “a communal riot pro zone” in the records of the Union Home ministry. There is a fairly long track record of communal riots, which erupt from trivial reasons and sometimes from no reasons at all.

Nurturing Hatred

These riots have left bitter memories and latent antagonisms. It is a vicious circle in which the riots nurture the hatreds and the hatreds fuel the riots. It should not be forgotten that when Advani took out his infamous Rathyatra, he chose Somnath from Gujarat as his starting point and the Gujarat VHP proudly claims that in the demolition of the Babri mosque [1992], the largest contingent of the Karsevaks was contributed by Gujarat.

Gujarat was the first State and it is still the only State where BJP has captured power on its own and in spite of the smashing reverses suffered by the party in the Municipal and the Panchayat elections, the BJP in Gujarat is still a power to reckon with. Internal feuds, the administrative and political inefficiency of BJP leaders in the State induced unprecedented instability in the State [five governments in seven years] and Mr. Modi was sent in to arrest the rot. The events have played into his hands and even the most hostile press has to concede that were elections held in the near future, Mr. Modi would lead the party to a convincing victory.

Mr. Narendra Modi

But he has overreached himself and is deprived of such victory. His name is to day the most accursed one in all non-Hindutva quarters. He has been accused of unleashing the communal carnage to achieve his purpose. He is denounced as a fascist with a pogrom of genocide of the minority communities, of aiding and abetting if not instigating the devilish fury of the mob by forcing the administration into an ‘im-mobilisme.’ Police Commissioner Pandey pleaded with the Chief Minister for a free hand to deal with the miscreants. When he (the Chief Minister) acted at all, it was for punishing the conscientious police officers for curbing the anti-social elements amongst the rioters. Such officers were transferred to more innocuous posts. Some of the transfers were so blatantly unjust that even the Police Commissioner had to enter a protest against the orders. Modi did discriminate between the victims of violence in matters of compensation and he could hardly conceal his glee when he characterized the riots as a natural ‘reaction equal and opposite.’ Mr. Modi is known for his arrogance and his self righteousness; his alignment with the forces of hard core Hindutva was never in doubt. His sympathies are too obvious and some of his closest friends are suspected of organizing and leading the mobs on their prowl.

Modi has entrusted the judicial inquiry to a retired Judge who is uncomfortably close to the accused groups. Mr. Modi has been denounced as the single largest obstacle to the restoration of peace in Gujarat and the opposition parties are baying for his blood in the Parliament.

Economic Impact

The National Human Rights Commission and the Minorities Commission have commented adversely on the doings of his government and the European Union has now added its very powerful voice by declaring the Gujarat events as comparable to the events in the Germany of the thirties. Powerful voices from U S have warned about the drying up of investments not only for Gujarat but for India as a whole. There is a move afoot to haul up Modi and his government before the European tribunals and the report of the British High Commissioner is said to have gone against him. The ministry of External Affairs has registered a mild protest by saying that India “does not appreciate” such comments in public. India must realize that globalisation of economy involves globalisation of interests and it is within the ambit of their power to impose a ban on the goods exported by or from Gujarat as blood tainted goods. It may be recalled that India was expelled from the international conference at Rabat in 1969 for the Ahmedabad riots.

But even the Devil must be given his due. More than eight hundred deaths deserves strongest condemnation but for a community five million strong, it certainly cannot, by any stretch of imagi-nation be described as planning and executing genocide. Mr. Narendra Modi or even his colleagues might be harbouring dreams of an authoritarian fascist regime but Gujarat is not India and they have neither the strength nor the will to subvert the Constitution – a protective bulwark for the minority rights in India.

Epicentre : Ahmedabad

Underlying much of the raucous controversies is the changing patterns of the Gujarat riots which ought to be analyzed on the basis of geography and periodicity. It is interesting to note that large areas in Gujarat are left untouched by the fury, which is concentrated in the city of Ahmedabad. Out of 107000 refugees more than 75000 are in the city itself and Ahmedabad accounts for more than 50% of the total deaths so far. Ahmedabad and to some extent Vadodara appear to be the most vulnerable storm centers. Most of Saurashtra, almost the entire Kutch and most of South Gujarat are left almost untouched. This geo-graphical configuration requires a deeper and more incisive analysis to reveal the real character of the events, with its sociological, economic and criminal inter-relations and interactions.

The Godhra incident is a class by itself. But there is also a periodic graph. The riots erupted on 28th February and raged for nearly four days, and it is in this first phase that the most horrible crimes have been committed and the most severe damage to lives and properties of the minority commu-nity has been inflicted. It was largely one sided. The admi-nistration and the police were hamstrung and the minorities suffered the most terrible damage in terms of men and properties. Then there was a lull lasting for a week or ten days and it is this lull that has enabled the Chief Minister to boast of having quelled the disturbances within 72 hours. The riots spread into nearby towns in central and north Gujarat.

Minorities’ Retaliation

During the renewed carnage after 15th March, in the city of Ahmedabad and Vadodara, the minority had started retaliating and the crowds on both sides often fought pitched battles. The police and the administration stung by the widespread denunciation of its inertia has been roused into a flutter of activities. But they seem to have concentrated on the lumpen ele-ments from the minority community which had taken the field during this third phase. This is the reason why the Minority Commission of India has demanded the break-up figures of those killed in police firings and post mortem reports. The National Human Rights Commission has suggested that all the major carnages ought to be investigated by the C.B.I indirectly casting doubts on the impartiality of the Judicial Commission appointed by the Gujarat government. Even the Prime Minister visiting Gujarat with obvious reluctance, advised Modi to uphold Rajdharma, which insists on impartiality, fairness and equity for all citizens irrespective of their creed or community.

Criminalisation of Society

These events spanning six weeks have revealed a frightening face of Gujarat society where brutalisation and lumpenisation have engulfed even the middle and upper middle class of educated and socially respected families. Women and even children from such families have participated in looting shops and police have recovered stolen goods from them. Such criminalisation is bound to eat into the vitals of that society making Gujarat a bane of Indian civilization.

Ghettoisation

The events in Gujarat are terrible and the long term con-sequences of this trauma are bound to sadden all those who love Gujarat and those who love India. One result has already started showing. The government of Gujarat straining under the heavy financial burden of maintaining 92 refugee camps is using every means both fair and foul to push the refugees back to their homes. But they have refused to return to the mixed localities arguing that their lives would be in danger in future riots. They now insist on being settled in their own separate and safe localities. The process of ghettoisation that has been going on for a long time has now been accelerated and the Hindus and Muslims of Gujarat would by and large live, work, study and think separately. The ghettoes have always been the undoing of plural societies and it is a matter of deep regret that a society as mixed and as plural as Gujarat would now begin to break up into its constituent parts. The call for a social and economic boycott of the Muslims as demanded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad will only hasten the process.

Export Quality Terrorists

Secondly Gujarat would emerge as the breeding ground for Muslim terrorist groups. The victims of riots who have lost everything, seen their family members killed, maimed or raped, who have no property and no hope of a decent life left would turn desperados and be an easy target for the recruiting agencies for terrorist activities in Gujarat or elsewhere. The Week has already reported one Salma Khan envisaging such a career for her young son. The Prime Minister’s amazing statement about Muslims creating trouble wherever they live is bound to further exacerbate such feelings. Mr. Vajpayee must be aware that terrorists have no particular religion. We have had Christian terrorists in north east India, Hindu terrorists in Assam and Bihar and of course, in Sri Lanka. Khalistanis were Sikhs and terrorists in Kashmir are Muslims. We have been blaming Pakistan and ISI for exporting terror. Now with Gujarat, we would need them no longer and with the business acumen of Gujaratis we may have home grown, export quality terrorists. The set back suffered by the Gujarat economy is the least damaging part of the riots but it will push the graph of poverty and hunger upwards and create a hungry mob ready for anything. The fury in Ahmedabad can be partly explained by the ruin of the textile industry and failure of the city to develop proper alternative sources of employment.

Role of the Gujarati Press

It is a matter of some confusion as to why the best sections of the Gujarat society have been the vociferous supporters of this terrible carnage. The Press in Gujarat has done its best by spreading rumours, by biased and unbalanced reporting and by inciting editorials. Gujarat unfortunately has no press worth its name. The entire press world is dominated by two giants from Ahmedabad with their local editions in all the major and in not so major urban centers. There is not much to be said about their quality and their approach. Their weight and their tactics have almost destroyed or silenced alternative sources of information and interpretation.

Non-Resident Indians

But the more perplexing part is the role of the Gujaratis who have settled in progressive and modern democracies of the West. The Non-Resident Indians as they are called are the most obscurantist sections of the Gujarati community. They have been the staunchest supporters and financers of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. This is rather surprising because with their exposure to modernity and to the democratic values, they ought to be on the side of the progressive forces. But then this also happened in the case of Sikh terrorist groups which were also nourished from abroad.

Professor Nagindas Sanghavi is a well-known political commentator, particularly in the Gujarati press.